Family And Values In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun centers on an African American family’s struggles during the twentieth century. In the play, the author illustrates vital issues such as poverty and gender, and racial discrimination on colored people. However, there are many other features that contribute to the play’s success, including: its two major themes (importance of family and significance of their dreams), the main character’s personality, and the author’s standpoint in the story. One of the major themes in A Raisin in the Sun is the importance of family and values, which contributes to the play’s unraveling. The Youngers are a poor African-American family living in Chicago. When a life insurance check arrives due to the death of Lena Younger’s (Mama) husband, their children Walter and Beneatha Younger develops their own plans for the …show more content…
The play’ name (which represent the family’s dreams) is based on Langston Hughes’s Montage of a Dream Deferred. In the poem, part of which serves as the play’s epigraph, the poet asks “What happens to a dream deferred?” considering whether it shrivels up “like a raisin in the sun” or explodes (473). For instance, Mama and her late husband’s dream of owning a home forms the heart of the play. Similar to Mama, Ruth also dreams of having a new house, which results conflict with Walter who dreams of becoming an independent businessman. While Walter dreams of owning a liquor store, his sister Beneatha wants to become a doctor. However, in Act II, Walter losses the money (by investing in the liquor store) to support his and Beneatha’s dreams. With the disappearance of the insurance money, Walter’s and Beneatha’s dreams for the future appears are further postponed; nonetheless, at the end of the play, Walter declines the offer for not moving into the new house in exchange for money and with the support of the family, make one dream come into