Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Mama tells him, “I ain’t never stop trusting you. Like I never stop loving you.” This shows that she really cares for her son and still wants him to try to accomplish his dreams. Being Mama wants her family to be happy again too, she spills her heart out and expresses how she really is sorry for getting in the way of Walter’s goals. She claims, “What you ain’t never understood is that I ain’t nothing, don’t own nothing, ain’t never really wanted nothing that wasn’t for you. There ain’t nothing as precious to me…There ain’t nothing worth holding on to, money, dreams, nothing else-if it means-if it means it’s going to destroy my boy.” Mama shows here that she wanted her son to know that she would like the family to be united like it had used to be. This is how Mama impacted the

The younger family needs money they are getting money from a insurance check for the death of mama's husband (Walters father). In the Younger family there is a lot of hate toward each other is because Walter is totally hates his life. He hates it because he doesn't want to disappoint his family by not having money, he also feel like he's not a man because he has to look his son in the face and say no we can't give you money or no in general. The only time Walter seems to get happy is when the money is coming and in his mind he is going to get his dream but in reality it's mama's money and she can do what she wants. For example Mama says “Mama: “Son, how come you talk so much ‘bout money?” Walter: “Because it is life, Mama!” Mama: “Oh—so now its life. Money is

There are many events in the play that show how family will be there for you through thick and thin. One of these events is when Walter just argued with Ruth, and Mama stayed to continue to talk to Walter to confirm that he is O.K. This happens on page 72, "Mama: (Quietly) Walter, what's the matter with you?" that statement shows that Mama wanted to check up on Walter to ensure that he is O.K. Towards the end of their talk, Mama breaks it to him that Ruth is pregnant, and she is planning to get rid of the baby. Walter's and Mama's talk show that even when everyone else gave up on Walter; Mama doesn't give up on him. Another event is when Walter lost all of the money Mama gave him, and he didn't put any of it into the bank for Beneatha. Mama still stuck by his side when everyone else didn't trust him

You see, this little liquor store we got in mind costs $75,000 and we figured the initial investment on the place be ‘bout $30,000, see. That be $10,000 each. Course, there’s a couple of hundred you got to pay so’s you don’t spend your life just waiting for them clowns to get your license approved.,” (1.1, 1133). Walter believes that investing in the liquor store, will earn his family a fortune. However, the reader is likely to feel that he is being inconsiderate by failing to acknowledge that the money does not belong to him, it belongs to Mama and should be up to her how to spend it. Furthermore, Walter acts selfishly and is inconsiderate of what his mother wants. An example of Walter acting selfishly is located towards the end of Act I, scene II. It is Saturday, and Walter has just returned home from work. He is only concerned of the checks arrival; he fails to greet his family. He tries showing Mama the paperwork that his friend Willy put together for the liquor store, and becomes upset that Mama wanted nothing to do with his plans and had refused to even look at the papers he showed her. Sarcastically he tells Mama, “Oh-so you don’t aim to have to speak on that again? So you have decided . . Well you tell that to my boy tonight when you put him to sleep on the living room couch . . . Yeah-and tell it to my wife, Mama, tomorrow when she has to go out of here and look after somebody else’s kids. And tell it to me, Mama, every time we

A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, this play also comes in a series of movies. In the movie version of A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Leon Kenny, there are many similarities and differences from the play. In the play, for example, a difference is that Mama talks about the check with Walter in their apartment, but in the movie they talk in a diner after Mama finds Walter in a bar. Another difference is that Travis was in the play a lot, but in the movie he was hardly included. A similarity, however, is that Mama gives her same speech about how loving someone when they are down is the best thing you can do for them. The movie version was set in the time period of the Civil Rights Movement, and the play was not set in that time period. While both versions of A Raisin in the Sun address the similarities and differences, the differences exceed the similarities, hence a teacher must show the movie and the play so the students can understand the significance of both.

Hansberry develops this particular issue by illustrating how important success is to the second generation of the Younger family, Walter and Beneatha. After a long heritage of slavery and servitude, the Younger siblings want to take advantage of this age of social reform and break from the binding traditions that have beset their race in the past. Mama illustrated this when she says, “Son – I come from five generations of people who was slaves and sharecroppers – but ain’t nobody in my family never let nobody pay ‘em no money that was a way of telling us we wasn’t fit to walk the earth. We ain’t never been that poor. We ain’t never been that – dead inside” (Hansberry, 143). They view the expected income of $10,000 in insurance money as a gateway to get what they each desire and achieve success. Walter Younger feels degraded and miserable in his job as a

All in all Mama and Walters dreams both involve money. Mama shows us her longing for the acceptance of society when she immediately buys a house in a white neighborhood, to provide for her family. Walter shows us his desperation to be a valuable human being when he steals money in hopes of starting his liquor business. Walter wants to be respected and live a happy lifestyle for this family. He longs to be the head of the household. Walter see’s himself with a liquor store as having power. It isn’t till the end until he rethinks the values of himself and his family’s future about how there is more to living than just having material riches. Mama only yearns for her family to be respected and live up to what society perceives.

