A Raisin in the Sun: Poem of Insecurities
Jerry Fermin
November 5, 2012
English 33
Mrs. Weissmann
The dreams of the characters in the Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry illustrated the theme of Langston Hughes poem. Lena, Walter, Ruth, and Beneatha all lived under the same roof, but their aspirations were all different. Being the head of the house, Lena just wanted her children to live the lives they imagined for themselves. Walter’s dream was to invest his mother’s money in a liquor store and to create a better life for his son Travis. Beneatha in the other hand wants to use her mother’s money to become a doctor when she got out of college and Ruth wants to be wealthy. A Raisin in the Sun was a book about “dreams deferred” and in this book Loraine Hansberry fluently described the dreams of the Younger Family and how their dreams became a destructive weapon on their family.
Lena Younger, Walter and Beneatha’s mother was a widow who devoted her life to her children after her husband died. When she retired she was waiting for her husband’s insurance money to arrive. With the ten thousand dollars in her hand, Lena decided to buy a 3500 dollar house at Clybourne Park and she was also going to put some money in the bank for Beneatha so she could go to medical school. Those were her dreams, they were so simple and ordinary and also beautiful. She expected everyone to be delighted and surprised of the things she had done with the check and indeed they were, except for Walter.
While Lena got her pie in the sky, Walter was upset his mother had spent the insurance money on the house and thought it wasn't fair that Beneatha got some of it for her medical school while he got nothing for his liquor store business. Walter always discussed his dream thoroughly to his family and talked about how it would make their lives different, but Lena, who always wanted her son to be happy, trustingly gave the rest of the insurance money to Walter. Holding the money in his hands, Walter thanked his
November 5, 2012
English 33
Mrs. Weissmann
The dreams of the characters in the Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry illustrated the theme of Langston Hughes poem. Lena, Walter, Ruth, and Beneatha all lived under the same roof, but their aspirations were all different. Being the head of the house, Lena just wanted her children to live the lives they imagined for themselves. Walter’s dream was to invest his mother’s money in a liquor store and to create a better life for his son Travis. Beneatha in the other hand wants to use her mother’s money to become a doctor when she got out of college and Ruth wants to be wealthy. A Raisin in the Sun was a book about “dreams deferred” and in this book Loraine Hansberry fluently described the dreams of the Younger Family and how their dreams became a destructive weapon on their family.
Lena Younger, Walter and Beneatha’s mother was a widow who devoted her life to her children after her husband died. When she retired she was waiting for her husband’s insurance money to arrive. With the ten thousand dollars in her hand, Lena decided to buy a 3500 dollar house at Clybourne Park and she was also going to put some money in the bank for Beneatha so she could go to medical school. Those were her dreams, they were so simple and ordinary and also beautiful. She expected everyone to be delighted and surprised of the things she had done with the check and indeed they were, except for Walter.
While Lena got her pie in the sky, Walter was upset his mother had spent the insurance money on the house and thought it wasn't fair that Beneatha got some of it for her medical school while he got nothing for his liquor store business. Walter always discussed his dream thoroughly to his family and talked about how it would make their lives different, but Lena, who always wanted her son to be happy, trustingly gave the rest of the insurance money to Walter. Holding the money in his hands, Walter thanked his