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The Importance Of Family In A Raisin In The Sun

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Family is important to everyone in some way because family sticks together no matter what. The play A Raisin in the Sun is about a black family named the Youngers and the hardships they face together as a family. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Ruth Younger is motivated by her family. This is shown by Ruth wanting to make her family happy, her working even though she is tired, and later when Ruth finds out there is going to be another mouth to feed. Ruth Younger is constantly worrying about her family’s well being and happiness for them. Ruth states to Mama, “You know what you should do, Miss Lena? You should take yourself a trip somewhere. To Europe or South America or someplace—(…). I’m serious. Just pack up and leave! …show more content…

Ruth exclaims, “Lena, no! We gotta go. Bennie—tell her…. Tell her we can still move… he notes ain’t but a hundred and twenty-five a month. We got four grown people in this house—we can work…” (609). Mama is thinking that the family just shouldn’t move since all the money is gone. Ruth is trying to convince Mama to still move because the apartment is too small for another baby and having Mama not give up her hope of having a house with a garden. This shows Ruth just wants her family to have a nice home and is willing to work for it even more. Another example of Ruth working hard for her family is when, Ruth begs, “Lena—I’ll work…. I’ll work twenty hours a day in all the kitchens in Chicago…. I’ll strap my baby on my back if I have to and scrub all the floors in America and wash all the sheets in America if I have to—but we got to move…. We got to get out of here….” (609). Ruth is begging for Mama not to change her mind on moving saying she will do anything. Her family needs this chance to live a better life. Ruth is willing to work harder and harder if it means she works for what her family wants and needs. Ruth Younger is motivated by working for her family’s and her goals to get what they dream

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During the 1950s in Chicago blacks were in poverty. The city was filled with discrimination, racism and segregation. The Younger family was a black family living in a one bedroom apartment in Chicago at the time. They had big dreams but lack of money. In the play, A raisin in the sun, Lorraine Hansberry created the central idea of “feeling trapped” in the character Mama through the setting, symbolism, and figurative language.

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This is seen by the actions she takes to get to her goal, statements she makes towards her family members, and how she responds to her family when they are troubled. Mama has lived in her apartment for a long time with her family and is about to get enough money to change that. An example of Mama’s motivation to achieve her goal is shown when Ruth, her daughter-in-law and Mama are talking about what Mama would do with the insurance money. Mama states, “Been thinking that we maybe could meet the notes on a little old two-story somewhere, with a yard where Travis could play in the summertime, if we use part of the insurance for a down payment and everybody kind of pitch in” (563). Mama is suggesting to Ruth of what could be a better future for her son and their family.

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Travis sleeps in the couch because there are not enough rooms in the apartment for him to have his own room. Because of the living situation Ruth is scared to have another baby and even considers to have an abortion. Like mama, Ruth wants to move to a bigger place and believes everyone will feel happier because of the extra space and Travis will have his own room. Ruth is married to Walter and in the play, we can see they are becoming distant with each other because they are stress out about money and their living situation. Eventually, Walter loses the insurance money and because of that the family is now depressed and does not want to move to the house because of the fear of them not being able to afford it.

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