Money is like a double ended sword, as it makes life easier on one hand while at the same time most of the problems in many families all revolve around money. Raisin in the sun play was written by Hansberry which the center of all the issues they are facing hence the central motif in […]
In “A Raisin in the Sun,” by Lorraine Hansberry, dreams are a large part of the theme of the story. Almost every character in the play has one. Dreams are great things, but unfortunately with growth, dreams fade, and everyone has to experience it. First, readers see Walter’s dream wither away. Before readers see it […]
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Get startedFor many people, individual dreams and goals develop from adolescence, and evolve into something more feasible, as responsibilities and the onset of reality arise. The influence of these dreams can be different for every person, depending on how elaborate their ambitions may be, and the circumstances which they face in their lives. The play “A […]
Lorraine Hansberry is an African American Playwright and writer who was born in Chicago, Illinois 1930. She was born to an African American family who at this time were perceived as better off than others in the African American community. Hansberry’s father was an educated Real Estate broker. He used his education and his achievements […]
Risk. As the enlightened philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau put it, “Every man has the right to risk his own life in order to preserve it. Has it ever been said that a man who throws himself out the window to escape from a fire is guilty of suicide?” Risk is what must be taken to […]
Throughout the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry a very prominent theme is poverty. This theme is exhibited through the difficulties the Younger family have balancing all their needs due to financial difficulty. The author starts to show how poverty affects the Younger’s from the very beginning of the play. She does […]
Lorraine Hansberry grew up on Chicago’s South Side. She used this setting in her writing of “A Raisin in the Sun”. Lorraine Hansberry uses her life events in her writing because she had no one to talk to when she was little since all of her siblings were older. In her autobiography she says “the […]
Dreams are an individual’s most powerful motivators. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, “A Raisin in the Sun”, the dreams are the motivating forces that drive its main characters. Unfortunately, dreams always have the chance of failing. With this possibility an individual must possess the strength to accept the disappointment. In “A Raisin in the Sun”, the […]
The American dream, is the longest lasting goal in American history, but is this timeless ambition fulfilling? Throughout history, millions of immigrants flooded America with the dream of economic prosperity, with only a handful ever reaching that goal. A large amount of writers and poets each economically successful have written their experiences into their works […]
Segregation and oppression were prevalent ideas in the mid twentieth century. Numerous blacks, while free, were forced into conditions they did not agree with, but they found joy in the little things that gave them hope. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, she uses several household objects as symbols to show the oppression […]
Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry has characters Walter, Ruth, Mama, Beneatha, George, Asagai and the list goes on. Walter the lead man in this play is shown as a colored man who wants to change his life in being rich and wanting to be like the white people who have money and can […]
Pride is a powerful force in A Raisin in the Sun (1959), where the Younger family, living in 1950’s Chicago. Has their dreams clash with the reality of their situation. Pride propels characters into conflict, and they emerge different from when they went in. They struggle to maintain their pride and dignity is a main […]
Conflict between a parent (or parental figure) and his or her child is inevitable. It is impossible that these two people will always see eye-to-eye when faced with life-changing decisions. Because of this, tensions often arise and threaten to destroy the bond only a family can share. In the play A Raisin in the Sun […]
In the 1950’s, women were expected to get married as soon as possible and be perfect wives, cooks, maids, and mothers. If a woman was not living like that, it was considered out of the ordinary and eccentric, and she was expected to conform to fit the description. However, in the play A Roisin In […]
In the play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is many works of literature that have focused on society, in particular the injustice in the society. Written in the mid-1900s, it was written to show the social issues the African Americans were going through during the mid 1900s, which was after the American […]
In the drama A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, there are many different argumentative themes present. One of the major themes in this literary work was that of fighting racial discrimination for the good of one’s self. This drama took place in the South Side of Chicago between the years 1945 and […]
The cinematic adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun. The 1961 version and the 2008 television version, differ in that the characters are depicted as having different level of concerns for the quality of life of other characters and social issues. In the 1961 film, Walter views Beneatha’s aspiration to become a doctor condescendingly, but […]
When watching a film, such as A Raisin in the Sun, one has to go into it with an open mind and a little skepticism. I generally don’t like older movies because of the way the people dress, the acting, and the quality of the picture. And granted, the camera not being steady did annoy […]
Broadway has been giving the world entertainment for over 100 years. With lights, song, dance and high energy performances. When it comes to Broadway productions it can range anywhere from a serious drama, or a whimsical magical world of Dr. Suess. From when Broadway hit New York back in the 1800s to now the stage […]
A Raisin in the Sun is a well-known play full of autobiographical elements from the playwright’s life. Written by Lorraine Hansberry, the book emphasizes the challenges of an underprivileged Black family living in South Chicago in the 1950s.
The literary piece abounds with symbolism for the struggle against injustice and racism. It also touches upon the themes of materialism and prominence.
While the narration is streamlined, it portrays several complex issues and characters, such as Walter Lee Younger and his mom Lena. Hence, a symbol or character analysis may be the ideal title for your academic work. Alternatively, you can focus on a short summary for your literary analysis essay on A Raisin in the Sun.
Essay topics worth considering are female strength, class differences, identity, and the American dream. Your argumentative paper can also review the movie adaptation and compare it with the original manuscript.
Although you might have read the story several times, checking a few A Raisin in The Sun essays written by experts will give you a head start. Composing a high-quality paper requires polished writing skills and the ability to frame a compelling thesis statement supported by relevant arguments.
