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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun
A Raisin in the Sun Essay

Often in works of literature a character’s life is affected by a single act or mistake

In the play, “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry , the character Mama is affected by a mistake. When Mama’s husband dies, she receives a $10,000 check. She decides to split the money three ways. One portion will go to purchasing a new house for the family, the second to her daughter Beneatha’s school and the rest for her son Walter to put in the bank. Her son’s plan was to use the money to make an investment on a liquor store. Mama tells him that he is to not use the money on the store and trusts him with the money. In result, he does not listen and gets scammed for the money. This affects Mama by crushing her dreams, disgracing her husbands death, and the selfishness of her children.

Throughout the play, Mama has a dream of someday having her own garden where she can plant this little flower she keeps in the window. Although
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She is embarrassed in the way they are acting as if money is everything. In Act I Scene II, she asks her son why money is life to him because life used to be freedom. Walter responds by saying it was always money which infuriates her. She informs him that before they had to worry about staying alive and that him and Beneatha aren’t acting satisfied or proud of all her and her husband have done for them. Also in Act II, she tells Walter that she comes from five generations of people who were slaves and sharecroppers, and they never let anyone pay them money or make them feel like they weren’t fit to walk on this earth. This occurs when a man tries to pay them to not move into the house in Clybourne Park because it is a “white” neighborhood. Beneatha replies to Mama by saying all their dreams are dead now. It is hard to see her children act so selfish, considering all that her husband and her have done to provide for

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