A Raisin in The Sun
By: Cristina, Julie, Michael, Kimberly
Thesis Statement
In Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun, unattainability of the American dream is presnted through out the story as Walter Younger tries to gain success for himself and his family but cannot completely achieve his dreams due to the struggles of man vs. self as he tries to content his family.
Theme Analysis
Conflict
Characterization & Quest for the American Dream
Beneatha Younger
Beneatha is Walter’s sister, a college student studying to become a doctor which shows her ambition that she wants to do something with her life. She is trying to figure herself out and find her identity. Her American dream is to become independent on her own and make something of herself. Although she was planning on using her father’s insurance money to get her started although when Walter and Mama used the money she was furious with their mistakes and actions on how they used that money. Beneatha sneers that Walter is “not a man . . . but a toothless rat.” Mama tells beneatha that she should love Walter the most when he is “at his lowest and can’t believe in himself ‘cause the world done whipped him so!” Mama tells Beneatha to mourn her brother, not the insurance money that he lost.
Walter Lee Younger
Mama’s only son, Ruth’s husband, Travis’s dad and Beneatha’s brother is a hardworking and ambitious man that strives to achieve the American dream of being wealthy and successful to bring up his family from poverty, by any means necessary. His family receives a check for $10,000 for his father’s death, he sees it as an opportunity to pursue his dream and invest the money in a liquor store to continue to provide for his family. Walter loses himself and struggles with man vs. self-trying to achieve his dream and forgets what really matters, the money was breaking him and his family apart. Mama invested the money in a house and he only received half the money which was stolen. Later he came to his sense and realized he didn’t need money and success to be happy as long as he still had his family on his side. His actions and mistakes hurt him and his family in many ways but his realization of family values came through in the end.
Lena Younger ("Mama")
Mama is Walter’s and Beneatha’s mother, she is the head of the household she believes in nothing less than family values and morals. She takes pride in who she is and in her beliefs even though they may seem to be “old fashioned”. To mama dreams and morals are most important she only dreams to give her family a home of their own and grow up to be successful as well but without losing themselves in the process. She used most of the money to buy their house but when they were bribed to move out, they moved out without taking the money because they had too much pride. Mama’s dream didn’t fully come true but she never lost herself and remembered all her family values and that’s what was always most important to her.
Symbolism
Mama's Plant
Walter's Eggs
Insurance Check
Conclusion
Work Cited
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage, 1994. Print.
TheDailyBeast.Print.
mentorsInternational. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
<Https://mentorsinternational.org/how-we-help/thepoverty-problem/
?gcild=CMuDm7GtwsICFU4v7AodgVOAFg>.
A Raisin In The Sun (2008) The Takers And The Taken Scene. Youtube.com. Film.
A modern day "A Raisin in The Sun".
A Raisin in the Sun relevance of the play today as it pertains to Chicago as the modern day, because till this day there is still Discrimination, Poverty and Violence towards people that live in the south side. In the article a homeless African American women whom was roaming though the South side happen to be discriminated by a white police officer because of her skin ton. Another violence in the U.S. news the daily Beast was shown that police officer happened to stick a gun inside Williams mouth because he wasn't following as directed. Poverty today is still shown in the book Raisin in the sun because humans still struggle with lack of education, good nutrition and a safe place to raise a family.