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Lorraine Hansberry looks at a variety of themes in her play Raisin in the Sun. These themes include the challenge of upward mobility for blacks, the problem of inequality—particularly when the Youngers find a home they want to buy in a white neighborhood and are pressed by another home owner there to live somewhere else. The themes of dignity and family are also important in the play, as the head of the household Walter has to make a decision about whether he is going to finally give up his get rich quick schemes and put his family first or blow the rest of the money left by Mama for them to get a home. There is also the problem of the unexpected pregnancy for Ruth and what it means for the family. Ruth is scared because they are already so poor and she does not want to burden the family any more than it already is. But Mama knows what is best and advises her that life is always the most precious thing and that the life of the family is what matters most—more than material possessions, more than money, more than the burden that comes with keeping it all going. These words of wisdom from that matriarch of the drama help to show how the play works its magic: it sets up these conflicts of conscience and then allows them to play out and be resolved in a manner that is uplifting and hopeful.
The fact that Mama takes the money she has and puts it towards a down payment on the home in the white neighborhood so that the family is in a better living space with more room (to help ease Ruth’s fears about overburdening the family in the tight quarters they live in at the time by adding a new baby to the mix) shows just how important and supportive the matriarch is. It is one of those moments in the drama that really highlights how special love and family is. Travis, like Mama, represents this devotion to kindness and love and in his own childlike ways he has as much wisdom and insight as his grandmother. These two help bring the soul and the heart that keep Walter and Ruth on the straight and narrow in Raisin in the Sun.
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