Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … Raisin in the Sun: Walter Lee's Dream Deferred
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun chronicles the struggles of the African-American Younger family to gain a foothold in American middle-class society. One of the most poignant characters is the elder brother, Walter Lee, who works as a chauffeur but dreams of owning his own liquor store. Although racism has clearly limited Walter's dreams of social mobility, Hansberry also makes it clear that Walter's psychology has also been a source of his frustrations and limitations. Walter is constantly looking for a 'get rich quick' scheme, which results in him losing part of the inheritance his father worked so hard to obtain. Instead of investing in his education like his sister Beneatha, Walter invests in a liquor store instead: he claims he is a 'giant surrounded by ants,' but the actual scope of his ambitions is actually very small.
The beginning of the play depicts Walter's anger at the women in his life, whom he feels are preventing him from realizing his true potential. His mother has decided not to let him use the insurance money she inherited after the death of her husband to open a liquor store. His...
Walter cries "see, I'm trying to talk to you about myself…and all you can say is eat them eggs and go to work" (Hansberry 495). And perhaps most galling of all, his sister, although being an African-American like himself is studying to be a doctor, seemingly tapping into the social mobility to which Walter feels he lacks access. Walter feels closed off from rising above his current position.
Walter lashes out at Beneatha, both subtly and overtly both for 'acting white' in terms of her interests and academic aspirations and also for what he sees as the silliness of her Afro-centric interests. Over the course of the play, Beneatha dates George Murchison, a wealthy African-American and Joseph Asagai, an African exchange student. These two forces of conventional success and African dreams are tearing her apart, but it is clear to Walter that Beneatha is fighting to build a future beyond the confining walls of the small apartment in which all of them live. For this, he mocks her with obvious jealousy. However, the clearest indication of his anger at Beneatha is when…
Works Cited
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. 24 Nov 2013.
http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/tpalacios/files/ela11araisininthesun.pdf
FILM -- "A RAISIN IN THE SUN" AND THE AMERICAN DREAM Lena (Mama) What is the dream? Lena is the strong, traditional matriarch of the Younger family. Her dream is for her family: that they will be safe, emotionally and physically well, principled and happy. Why does it matter to the character? The dream matters to Lena because she lived through the difficult time in which many blacks left the South and moved North to
Walter's desire for financial success and his stories of rich white people are a metaphor for the self-respect he lacks in himself. It's easy to say that Walter should pay more attention to what is really important in life: family, respect, love, etc., but what Hansberry is illustrating is that when one lives in a society that looks down upon a group of people, those people have a much
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
At the same time Bernice doesn't tell her daughter the history of the heirloom, in fear of waking the spirit. This means that even Bernice is not using her legacy positively, but is afraid of it. Both characters are able to embrace their history with pride by the end of the play, as Boy Willie comes to understand the Piano's significance and Bernice begins to play it again (Sparknotes.com) 3.