A Raisin In The Sun Environment Analysis

Chicago served as a home to numerous walks of life in the 1950’s, and much of the differences in realities were based on differences in race and people’s opinions of segregation. Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun is based off of real life experiences, and it authentically tells the story of an african american family that strives for equality and The American Dream. Walter Younger, the father of the family, battles with deferred dreams of his own and for his family. Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun and Nina Simone’s song “I Wish I knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” both portray Walter’s emotions throughout his daily struggles with his family as they dealt with segregation and destitution.

In every story each character influences the plot in some way, even if it’s something tiny. Just like the story Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury. The two main characters that influence the plot most through actions and dialogue are Walter and Lena Younger. Lena (also known as Mama) influences the plot in a positive way and does as much as she can to make her family happier. While Walter influences the plot in a negative way and brings the family down by pushing them away.

“I have a dream one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed, we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal. I have a dream” (Martin Luther King Jr). Martin Luther King had a dream to end racism while that dream is pretty much been accomplished but can be better. A Raisin In the Sun is about achieving dreams but the dreams trying to be achieved by Walter Lee Younger and his family. In A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry shows that Walter's Dreams can be achieved in a positive way throughout the book these actions are shown through his interactions with his mom, wife,son, and his whole family.

From reading the first act we are introduced to the seemingly main characters; Ruth, Walter, Beneatha, Travis, and Mama. We get a basic understanding of their ideas, beliefs, principles, personalities, and priorities.

Greed. Betrayal. Mistrust. Slimy. Selfish. These are all traits that would describe Walter Lee and his actions. Walter Lee is a character from the play A Raisin in the Sun in which a black family tries to get out of poverty and go against stereotypes by trying to start over with their Grandpa’s life insurance money. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry explores the concept that greed leads to being blinded by money and forgetting about one’s loved ones as shown by the climax of the play, the character of Walter Lee, and the effect that his actions have on the rest of his family.

In A Raisin in The Sun there is certainly a lot of loss to go through, as well as many different and opposing values. Walter, for example, was obsessed with being able to provide for his family and have the money to show for it. In his attempts to achieve this goal he ends up bankrupting the family and leaving them much worse off than before, all through his own selfishness and sense of pride. Walter at first wants to open a liquor store with the money left over by his late father, figuring it would be a good way to get easy money for the family, though his family are against this idea.

In the play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, there are many examples of sexism throughout its entirety. The character, Walter, demonstrates the acts of a sexist human being. Walter is sexist to not only women in general, but to the women in his family. Not taking into consideration of other people’s sayings and their feelings, Walter generally only thinks about himself, says what he believes, and truly only cares about money. Walter constantly is fighting with all of the women in the family as well. His sister, Beneatha, wants to become a doctor and Walter isn't very supportive of her decision. Walter's wife, Ruth, is the recipient of the majority of Walter's anger and sexist remarks.

"If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all." Many people including some of the characters in the play are unhappy with their lives and blame all of their failures and dissatisfaction on “bad luck”. The characters in this play feel they only have bad luck so they are dissatisfied with their lives. Dissastisfaction is when you are unhappy with a situation. It can be when you can't do something that you want to do or when you can’t have what you want. The characters that are most dissatisfied in this play are Walter, Beneatha, and Ruth. Walter is unhappy with his job, his wife, and his mom. Beneatha is unhappy with her Identity. She wants to express herself by playing the guitar and becoming a doctor. Ruth is unhappy with the fact that she is having a child because then they might not have room in their home. She is also unhappy in her relationship with Walter. Finally, she does not like Walter’s drinking. Ruth has the most to be unhappy about and is the most dissatisfied character in the play.

In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the characters of Mama, Walter ,and Beneatha are faced with hardships associated with their dreams being destroyed by discriminatory housing,racial inequality and lack of support from her family towards her education. In the play all the characters have some kind of dream. Mama wants to get a house for the family, Walter wants to have money to provide for his family and plans to do that with a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to become a doctor. Beneatha is going to school and at the same time she’s trying to discover herself,but her family is not supportive of this. Mama did unfortunately lose her husband, and the family is receiving a life insurance check for $10,000.

To be prideful is human nature, even when it hasn't been earned. Being proud of who you are and what you have accomplished is an important part of everyone's life, but sometimes we are prideful without something to be proud of. This kind of pride is shown in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry through the character Walter Younger. He enters the play with a false sense of pride in being a man, despite the fact that he is a chauffeur who is struggling to support his family. Throughout the plot, he struggles with acceptance of his social status and economical situations, but ends up achieving true fulfillment in simply being proud of who he and his family are as people with aspirations. Walter’s evolution

Walter does the right thing by standing up to Lindner. When Lindner actually arrives and Walter is about to disgrace himself and the black community by begging Lindner for the money he can’t do it. Instead he says, “We don’t want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no causes, and we will try to be good neighbors. And that’s all we got to say about that,” (148). By saying this Walter demonstrates maturity for he firmly put Lindner down by articulating, “that’s all we got to say about that.” Resolutely but kindly telling Lindner that he and his family don’t change their minds so easily, and that they don’t care about the offer. Walter also hints that Clybourne Park has no right to ask them to leave and that there is no problem with the Younger family being in this all-white

“Women are supposed to cook and do house chores… Women should be responsible for raising children… Men should tell women what they should do… Men are superior than women.” Gender expectations are evident in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and the society in Korea. Due to their different culture and lifestyle, The Youngers, the African American family, in A Raisin in the Sun have gender expectations that are different from the those in Korea. Gender expectations in the Youngers and Korea and are mainly noticeable in these three categories: occupation, personality traits, and physical appearance.

Money is one of the things in the world that a person can become obsessed with. In the story “A Raisin in the sun” the author Lorraine Hansberry shows how a family is changed by the lust of money. A widow, Lena, her son Walter Younger, his wife Ruth and daughter Beneatha all lived under the same roof. Lena just lost her husband and is receiving a check for his death. With the money, Lena wants to buy a new house for the whole family to live in but everyone else in the family sees a different type of opportunity. Being the man of the household, Walter dreams of owning a liquor store and plans on using Lena’s money to do so. Walter is always after money and believes that the only way to succeed in life is with money. For example, when Walter is talking about the check, he says, “Mama, sometimes when I’m downtown and I pass them cool, quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking about things, turning deals worth millions of dollars, sometimes I see guys don’t look much older than me” (992).This shows how Walter wanted something more out of life and not just be a poor black man.

In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, Ruth and Walter influence the plot the most. Throughout the play, Walter and Ruth argue an abundant amount of times about things that causes conflict between the characters

Following the event of World War Two, America during the 1950s was an era of economic prosperity. Male soldiers had just returned home from war to see America “at the summit of the world”(Churchill). Many Americans were confident that the future held nothing other than peace and prosperity, so they decided to start families. However, the 1950s was also a time of radical changes. Because most of the men in the family had departed to fight in the war, women were left at home to do the housework. Even after the war, women were urged to stay at home to take care of the children. On the other hand, males would deal with financial businesses to keep their family out of poverty. These gender roles were embedded