A Raisin in the Sun In the play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the play centers around the Youngers. The Youngers are an African-American family afflicted with poverty, however, their eventual escape from poverty materialize in the form of a Life Insurance check of $10,000 from Mr. Younger’s death. Mama (Lena Younger), Walter (Mama’s son), Beneatha (Mama’s daughter), and Ruth (Mama’s daughter-in-law) live under the same roof and plan do various things with the money. Mama would like to purchase a house with the money; Walter would like sustenance, so he decides that it is best to invest in a business; and Beneatha, a controversial character for the time, would like to use the money to pay for her college. Neither of the family
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Beneatha is the source of many of the intellectual ideas in the family. She goes to college and wants to break new grounds by being the one of the few first African-American women to become a doctor. Beneatha’s eventual American Dream is to break out of the racism cage and become equal with all the others. She wants to be able to do whatever the white man can do because she believes she is just as capable of doing it. Beneatha says, “I worship the truth – and the truth is that people are puny, small, and selfish” (250). Beneatha is unlike those people; she wishes to help others. She recounts her motivation to become a doctor when Rufus, a kid, injured himself and the emergency staff took care of him. She explains, “That that was what one person could do for another, fix him up--sew up the problem, make him all right again. That was the most marvelous thing in the world...I wanted to do that. I always thought it was the one concrete thing in the world that human being could do. Fix up the sick, you know--and make them whole again” (248). She has never been helped by anyone in her life so she connects with hopeless and helpless people. She wants to give them hope. She wants to satisfy others as she gets satisfied. Once she becomes a doctor, she will make a lot of money and she will do what she loves to do: help out …show more content…
The house symbolizes progress, happiness, and unity. The house represents progress because the house is not in the ghetto, it is in a white neighborhood; a neighborhood in which there is not even one black person let alone an entire family. Mama explains to Walter, “It makes a difference in a man when he can walk on floors that belong to him” (226). The house symbolizes unity as all will be able to live in a place that they can call home – not an apartment, but home. Happiness will come through by the means of the unity of the family. It also secures a place to live for the future generation. The future generation’s importance is realized when Mama says, “Seem like God didn’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams – but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worthwhile.” While each of the other characters seeks to secure a future for themselves, Mama seeks to secure a future for the later
Beneatha is the source of many of the intellectual ideas in the family. She goes to college and wants to break new grounds by being the one of the few first African-American women to become a doctor. Beneatha’s eventual American Dream is to break out of the racism cage and become equal with all the others. She wants to be able to do whatever the white man can do because she believes she is just as capable of doing it. Beneatha says, “I worship the truth – and the truth is that people are puny, small, and selfish” (250). Beneatha is unlike those people; she wishes to help others. She recounts her motivation to become a doctor when Rufus, a kid, injured himself and the emergency staff took care of him. She explains, “That that was what one person could do for another, fix him up--sew up the problem, make him all right again. That was the most marvelous thing in the world...I wanted to do that. I always thought it was the one concrete thing in the world that human being could do. Fix up the sick, you know--and make them whole again” (248). She has never been helped by anyone in her life so she connects with hopeless and helpless people. She wants to give them hope. She wants to satisfy others as she gets satisfied. Once she becomes a doctor, she will make a lot of money and she will do what she loves to do: help out …show more content…
The house symbolizes progress, happiness, and unity. The house represents progress because the house is not in the ghetto, it is in a white neighborhood; a neighborhood in which there is not even one black person let alone an entire family. Mama explains to Walter, “It makes a difference in a man when he can walk on floors that belong to him” (226). The house symbolizes unity as all will be able to live in a place that they can call home – not an apartment, but home. Happiness will come through by the means of the unity of the family. It also secures a place to live for the future generation. The future generation’s importance is realized when Mama says, “Seem like God didn’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams – but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worthwhile.” While each of the other characters seeks to secure a future for themselves, Mama seeks to secure a future for the later