Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Walter is one of the characters to impact the play. His main goal is to get Mama’s money that would be coming the next day so he can open his very own business. The conflict of this is that all the talking about the cash and the idea of getting a liquor business makes most of the family disagree with it. The family would rather use the currency for something more important. Walter talks with his wife, Ruth, and states “you see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand.” Ruth at this time, is trying to avoid the subject because she didn’t want to talk about the money.

In the beginning Walter is very selfish and only seems to care about the liquor store, he even asks Beneatha why she can’t just be a nurse or marry a rich man. The reason he says this to her is because he wants her to not go to medical school. Walter would rather invest the money rather than use it to pay for her schooling. Walter puts his own selfish needs before his family’s

After telling the exciting news of the family moving into their own house, Walter was furiated. Mama found Walter half drunk at the bar later that day, from the aggravation and negative energy the family gave off on him earlier that day. Walter and Mama have a conversation at the bar, and Mama is willing to give him 6,500 dollars and she ask him to promise her he will put half away in the bank for Beneatha's education, giving Walter the rest toward his business partnership. At this part of the book Walter saw that Mama had trusted Walter with the money his father had worked so hard for all of his life. He promised Mama that he would not let her down. Knowing Walter being so tempted by his dream of the liquor business, he finally had a decent amount of money to put him and his family into a good position. Walter no thought in the mind, puts the full 6,500 dollars towards the liquor business leaving nothing for Beneatha. Walter being so greedy, thought he knew what was best, and yet he is running into a bigger problem he would had never

Inspired by Langston Hughes poem the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry debuted on Broadway in 1959. The play tells a tale of an impoverished black family living in Chicago’s Southside who is about to receive a hefty life insurance check. Although the plays setting is likely the 1940’s, A Raisin in the Sun can be best understood when viewed in the civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s in America because of its theme of dreams and its systematic racism and segregation. The systematic racism and segregation present thought out the play can be best understood if put in the context of the 1950’s and 1960’s.

The Younger family has not been able to experience the finer things in life, and Walter, being the authoritative male figure, feels he is at fault knows that a change is needed. Walter’s solution is to use his father’s life insurance money to fund the acquiring of a liquor license. The women of the household are always ordering around Walter. It’s Ruth, Mama, or Beneatha telling him how to run things, and when he gets a chance to take the initiative by using the money to invest in his liquor license, his friend betrays him, and his dreams are crushed.

Suddenly, things changed, and Walter and his family came into quite a bit of money. Walter’s mama got a check for ten thousand dollars from her husbands life insurance after he passed away, which was a lot of money in that period of time. A nice house or a liquor store could easily be bought with half of the money from the check. Since the check was actually written out to mama, the money was all technically hers, so all that she wanted to do with it was buy her new house for her family, but stubborn Walter, he wanted his liquor store, and would stop at nothing to get it. When he finally realized that his mama was never going to give him the money to get the liquor store, he took it upon himself to get it himself. He eventually stole a portion of his mama’s money to get the store, but he was taken for a fool when the other person that he was making a deal with, stole all of his money. Now he had nothing, and mama had only some of her money.

His search for wealth not only affects himself but also his family. Not only does Walter ask Mama for his father’s life insurance money, he also refuses to act responsibly with his wealth “In fact, here’s another fifty cents…Buy yourself some fruit today—or take a taxicab to school or something” (31)! In this quote, Walter gives money to Travis against Ruth’s wishes. The passage exemplifies Walter’s desires to have power and wealth. He takes power from Ruth by going against what she has already told Travis. Walter uses money as a way to exercise this power, even if it may not be pragmatic for the family. From his perspective, he has the right to exercise his authority, because he is the man of the house. Walter thinks he has to exert this power due to his feelings of insecurity. He feels left out of prosperity and notices many instances of wealth in the outside

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic, it takes sweat, determination and hard work” This quote by Colin Powell reminds a person of the Younger family in A Raisin in the Sun written by Larraine Hansberry. It is a drama and is about a black family that lives in southside Chicago in a small apartment. They are waiting on an insurance check for $10,000 due to the father’s passing. Mama put downpayment on a house in this drama/play. There are three main objects of symbolism. They are light, plant and window however the strongest are the light and the plant.

