Everyone learns lessons in life. These lessons can come from a book, experience and legends. Books have a theme that you can learn from that is what make books important. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry both have the themes of responsibility, family and dream that runs through the main characters Tom Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie and Walter Lee Younger from A Raisin in The Sun.
“Me and Ruth done made some sacrifices for you – why can’t you do something for the family?” (Hansberry 1.1.118). The Younger family has grown up without much and when the father dies, he leaves an inheritance that can get the family into a comfortable living position. The only problem is that they all want to use the money for different reasons. Each character wants to make their own dreams come true. They do not want to sacrifice their own dreams to please the others. Unwilling to make a sacrifice proves to bring more animosity in a family as shown in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry through conflict involving money and how the characters handle their actions.
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.
In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, by Loraine Hansberry, both Walter and Mama have great dreams and encounter barriers on the path to achieving their dreams. Walter dreams of owning a liquor store and being able to better provide for his family, a dream that changes when he faces the barrier of his money being stolen by Willy Harris. Mama dreams of living in a real house with a garden and also encounters barrier of her money being stolen by Willy Harris.
In the text “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, the author uses the writing strategy of conflict to develop the central idea of how oneself can become selfish when trying to achieve the American dream. The text shows that the central idea is selfishness because circumstances are presented where various characters fail to take into consideration others while seeking their dreams. For example, Walters says, “ Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ’bout messing round with sick people, then go be a nurse like other women-or just get married and be quiet…. ’’. This example of greed shows that the ambition to obtain a dream brings out the selfishness is true in the instance of Walter. It shows this because Walter diminishes his sisters Beneatha’s dream of becoming a doctor by making a misogynist comment in which insinuates on her settling on being a nurse due to a doctor clearly being an often male dominant profession. Furthermore, Walter is deluded by greed on opening a liquor store which causes him to have no regard for the feelings or desires of others. Clearly, the central idea of the text is that in trying to achieve a dream it can bring out a person selfish tendency because people tend to disparage others dreams in order to attain theirs.
What would you do if you were told your dream would never come true? Dreams are what people hold onto to motivate us to achieve our goals. The Youngers are a poor African-American family living on the South Side of Chicago. With an opportunity to escape from poverty comes in the form of a $10,000 life insurance check that the matriarch of the family receives upon her husband 's death. Each of the adult members of the family has an idea as to what he or she would like to do with this money. As the play progresses, the Youngers clash over their competing dreams. In “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, the role of the hero stays the same in Act I and Act II, but changes in Act III depending on the overall dramatic situation, yet theme of
There is no way to know if a decision that was made is the right or the wrong decision. Making decisions is apparent in "A Raisin in the Sun", among all characters. Some decisions made by the characters work out in the end and other decisions, causes anger towards the family members. Throughout the play, Mama makes several life-changing decisions. Some of the decisions are very controversial to the readers. Mama's decisions have a great impact on all of the characters as well as their futures, although most of the decisions that were made, mainly affect Travis.
The title of the play “A Raisin in the Sun” comes from the poem “Harlem” written by Langston Hughes. The poem is asking what happen to dreams that are not accomplished, What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up/ Like a raisin in the sun (Hughes) in the play many character have unaccomplished or deferred dreams.
When people are poor, they often have a lot of problems in their life. They struggle through every day, but they learn to appreciate everything that they have. However, when people are going through tough times, they often think that money will solve all of their problems. In “A Raisin In The Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, she guides the audience through a black family -- impacted by the need for money -- living on the south side of Chicago. The Younger family gets Lena Younger’s dead husband’s insurance check and buys a house in a white neighborhood, and they save the remainder of the money for Beneatha’s medical degree and for starting a liquor store. Willy Harris steals the $6,500 used to start the liquor store and for Beneatha’s college money,
In the play A Raisin in the Sun, the man in the house; Walter makes a quick decision to give insurance money to the character Willy Harris so he could buy a liquor store. As a result, his decision causes Willy Harris to take the money which causes an apathetic mood in the story and creates a loss of hope in the family. This shows Walter to be spontaneous and quick to trust. Walter has always had dreams of owning a liquor store because he thought he would make profit. He’s very passionate about his fantasy, “...You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be ‘bout thirty thousand, see.”(79) But none of his relatives think it’s a smart idea. Later on, his mother
The interpretation gained from reading “A Raisin in the Sun” came accross with a few points, Ruth and Walter fight a great deal within the story. Ruth and Walter’s living environment is both positive and negative. It would be interesting to find out what's makes Walter tick, as well as why Ruth feels like she needs to put up barriers. Also explore how Walter and Ruth slowly come back together as a couple to find peace in their lives which directly affects the baby living or dying. The understanding received was Walter wants to be better within his socioeconomic status. 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.
In plays, books, movies, etc. characters tend to change based on what they experience during that time period. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry the characters are struggling really bad financially not only because pay wasn’t good back then especially for the African Americans but the family also lived in Chicago during 1945-1959. Chicago then was a very racist and they were segregated and the whites were basically set p to succeed and the African Americans had to fight for their rights and had to fight for the rights that are supposed to be the natural rights. The family faces a lot of ups and downs in their life but some of the characters are more affected by the changes than others. Walter changes so much during the play
The role of money in the play, A Raisin in the Sun affects Walter greatly. Ever since he’s known Mama was getting the insurance check, he’s been spending time with his buddies, and trying to convince Mama to let him invest in a liquor store with his two friends Bobo and Willy. He gets angry in the beginning because Ruth doesn’t agree with him and hits in the face with a hard slap of reality. Walter says, “’DAMN MY EGGS-DAMN ALL THE EGGS THERE EVER WAS.’” (Hansberry 34). This proves he’s getting frustrated because Ruth says, “’Honey, you never say nothing new. I listen to you every day, every night, every morning, and you never say nothing new. So you would rather be Mr. Arnold than be his
Walter Lee, Ruth’s wife and Mama’s son, felt that his dream of owning a liquor store was much more important than the others in his family. After receiving the leftover money from his father’s life insurance money, Walter decided to invest it all instead of putting it aside for Beneatha’s schooling. Beneatha wanted this money in order to pursue a good career and live the American Dream.