A Raisin in, the sun deals with the trials and tribulations of the Younger family. Facing the struggle of culture identity crisis , racial integration, death and societal barriers. All of these and more are presented to the family in order to test their will and their drive for a better life then they live now.

Walter begins to drink, stay away from home, and to constantly argue with his wife, Ruth. Walter's life is contrasted by the role of his recently widowed mother, who holds to more traditional values of acceptance of life's lot and of making the best of any situation. Walter Lee's "Mama" holds Walter's father up as an example of a man with pride and a man that, despite racial injustice in a dualistic society, worked hard to provide for his family. This adds to Walter's frustration. Walter now feels incapable and small in his mama's eyes.

“I feed my son, Lena!” (560). This is a quote from Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. The play is about a family who lives in a cramped apartment in Chicago. Being poor has caused the family a lot of stress.

Although Mama feels that she and her husband worked tirelessly to instill in their son a sense of right and wrong, it is evident that these two do not see eye to eye. Much to his mother’s chagrin, Walter describes on many occasions his dream of opening a liquor store. He tells her that this will be his one chance to make something of himself in his life. Unfortunately for him, this goes against everything Mama stands for. In Act 1, when Walter tries to pitch his plans for the business to the family for the umpteenth time, she declares that “there ain’t going to be no investing in no liquor stores” without even looking at them (page 70). This shows that, in contrast to her power-hungry son, Mama’s morals could not allow her to support his idea. However, one can only imagine the pain it must have caused her to squash her restless son’s only ambitions. It is clear that she wanted him to be able to provide a better life for his family, but eventually her conscience won out, and she refused to enable his immorality. This leads to Mama having to take complete control over her grown son’s life. “You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to,” Walter accuses his mother (page 94). Evidently, Mama’s choice to not provide Walter with the money needed to open his store destroys her child’s sense of self-sufficiency. His opportunity to achieve what had a

"A Raisin in the Sun" is a play by Lorraine Hansberry, who presents the American Dream. The Younger family consists of Walter and Ruth Younger, their son Travis, along with Walter's mom Lena (Mama) and Walter's sister Beneatha. Mama, with Ruth's support, wishes to move out of their apartment and into a residence in a better area. Walter wants to emerge wealthy and plans to do so by means of investing in an enterprise with his friend. Beneatha wants to go to medical school.

     Walter dreams of owning a liquor store, and he shows this throughout the whole play. Walter feels that “don’t nothing happen for you in this world ‘less you pay somebody off!” Owning a liquor store is Walter’s American dream, as he believes that it will provide him and his family with a greater income so they will not have to live in poverty anymore. However, Hansberry shows through Mama how they have different views of the American dream when she tells Walter that the liquor store would be un-Christian like and that they should spend the money on a new house instead. Hansberry makes Mama more convincing by showing her carrying a Bible as she comes out of her room in the first scene. Mama also is seen asking God for help and talking about God throughout the play. This is shown when Walter admits that the money Mama gave him was gone because his partner took it and Mama says “Oh, God… look down here – and show me the strength.” Mama is very angry that Walter wasted all of Beneatha’s school money, but she doesn’t let her temper get the best of her and instead goes to God for support.

Parents and children often disagree on ways to spend money. In the play A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, Lena Younger, mother of Walter Lee Younger, debates with her son about the importance of money. Walter Lee Younger believes that money is everything, but Mama believes that it is anything but everything. This conflict between Walter and Mama is the outcome of their different ways they grew. Overall, it reveals the theme of betrayal in the play.

During the 1900s many black families barely had enough money to pay for the basic necessities needed to live. At times some families would receive a significant sum of money, something they were not used to getting. Deciding on how to spend this money is what caused problems among some families. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, she argues that there are times when in a state of financial instability and where money is a necessity to completing one’s dream that some family members choose to put their dreams over others when suddenly given the opportunity. After Mama’s husband died she was bound to receive an insurance check that would be used by the Younger family. Before even receiving the