Walter Lee is the head of the family and in the beginning of the play he seems to be extremely bitter. He works for a rich white man as a chauffeur. This easily makes him bitter on the inside because he sees everyday what it is like to be rich. You can tell this because he tells Mama that he sees the rich white boys sitting down to eat every day and he knows they are talking about business or something about closing a million dollar deal. Walter Lee has had many business ideas in the past but they all seem to flop to the ground in a hurry like humpty dumpty. When he comes up with the idea of going into partnership with some men to open a liquor store his Mama is upset with him. He eventually convinces her into giving him a cut of the money from the insurance company after she buys a house for them to move in to. When he gives the money to his partner for the business, his partner runs with the money and is not seen again. This makes Walter very upset and he goes off the deep end for a short amount of time. The need of money may be important but it is definitely not worth losing your family over. After the money is lost, Walter invites the white man back to the apartment to discuss his offer and plans to accept the bribe to his family for them not to move. When the man gets to the apartment, Walter changes his mind and tells the…
In the beginning of the story Walter was trying to pressure his mother into giving him all the money she received from his father’s life insurance policy. “Do you know what this money can do for us Mama -Mama I want so many…
At first, all Walter seems to care about is owning a liquor store with his two friends, Willy and Bobo. For example, one way he is trying to attempt his goal is by using Big Walter’s insurance money. He thinks that this is a good idea because it is an opportunity for him to make contributions for his family. In addition, Mama helps him out when she gives him $3500 to invest in a liquor store even…
Everybody had dreams and aspirations, however those things never always go as planned. This happens to the characters in the play, A Raisin in the Sun. The play was written by Lorraine Hansburry, and it was the first Broadway play written by an African American woman. In the play, the Younger family, a family of five, live in a small two-bedroom apartment in Chicago. Mama, Lena, is about to receive an insurance check from her husband's death in the mail and has to decide what she is going to do with it. The check is seen as a beacon of hope to change their family's lives and make it much easier. Lena's son, Walter, wants to use it to leave his old job as a chauffer for a white man and invest in a liquor store, while Lena's daughter, Beneatha, wants to use it to help pay for her education to become a doctor. In the end, Mama entrusts some money to Walter and decides to buy a house in a white neighborhood to better accommodate their family because Walter's son had been sleeping on the living room couch. Walter's wife, Ruth, also goes through her own problems when she learns that she is expecting another child in a household that is already having a hard time getting by. A Raisin in the Sun is a great play that encompasses many themes of the African American working class culture in the United States. The play goes over important themes such as family, dreams, gender, race, and suffering, and A Raisin in the Sun connects all these themes to each other some way or another.…
In the story A Raisin in the sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a story about a poor family and how money has caused them to change the way the view life completely. The children of mama have all fallen far from her. she says that life is about being free and having family that cares about you. her kids think it’s all about money. The plot is the same in both. In both walter Lee Younger thinks it,s a good idea to invest the money in a liquor store. Beneatha Younger wants to invest the money in her education. Mama and rose want to buy a house. The story then tells you how each one wants to use and spends the money.…
Albert Einstein once said “Try not to become a man of success rather try to become a man of value.” A Raisin In the Sun was written by Lorraine Hansberry in nineteen fifty nine.The play explores the struggles of an African American family to achieve their dreams. In the play Walter Lee Younger Jr. the son of Mama(Lena) evolves throughout the trials and tribulations the family faces in the play.…
In A Raisin in the Sun written by Lorrain Hansberry Walter experiences frustration throughout act one. The family lives in a small apartment with just two bedrooms. Mama and Beneatha share a room and the other one is for Ruth and Walter. Travis, the son sleeps on the couch everyday in the living room. Walter, the man of the house, works as a chauffer everyday making little money. However, opportunities arise with the insurance money that the family will receive from the death of Walter’s father. Unhappy with his job, Walter wants to be rich and devises a plan to acquire wealth with his friends to invest his father’s insurance money in a new liquor store venture. Nevertheless, the family believes in buying a new house to have a better life instead of risking it all on a risky venture. Walter demonstrates the trait of frustration throughout the Scene. At the breakfast table, Ruth does not agree with Walter’s Liquor store plan, thus Walter becomes frustrated and says “That is just what is wrong with the colored woman in this world… Don’t understand about building their men up and making’em feel like they somebody like they can do something” (34). The Liquor store to Walter is an opportunity that leads to a great provider for the family. Working as a chauffer for a rich white man has made Walter totally dissatisfied. There's no room for advancement as an African American. Thus Liquor store is the only hope for Walter to become rich and successful. In order to invest the money Walter needs support from his family, which he is not receiving according to the context. In Walter’s perspective Ruth is shutting him down with negativities and unreliability. Next, Mama comes and talks about how to spend the money. Mama wants a new house and she does not believe in investing in the liquor store. Walter comes in shortly after the check arrives and tires to convince Mama otherwise. However, Mama will not listen, which frustrated…
