Raisin In The Sun Quote Analysis

Lorraine Hansberry was born in 1930 and grew up on the southside of Chicago. Her play, Raisin in the Sun, is based on the beginning of her life growing up in a middle-class African American family. Hansberry’s family purchased a house in a white neighborhood and the white neighbors attacked them. In result to this, the white neighbors went to court and Hansberry’s family was kicked out of the neighborhood. This play is also a reaction to Langston Hughes’s poem, Harlem. In his poem, he asked the question “What happens to a dream deferred?” Raisin in the Sun is an answer to his question. In her play, Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry uses Walter, Mama, and Beneatha to show the negative consequences that occur when you put off your dream.

Hansberry explores this idea at length as Walter talks how an increase in cash flow would benefit him. Obsessed with his dream, Walter tells his Mama “[money] if life!” When this life dream comes crashing down, Walter finds himself tempted to accept a white man’s bride instead of standing up for his pride and his family. Perhaps his ideals changed; or perhaps he realized his dream was only a fantasy; or perhaps he truly thought that this was the best decision for his family. However, when decisions making time comes, Mama pulls Travis aside, telling him to ask Walter what the five generations before him had come to do. Indeed, Walter teaches his son. He talks about his father and how his fathers pride caused him to kill a man rather than to be insulted, the aspirations of his siter, how their father earned their house “brick by brick”. At this point, the overall tone of the play changes. No longer does the play continue in a despairing mindset, but it changes as Walter steps up to become “the man of the

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

The house Mama bought was $3,500 leaving $6,500. Mama asks Walter to take the money to the bank and put $3,000 away in a savings account for Benetha's medical school. Mama made a smaller decision to give Walter $500 more than Benetha. She felt as though, with the new baby coming, Walter and Ruth may need the money more than Benetha. The remaining $3,500 was for Walter and his family. Mama made a decision that put Walter in charge of the remaining money, however she did not know that this decision might not have been the best for the Younger family. Walter was hesitant in taking the money, but Mama reassures Walter by saying, "I ain't ever stop trusting you" (Hansberry 546). This line from Mama foreshadows the possibility that Walter will not obey her and do something foolish with the money. Walter proves this foreshadowing as he is talking to Travis and says, "...your daddy's gonna make a transaction... a business transaction that's going to change our lives" (Hansberry 547). In this line, Walter is hinting at the liquor store investment, that no one in the family approves. A few days later, Bobo pays the Younger's a visit to update Walter on the investment. Walter finds out, along with the rest of the family, that Willy, their other business partner took all of the money and ran off with it. This upsets the whole family and Mama says to Walter, "You mean...your sister's school money...you used that too...?" (Hansberry 561). On page 561, Walter finally admits to his mother that he never went to the bank and instead, invested the money in the liquor business. This has a lot of impact on Benetha because she lost $3,000 for schooling as well as Travis. It affects Travis because previously on page 547, Walter says to Travis, "Just tell me where you want to go, and you'll go". Walter promises Travis that the money Mama gave Walter will change their lives forever. Now that the money is gone, there is

“Mama seeing the make-down bed as Travid has left it: Lord have mercy, look at that poor bed. Bless his heart-he tries, don’t he? She moves to the bed Travis has sloppily made up.” (148) In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, a family struggles to achieve the American Dream. In this quote, Mama represents the importance of family because she notices that Travis, her grandson, tries to make his bed, however Mama, showing tender care, remakes Travis’ bed for him.

And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing. Have you cried for that boy today? I don’t mean for yourself and for the family ‘cause we lost the money. I mean for him: what he been through and what it done to him.”(145) Even when Walter is at his darkest moment, and he has crossed Mama, she still tells Beneatha to show empathy for him. He tried to live his dream, and took a leap of faith, but everything had been stolen away from him. Even though he makes the bad decisions of how to go

Walter Younger influences the plot and its development in a defective way due to him only thinking about himself. Walter ruins his family’s happiness and pushes them away because he does not get what he wants. For example “Who’s fighting with you? Who even cares about

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, 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 play “ A Raisin In The Sun “ wrote by Lorraine Hansberry is a inspiring play about the Younger family. A typical African American family in the late 1950’s trying to make life better for themselves. They’re a family trying to overcome the difficulties and obstacles that comes with being black in America in that time. Obstacles such as lynchings,segregation,racial discrimination and overall the difficulties that comes with being black in America. With external problems within the family the characters also internal conflicts within themselves. From seeing the family fight with one another to loving each dearly it was big character development. In my essay i will discuss how the Younger family dealt with their conflicts and discuss the resolutions they came up with.

Believe it or not, many people are involved in racial and class division conflicts. Lately, both have become a problem in everyday life. Whether it's who has the most money, best job, better skin color, or even who clothes look the best, it's all labeled as “division.” A Raisin in the Sun is a prime proposition of class division between the races of American society in the nineteen-fifties.

Walter is an African American male who works as a chauffeur, and he lives with his mother, his sister, and his wife and son. Walter is a very rude and bitter person towards the other characters in the play. He wants to use his father’s insurance money to start a liquor business so he can help support his family, but everybody thinks it’s a bad idea. Since nobody thinks it is a good idea, Walter ends up being harsh towards everybody else. In the play, in Act II, Scene I, Walter says, “No he don’t! Excuse me for what? What you always excusing me for! I’ll excuse myself when I needs to be excused! They look as funny as them black knee socks

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 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.

Walter goes into immediate denial, making excuses for where Willy, their second business partner, could be with the money. He continues on until he realizes “THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY [HIS] FATHER’S FLESH-” (128) and he had lost it all; he felt he lost his chance of pursuing a better life now that he had even lost his father’s support. His false pride is severely injured up until he is struck with an idea which he believes could save the family. He abruptly calls Mr.Lindner, who he had originally turned away, and tells him to come by because he wants to take his offer of being paid to not move into the new house. He believes he is “..see[ing] life like it is” (141) in order to rightfully take his place as the head of the family by making this decision for them, regardless of the hope this house brought them all. The rest of the Younger family is disconcerted by this new business deal, and asks Walter if this is what he truly wants and believes is right, to which he responds that he’s “Going to feel fine…[like] a man…” (144). Due to internally knowing he still had prove himself but not physically doing so, Walter’s delicate, false pride in being a man doesn’t allow him to consider how his actions affect