Dreams are what give people hope. Dreams are the stuff of imaginings and day dreams. For the Younger family in a Raisin in the Sun, dreams provide each character a motivation and desire. The play shows each member of the Younger family's dream through various instances throughout the text. What starts off a desire or a whim, evolves into a defining moment for each Younger family member.
The first of the Younger family to reveal his or her dream is Walter. Walter desperately desires to become wealthy. As a limousine driver, he barely makes enough to get by and plans on investing on a partnership with Bobo and Willy, that would produce a liquor store. Walter explains the liquor store idea to Ruth demonstrating his zeal to get out of the dilapidates surroundings he lives in. "...this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be 'bout thirty thousand, see. That be ten thousand each. Course, there's a couple of hundred you got to pay." (Hansberry 45)
Mama is wise enough to spend some of the money on a new home that is part of her dream for the family. While...
His desperation for wanting his dream to become a reality is what destroys Beneatha's dream (at least temporarily) and causes some of the drama see in the play. The liquor store is the symbol of Walter's dream and provides both meaning to Walter's character and the means of which to see his tragic flaw.
Many people go to the liquor store to drink away their sorrows. There is a desperation in going to a liquor store. Walter's desperation is the key means of which Willy can sucker him into investing. The liquor store is a motivating and destructive force.
Beneatha has the dream of becoming a doctor to which she struggles seeing through due to Walter's misuse of the money Mama gave him. Her dreams are symbolized through her relationship with Asagai. Asagai is one of the men she sees and is the one to help her realize her dependence on her brother's investments and Mama's insurance money to become a doctor. She realizes that while she may have missed out on an…
Raisin in the Sun Beneatha is ahead of her time in a Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Beneatha is the daughter of Lena Younger and younger sister of Walter Lee who is married to Ruth. Walter Lee and Ruth have a ten-year-old son Travis, who gets his way often being the only grandson. Beneatha is a college student who desires to attend
She misrepresents the proposal of marriage of Asagai and is unable to provide the man who loves her so much and who understand her well. The complex character of Beneatha demonstrates another hidden quality towards the end of the play. The confrontation of Walter with Mr. Lindner reveals the arrogant statement of Mr. Lindner, "I take it then that you have decided to occupy." The easiness of Beneatha's reply
.. Don't understand nothing about building their men up and making 'em feel like they somebody. Like they can do something" (Hansberry, I, i.). It is clear that Walter Lee still believes it is the woman's role to support the man in his endeavors, and not to make decisions or act on them. In her responses to him, Ruth displays her growing frustration with and rejection of this belief, which
As to Walter's decision to use the money as he saw fit, we find a man who's suffering and discontent had blinded him to the real sustenance and value in his family. Truly, for the unhappiness which he had bore, and for the racial abuse shown to the family through such archetypal figures as Mr. Lindner, Walter might have seen himself as fortunate for the presence of all the family
Although treated unjustly by her older sibling, Beneatha has begun to question her desire to become a doctor, and is considering trying to get more in touch with her African roots instead. She wants to fix things in a more meaningful fashion than merely physically. The end of the play is bittersweet, because it is uncertain if the family will be happy in the all-white suburb, or safe, and because
It is the last thing Mama carries out of the apartment when the family moves, symbolizing the family's failure to thrive in their neighborhood. Both the plant and the Younger family are expected to blossom in their new surroundings. Walter Jr. wants to use the money to buy a liquor store with his friends. He believes that owning a business will give the family the financial freedom that will make