Period 2
Hope for the Future
When the curtain falls and Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun comes to an end, do the Youngers, moving into an all white neighborhood, have a glimmer of hope in their future? For many years, even before the story begins, the Youngers seem to know what their future was going to consist of: working for the white man and cleaning their apartment that is constantly encumbered in filth. This drab thought of this family's existence, generation after generation comes to an end when the Younger family receives $10,000 in the mail as compensation for a death in the family. Walter, the son of Mama, loses the majority of it and they keep just enough to buy a new house. Having said this, every member of the Younger family has a chance of success in the future, which gives this play a happy ending because it is one the reader can think optimistically about.
Ruth, Beneatha, and Travis Younger all end the play on a hopeful note and have bright destinies ahead of them. Ruth ends the play with a newfound sense of hope in her husband Walter. Towards the end of the play, when Walter declines Lindner's offer she " [Bites] her lip lest her own pride explode in front of Mama"(151). This quotation illustrates her new hope for Walter and no matter how badly things in the past went, there is still a chance that everything will be alright. She senses the journey ahead and how difficult it will be, but she knows she will have Walter by her side when she has to go through these troubling, yet rewarding, times. Beneatha, Walter's sister, has huge opportunities for her future that can fulfill her deepest dreams. Asagai, her boyfriend, asks her to marry him and to come back to Nigeria with him to become a doctor there. She is excited with this wonderous opportunity and exclaims, "Yes- just look at what the New World hath wrought!"(137). Beneatha is excited, especially because this is one of the few opportunities she has