A Raisin In The Sun Money Theme

In this scene from A Rasin in The Sun by Loraine Hansberry, the main theme is money and the characters differing opinions on how the insurance money should be spent. The first character, Walter, wants to spend the money on a risky business endeavor with his friends. Walter is a big dreamer and he is frustrated with where he is in his life and how he is providing for his family. The other character is Mama, Walters mother, she received the money after the death of her husband Big Walter. She doesn't understand how her children have become so different from her and she wants to use the money to buy a house for the family to live in. In this excerpt, Walter is desperately trying to get mama to see it from his point of view, and she is despairing his obsession with money. The author, Loraine Hansberry, is trying to make the point that money affects people differently and how it can be a corrupting force in the lives of those who have it.

The money that this show revolves around means something different to each of the characters, especially to those who are in this scene. To Walter, it is a chance to get the life he thinks he and his family deserve and to reach his dreams. To …show more content…
Mama does not understand this or why money is so important to him, it is after Walter's declaration that money is life that she gets to the core of her ideals, " Oh, so now its life. money is life, once freedom used to be life- now its money." In this way, Walter and Mama are opposites, with her son looking forward and upward and Mama looking back and to settle down. This is yet another example of Hansberry using money as a force that is splitting the family up. this is best put into to words by her in the quote by Mama " You my children- but how different we have done