Some people have the opportunity and easier access to make the American dream a reality, for others it remains just a dream. A dream that is deferred by many obstacles and such. Larry Hughes poem, a dream deferred describes this situation. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family each have dreams that they want to fulfill but is disrupted because of family selfishness and family issues. Each character had different dreams of their own. Big Walter, Walter Lee, and Mama Younger and the effects of their dreams on the family’s morale. Hughes uses a metaphor of a raisin to describe neglected hopes and dreams, which in turn is reflected in Hansberry’s exanple of the Younger family and their greed to fulfill the American…
When I finished A Raisin in the Sun, I sat back and reflected on the primary thematic messages the author had shown. One of the themes I came across was the strength of a dream. Throughout the play, you are reminded of every dream each character has. Beneatha yearns to have a medical degree and become a doctor while Mama’s dream is for her children to be humble and grateful in a new home. Walter’s dream is to open up a liquor store and make money for his family to have a “better” life. Early on in the story, readers find out that Mama has a large check coming from her late husband’s life insurance. This excitement starts to create a large uproar of arguments in the family. The arguments ranged from Walter and Ruth to Mama and Walter to…
Although not broke, the Youngers are considered barely above poverty. With little income, and one young boy to care for, the household wealth does not hold up well. Even though Walter works as a chauffeur, he does what he can on his meager remuneration. Obviously, most people would hate being a chauffeur for many years and Walter is no exception. Later on in the play, Walter defies his work by staying out and going to the bar instead. This seeds the start of a long string of bad decisions that ultimately lead to Walter’s job being on the line. This defiance, developed within Walter at young age due to his fiery and explicit personality, will begin to greatly affect how he reacts to certain situations and his overall decision making process, furthering the risk on each choice Walter makes. Henceforth, Walter would rather drink his problems away than work through them. This will impact Walter’s goal of obtaining a middle income lifestyle for his…
In the beginning of A Raisin in the Sun Walter Lee is trying to convince his family that his dream to invest in a liquor store will help them in the long run. In act 1 scene 1 Walter and Ruth are discussing how they're tired of everything, tired of living in their "beat up hole of a house" (Hansberry 32). Walter states that all he wants is to invest in a liquor store with a couple of his friends and every…
One could say that a raisin in the sun could represent a dream being deferred at least Langston Hughes believes so. This title is aimed toward the father’s dream to have a better life for his family. Although, I feel this fairly depicted Beneatha Younger’s drive, ambition, and success in the shadow of her failing family. The play, a raisin in the Sun was written by Lorraine Hansberry. Throughout the play, Beneatha remained the most educated and intelligent member of the Younger family. She went to Medical school to pursue her dreams and create a better life for herself. Beneatha has three key characteristics that are portrayed throughout the book, including ambition, sarcasm, and easily influenced. Beneatha indirectly revealed her ambition, sarcasm, and easily-influenced, by not specifically expressing to the reader that she was each of those things.…
“A Raisin in the Sun,” by Lorraine Hansberry has many connections with the previous books we’ve read. “Of Mice and Men,” by John Steinback mainly focused on dreams, similar to “A Raisin in the Sun.” Jane from “Jane Eyre” also is very similar to Beneatha from, “A Raisin in the Sun.” They are both independent and feminist women. The theme in “Native Sun” was mainly about racism. This effects many important things in the story. This had the same kind of theme as “A Raisin in the Sun.” It contrasts beautifully contrasts with some of the most of the books we’ve read with dreams, characteristics and similar theme.…
Walter Lee Younger dreamed of being successful and wealthy, and giving his family a better life. Walter explains to his family,…
Walter in “A Raisin in the Sun” has a problem with his family. Since Walter’s family is going through a depression, the reader can expect the Water Lee family is facing internal conflicts. An internal conflict is a problem that deal’s with a person’s emotions. Walter Lee has a major internal conflict with money which leads to other problems with his family.At the beginning of the play Travis who is Walter’s son wanted an amount of money but Ruth kept refusing to give him that amount of money but Walter gave it to him anyway so he doesn’t find out they’re poor. Walter was a limousine driver for a rich person. Also, Walter’s mom has a check of 10,000 dollars. But she doesn’t want to use it for his dreams. immediately after it receives the check…