In the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry introduces a family trying to move up in the world but has trouble doing so because they are racially opposed by society. Starting in the 1890’s the Jim Crow Laws were used in the South as a way to oppose African-American giving them a status called, “separate but equal.” They mandated segregation of public schools, public transportation, public facilities including restaurants, bathrooms, and drinking fountains. In the 1950s African- Americans were starting to fight for equal rights and were starting to make headway. Some people did not like this and started to retaliate by burning down and bombing African-American houses or intimidating them by burning crosses in their yards. Finally, in …show more content…
Critical Race Theory is the examination and interpretation of society’s behavior in dealing with race, class, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, etc. In A Raisin in the Sun, Walter had to deal with situations like white privilege, microaggressions, institutionalized racism, social construction, and intersectionality. By having to deal with these conditions, Walter fought to become “a successful man”. He wanted to be like his idea of a successful white man of the times with a nice house in the suburbs, a car for him and his wife, and be able to let his son go to any college he wants to. Walter just wants to try to be equal to white people, but racism keeps pushing him down. It won’t let him get a good job or house, be able to have a car, or allow him to live the way he wants to live. Because of all these stressors, it forces Walter to make a risky business decision that costs him most of his father’s life insurance money. Racism caused Walter to risk every dollar he owned and he lost it all. Later, he almost lost his own dignity by pleading with Mr. Lindner for his money back, but Mama saved him from doing it. Walter and the Youngers decided to move to Clybourne Park to live Walter’s dream of trying to live with the same privileges of white people. Racism beat Walter down to make rash decisions that didn’t always turn out well for him, but eventually he prevailed with his family’s victory of moving out of their old, ratty apartment. In Clybourne Park Walter and the Youngers will almost for sure have to deal with racism, nevertheless hopefully they prevail from that
In Act 3 scene one Walter states, “We decided to move into this house, because, because my father earned it for us brick by brick” This becomes important because after he had his whole family thinking he was selling out Mamas long term dream, he informs Lindner that they will be moving to Clybourne Park. For the first time in the whole story, Walter proves that he's not a complete idiot, can be responsible and take care of his family, and most importantly, saves the family from the rat trap they’re currently living
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
His values were, and remain, centered around his own ideas and disregard all the ideas of the others who he claims to be acting in the best interest for. While in most situations the loss of all his money, the chaos in his family, and the prospect of living in a part of town where his family is not wanted would make the self proclaimed “man of the house” step up and take control, notice his wrong doings. Instead Walter remains in the dark and continues his ways without looking back, leaving the reader to assume further on into their life these problems will
In the beginning Walter is basically perceived as a jerk-he doesn’t seem to get along with anyone, not even his own family. His character likes to turn discussions into fights, make rude comments to his wife, and act all around immature. A part that accurately shows the way Walter conducts himself is when he is arguing with Ruth and says “Man say: I got to change my life , I'm choking to death, baby! And his woman say- Your eggs is getting cold!”
Racism is a problem that people of every race around the world still faces today. In the film adaptation of The Help and the text version of Lorraine Hansberry's “A Raisin in The Sun”, racial discrimination is a major theme explored. Racial discrimination is a major theme that both sources portray. There are laws that make discrimination illegal in The United States but it people still suffer from it, however, The Help and “A Raisin if The Sun” portray more ways in which this problem can be eliminated through resistance, getting support from the oppressors, and showing the intimidators their behaviors and attitudes.
When Walter states the family will be moving into the house despite Lindner’s offer supports the importance of fighting against racial discrimination, which ties into the idea of the rejection of assimilation seen with Beneatha’s
The Younger family, is a family who are honest and who also work hard for what they want, just because they are black, does not mean that they don 't deserve to live in a better neighbourhood. However, racism also impacted the Younger family beneficially in the way Walter rejected Linders’s offer at the end of the play. The example of racism gives Walter the opportunity to become the man he always wanter to
He is hitting the white man’s nineteen fifties social ceiling, yet wants to go past that and max out at his own status ceiling. One reason Walter acts the way he acts could possibly be because of his environment, in Act 1 Scene 1, Walter is talking to Ruth about the insurance money and how he wants to invest in a liquor store. Ruth shut him down by saying “ eat your eggs”(Hansberry 1547). Ruth is trying to tell Walter to “walk the line” and do what you have always done, don’t try new things and possibly dig the family into a deep hole, Walter does not like this response from
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.
Walter further shows his false pride when he flaunts his newfound sense of power when Mr.Lindner, one of the Younger’s soon-to-be neighbors, offers him an unjust deal. Now that Walter has control over the family 's money, he considers himself the head of the family and decision maker; this plays an important role towards how Walter treats others now that he holds himself to a higher standard. This theme applies to Walter when the chairman of the “welcoming committee” (115) named Mr.Lindner pays a visit to the family a couple weeks before they 're supposed to move into their new home in Clybourne Park. During this visit, Mr.Lindner makes the offer of the Clybourne Park community “buy[ing] the house from [them] at a financial gain to [the] family” (118). Mr.Lindner’s offer represents the racial oppression and how the white community looks down upon and doesn’t want African american people dirtying their communities.
He wants to be a businessman and own a liquor store. He wants to be able to provide for his family and give them what they have never had. Walter also wants to take his mother’s position as the head of the house and make the financial decisions for the family. Walter can be seen as selfish as instead of putting the money for him and his sister in the bank he uses it all and loses it trying to fulfill his own dreams with no regard to his sister’s dreams or the rest of the family’s.
Walter has a loving wife, Ruth, and he lives with his mother and sister additionally. He and the women in his family are constantly in conflict. This causes much tension for the entire family. The conflict is
Walter states that the Youngers are a calm, good family who “don’t want to make no trouble for nobody,” and are not looking to stir up trouble. All they intend to be is hard working, peaceful “good neighbors” and that give them every right to live in Clybourne Park. Afterwards, Mama, talking to Ruth about Walter, states that, “he finally come into his manhood today,” (151). Walter made his family proud and after much struggle they feel that he has matured. For Mama proudly exclaims that Walter “come into his manhood” by doing the morally right thing “finally.”
Through the use of the historical lens, looking specifically at the economic struggles, the struggle of unequal opportunity, and the housing covenant that African-American’s faced in the 1950’s, Hansberry’s message of A Raisin in the Sun is revealed: the perseverance of an ethnic minority in a time of racial discrimination. A Raisin in the Sun is set in a time of great racial discrimination, the 1950’s in the united States. This featured racism towards those of color or non-caucasians, and the struggles commonly faced by the African-American family is shown through the eyes of the Younger family through the writing and experiences of Lorraine Hansberry. Of the three major struggles the Younger family faced, the most prominent in Act one is that of financial disability. This is best shown through the working lives of the family.
The Younger family purchases a house in Clybourne Park and Karl tries to pay them over ten-thousand-dollars so that they would not move there. He feels as if it would be a threat for colored people to move into white neighborhood. Walter is in conflict with Karl. When Karl comes into the Youngers family house and starts to talk about the community not wanting colored people to live there, Walter kicks Karl out of the house because he feels that Karl is talking about nonsense.