Walter has proven that he is extremely selfish while talking to Mama about why he is so infatuated with money. “Because it’s life, Mama!” (Hansberry 74). Walter refuses to see why opening a liquor store is so bad, as he does not agree that it is a waste of money to just gamble away. He has ultimately blocked out the opinions and views of his family and he only focuses on the life insurance check that is soon to come in. He wishes to put all his blind faith, and money, into his acquaintances which his sister Beneatha has warned him are unreliable. He is extremely carless with the money he has not yet been given. While talking to Beneatha’s date, Asagai, Walter drunkenly slurs that he wishes to talk to Asagai’s father about business. “Big. Invest big, gamble big, hell, lose big if you have to” (Hansberry 84). If Walter is so careless with the money he does not yet hold it in his hands, how would he behave with money he will possess? As Walter continues to express his ideas to the family, it is clear how selfishly invested he is in the liquor store more than he is in his own family’s

Walter Younger genuinely exemplifies the American dream. He a bona fide entrepreneurial soul and yearning to advance. Walter wouldn 't like to test the present framework as Beneatha does. Rather, he wishes to advance up the social step into a higher class. He is unsatisfied with his work as an escort, and needs a major house, a great car, pearls for his better half, and a well-paying good occupation. Walter so seriously needs the bourgeoisie way of life. Walter 's adoration of riches and influence really makes a profound yearning inside him for change that makes him go for everything without exception at all cost. After a few occasions, Mama understands the essentials of his arrangements even though she ethically questions the possibility of an alcohol store. In the wake of making an upfront installment on a house in an overwhelmingly white neighborhood, Lena gives her most seasoned child obligation over whatever remains of the protection cash, requesting that he set away a critical segment for his sister 's medicinal school training. Despite what might be expected, Walter chooses to put most the cash in the alcohol store business with two men of faulty character. The arrangement falls through when Willy, one of the speculators, flees with all the cash. The family is totally subject to the cash:

He’s obsessed with it, and has the mindset that money cures all. The end goal for Walter is to buy a liquor store and make significant profits from the investment. This is his “dream”, and he refuses to let go of it regardless of Ruth’s and Mama’s pleads. Walter claims that nobody understands him, when in reality, they know he’s making an unrealistic choice.

From the start of the play Walter speaks of wanting to start a liquor store. In Act I Scene One Walter tells Ruth about the liquor store and tries to convince her to tell Mama about how it could be a good investment of the insurance money (Hansberry 32). Walter thinks the liquor store will be a good investment and a way to earn money for his family. Throughout the play he is fixated on this idea. While the reader may look at this and see it as a bad idea, in Walter’s mind this is a good way to earn money and start a business that will earn money to help support his family.

He is very ambitious and determined in his goals of becoming successful. At the same time he is very immature and naive. He is also very passionate and emotional and this sometimes blocks out his decision making. Walter is dead set on opening up the liquor store in the beginning of the novel and sees it as a way to better the life of his family. In addition he is not content with his current life. His immaturity is revealed when he argues with his adult sister and also when he has frequent emotional breakdowns. An example of his constant fighting with his sister is when he says “You a horrible-looking chick at this hour” (p.35). This displays Walter’s juvenile behavior, since at thirty-five Walter is still fighting with his sister. Walter is like a roller coaster going emotionally up and down. He reaches his highs when he was about to buy the liquor store. Contrary he hits rock bottom when he finds out Willy ran off with the money. Although never said Walter likely suffers from bipolar disorder given his constant mood swings. Nevertheless while the rest of the Younger’s see their lives going down the drain Walter still has optimism and hope. He views the money as a way out the Younger’s current living conditions. Walter was so determined to achieve his dream that he became gullible and naïve and convinced himself that things have to go right, but when they did not he lost his mind. Walter is

       Walter was upset when he heard 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. 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 mother and appreciated the trust she had in him. Walter then gave the money to his buddies to help him getting his liquor license without realizing that they betrayed him. As his dream crumbled to pieces, Walter was regret that he didn't listen to his mother, wife and sister.

It is said that “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others,” by Mahatma Gandhi. Based on the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry uses her characters to represent different ways to overcome and achieve finding one’s identity to get her message about its value across. But in search of finding one’s identity, the characters will face obstacles and other individuals that may interfere with the process of fulfilling the task to uncover their identities. In Walter’s, Beneatha’s and Mama’s search, they will find themselves making mistakes, exploring new thing, and even taking sacrifices when necessary.