If you still have trouble with the outline or find it challenging to write an introduction and conclusion, don’t hesitate to ask SupremeStudy for help. Our writing platform offers exceptional A Raisin in the Sun research papers on almost any topic elaborated in this masterpiece.
Throughout the play, Walter Younger is portrayed as an ordinary perspective of the mid-twentieth-century African-American male. He has a sense of masculinity and pride as the typical man/head of the family who struggles to support his family and who tries to discover new, better schemes to secure it financially. Throughout the play, difficulties and barriers that obstruct his and his family’s progress to achieve his dream of prosperity constantly frustrate Walter. He believes that money will solve all of their problems, but he is rarely successful with money.
His job as a chauffeur is a constant reminder to Walter that he is acting not unlike a slave to white people in such a menial job. As society’s attitudes towards African- American’s were still not far from the much more radical views not long before the setting of the play, opportunities for African-Americans were still limited. To get out of this race trap of belittling jobs and to be truly able to be a proper family man, Walter feels he needs to have his own business, which seems like a perfect opportunity to be able to deliver his family from poverty. However, he struggles to define his position within the family although Mama’s eventual decision to make him head of the household refortifies his personal identity.
Walter’s relationship with Ruth and Mama is tested throughout A Raisin in the Sun, as he seems to ignore them (along with the rest of his family) instead focusing on money and spending time making business deals. Mama asks Walter “Son – how come you talk so much ’bout money?” to which he replies with ‘immense passion”, “Because it is life, Mama!” His obsession with money also has a direct impact on the family’s relationships – particularly with Ruth, as she doesn’t understand why Walter has developed a sudden fixation with needing to have Walter Senior’s money.
Ruth has difficulty dealing with Walter’s mistreatment of her, for example, when he puts all the pressure on her to choose whether to keep her baby or not, instead of consulting and making the decision together, like a married couple would traditionally do. From his ignorance of everything around him that doesn’t involve money, the extent of his selfishness is shown as Walter is now choosing money over the life of the baby Ruth is carrying and now has become his whole ‘life’.
Walter falls into depression and seems to not care about losing his job describing it to Mama as “no kind of job”. Placing all his hope on his dream of using his father’s money for his liquor store, Walter has become financially unstable as his dreams are dependent on that money being granted to him. However, when Walter eventually does receive the money, overcome with happiness of his dream finally being ‘realise’, he is gullible and invests unwisely with it by giving it all to Willy who happened to be a criminal and ran off with all of the money.
After the arrival of Mr. Lindner and after considering his proposition for the Younger family to not move in to Clybourne Park but rather the community buy outright the house for them, Walter states he will accept this offer when Lindner arrives. However, as a result of Walter’s previous depression furthered by the fact that Willy stole all his money, he decides to plead to him as a slave would to their white master, saying “A-hee-heehee! Oh, yassuh boss! Yassssuh! Great white!”, showing just how Walter has lost all his sense of self-worth. This also depicts him as a victim of racism as by accepting Lindner’s offer, he is lowering himself and effectively promoting racism by allowing the white community of Clybourne Park to stay white and keep the black Younger family out of it, rather than letting society progress by integrating races.
As soon as Mama trusts Walter with the money, Walter gives her the perfect reason not to have trusted him with it as he loses with as quickly as he receives it by giving it to Willy. Mama is enraged when she hears about this, so in order to recoup his loss, Walter says he will call Mr. Linder back to buy them out, however the family is disgusted with Walter for his surrender to Mr Linder. Mama responds to Walter’s proposition to Lindner with “I come from five generations….. of 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 – dead inside”. By this message to Walter, she is pleading for Walter to maintain some pride as they are not ‘slaves’ that can be easily taken advantage of. She feels so strongly about this as she’s never sacrificed her pride, and if Walter carries on with the deal, she will have to.
Walter’s relationship with Travis appears to be built on him trying to provide for his son in the form of material possessions and wealth. He tries to appeal to Travis through boasting about how from the profit of his liquor business, he will be able to afford expensive cars and Travis will be able to choose what school he goes to, where he says “Just tell me where you want to go to school and you’ll go. Just tell me, what it is you want to be – and you’ll be it… Whatever you want to be – Yessir!” This again emphasises Walter’s belief in material wealth and putting all hope in the money, without having a backup plan.
When Mr. Lindner appears at the door of the Younger family’s house, Walter completely changes his mind and decides to go against Mr.Lindner’s community’s wishes by saying “we have decided to move into our house because my father…earned it for us brick by brick”, much to the rest of the family’s delight. Walter is still showed to have an obsession with money, telling Beneatha “You better marry yourself a man with some loot…”, however the normality of the family is restored with Walter and Beneatha arguing as per usual and Mama and Ruth reminiscing over the events that have occurred.
Walter Lee Younger’s identity is important to his well-being and self-esteem because as soon as money became a part of Walter’s identity it completely changed the relationships between him and everyone else in his family – isolating him from them leading to him becoming depressed and removing his position as the head of the family by not looking out for the rest of them. As Walter tried to restore this position with his money-making scheme, he became fixated on it and ended up losing out on his dream as a result of achieving it. By realising that his position in the family is part of his identity, Walter chose to take control and stop Mr. Linder from taking the house, essentially regaining his role as the hero of the family and saving them all from becoming subjects of racism, showing how important his identity is to him.
