Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis
The play Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry shows how a striving black family living in Chicago in 1959 is brought down by racism. The play shows the importance of family and dreams when the Younger family receives a check for ten thousand dollars from the passing of their grandfather, Big Walter. Big Walter’s son Walter has a dream to be a better provider for his family and because he wants to score big with his liquor store, he invests all of the money left in the store. He is heartbroken after his partner steals all his money and the family is stressed about what is to come next. Walter is like the “caged bird” in “Sympathy” who “beats his wing till its blood is red on the cruel bars” because Walter can see his dream of being a better provider for his family, but his dream is prevented because he is caged by racism.
Walter works so hard every day to provide for his family but being a chauffeur is nothing at all to him. Walter keeps beating on his cage until his anger explodes. Walter explains this by talking to his mom and saying “Mama, a job? I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine and I say ‘Yes sir; no, sir; very good sir; shall I take the Drive, sir? Mama, that ain’t no kind of job...that ain’t nothing at all. Mama, I don’t know if I can make you understand” (Hansberry 73) Walter doesn’t want to be a servant of someone, instead, he wants to have the same opportunities that a white man gets and wants to invest and be a
Walter Lee Younger In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun
778 Words | 4 Pages(Hansberry 495). Some argue that his attitude isn’t solely because he’s choosing to be pessimistic, perhaps he is also tired of living the life he’s living. Walter works as a chauffeur for a rich white man and feels that
Why Is A Dream Deferred In Raisin In The Sun
1123 Words | 5 PagesHe has a wife, Ruth, a sister, Beneatha, a mama, Lena, and a son, Travis. His ultimate dream is to illegally sell liquor with a couple of his friends so he can become the main provider for his family and give them a better life. Walter’s father has recently passed away and the family is waiting on an insurance check of ten thousand dollars. Walter says, “Yeah. You see, this liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand
A Raisin In The Sun Analysis
809 Words | 4 PagesBeing 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. Everyone in this family had dreams but no one supported each other dreams.
Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis
1500 Words | 6 PagesIn the play Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry takes place on the southside of Chicago where Walter and his family are racially profiled and show us how the survive throughout their struggles. The central struggles for the younger family in their search for the American dream is mostly poverty and being racially profiled against for their actions. Hansberry challenges the traditional gender roles and issues of dominance throughout the play when Mama gives Walter lee the rest of the money at the end of the play. He becomes all excited and was supposed to save some for himself and put the rest of the money to Beneatha 's education. Instead, he gave all that money to Willy another character in the play which later on that he stole from him.
Belonging In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun
921 Words | 4 PagesLorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun follows the struggles of an African American family living in a neighborhood in 1950s South Side Chicago. The play discusses several issues pertaining to African Americans of the time, such as poverty and discrimination. One of the major themes of the story is the search for a sense of belonging; whether that’s a sense of belonging to the continent of Africa, a neighborhood in Chicago, or on a personal level within the Younger family. The play explores this theme through its characters Beneatha, Mama and Walter.
A Raisin In The Sun Walter's Dream Analysis
466 Words | 2 PagesDespite the fact that dreaming of a liquor store is shallow, Walter’s motivation to be able to support his family helps reconcile his somewhat immoral hopes. Later, Walter shows the idiocy of his plan to own a liquor store when he gets drunk. In act 2, scene 2, Walter borrows Willy Harris’s car and drives around Chicago for two days, then “just walked”, and finally “went to the Green Hat” (2.2 105). Through his actions, Walter shows that he is immature and cares more about pretending to be rich than his job that would allow him to provide for his family.
Walter Lee Younger Thesis
676 Words | 3 PagesWhen Walter's father died, his family was going to receive a check from a life insurance policy. Walter planned to use the insurance money to open a liquor store and financially prosper. His mother though, would not let him do this though because it was unholy and an immoral way to make money. Walter, who was already bitter because he was a chauffeur, felt deprived. He saw an opportunity to make money and grew increasingly resentful because his family would not allow him to pursue those avenues, instead his family wanted to buy a home they could call their own.
A Raisin In The Sun Sexism Analysis
779 Words | 4 PagesWalter’s statement tries to tell the women that he didn’t try to make the world the way it is now. Yes, he wants luxurious items for him and his wife. However, even though he seriously messed up, he’s still the man in the family and will continue to make the decisions for the
Similarities Between A Raisin In The Sun And The American Dream
714 Words | 3 PagesBy comparison, they will do anything to be able to fulfill their American Dream. Without a doubt, Walter would give up anything for wealth, since money runs the world. While Walter was having a conversation with his mother she says, “So now its life. Money. Money is life.
A Raisin In The Sun Beneatha's Identity
1686 Words | 7 PagesThe 1950s were oppressive and degrading towards the culture and identity of African Americans. This principle is especially personified through the drama, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry. As a black female author in this time period, she was easily able to capture the racism and forced stereotypes poignant within the lives of the minorities. Beneatha, a fictional character in the play, represents the ambitious and suppressed black female intellectual who is stripped of her identity at every turn. The men in her life are as different as black and white, and in essence that is what they are.
Langston Hughes's A Raisin In The Sun
600 Words | 3 PagesHe 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.
Examples Of Heroism In A Raisin In The Sun
1130 Words | 5 PagesIn Lorraine Hansberry’s “Raisin in the Sun” Act 3 Walter has seized the hero role and he displays a lot of pride. Walter is starting to understand that he has to stand up for what he believes in and not everything is about money. “And we have decided to move into our house because my father-my father-he earned it for us brick by brick”(1933). Walter turns down the Clybourne Park Association 's offer only after he remembers the roots his family has in America, and the rights that they deserve. He wants to set a strong example for his son, Travis, just like his father did for him.
Examples Of Family Relationships In A Raisin In The Sun
795 Words | 4 PagesAlthough it may not seem like it all the time, there are many things he does that proves that differently. One of these many things he does, is in the beginning of the story he tells Travis, “In fact, here’s another fifty cents…Buy yourself some fruit today – or take a taxicab to school or something!” This statement is made by Walter to try and prevent their economic status from affecting his son. He wants his son to have everything that he deserves to have. Walter seems to be a very gentle, but yet tough love kinda doesn’t know what to do with his feelings type of guy.
Hardships In A Raisin In The Sun
1127 Words | 5 PagesWell it not that easy, see what is a black man and black men just don 't get paid as much as white men did. In an article america’s labor history, it says that “the white-led unions affiliated and the American Federation of Labor actually tried to get and keep blacks out of higher-paying jobs” (Black Workers Remember). The whites were trying to prevent blacks from making money,so they wouldn 't move into their nice neighborhoods. Walter got a little angry when he was asking George , a rich friend of his daughter, if they could talk business. George ended up blowing him off saying he was busy.
Racism In A Raisin In The Sun
873 Words | 4 PagesOut of a family of five, three people work: Walter Lee as a chauffeur to a wealthy white family, Ruth as a housemaid, and Mama as a nanny to other peoples children. This is clearly necessary to afford basic needs as shown in their apartment, with “weariness [having], in fact won” (Hansberry pg.23). It is clear in Hansberry’s characterization that the members of the Younger family are dissatisfied with their station in life, albeit to varying degrees; Walter Lee in particular is very vocal regarding their poverty, as he states at one point: “I got boy who sleeps in the living room- and all I got to tell him is stories about how rich white people
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