Research Paper on "Raisin in the Sun"

Research Paper 4 pages (1217 words) Sources: 1 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Raisin in the Sun

The main characters in a Raisin in the Sun are Lena, Walter, Ruth, Travis, Beneatha, George and Joseph. Lena is the matriarch of the family, left after her husband dies. Walter and Beneatha are her children. Ruth is Walter's wife and Travis is their son. They all share a cramped apartment together. George and Joseph are two men courting Beneatha. George is a wealthy businessman from Chicago and Joseph is a Nigerian, responsible for bringing out a sense of pride in Beneatha. These characters are different from one another. Walter is the son, who has failed at filling his father's shoes. He has big dreams but cannot figure out the bet way to make them come true, so he spends a lot of time dreaming. Beneatha attempts to make her dreams come true through college classes. Joseph teaches her about Africa and opens her eyes to the importance of her heritage. She realizes heritage goes far beyond the projects in which her family lives.

The title of the play refers to a line in a Langston Hughes poem, in which he asks what happens to dreams when they are overdue. He poses different suggestions, one being that it dries up like a raisin in the sun. This is significant to the play because the Youngers, especially Lena, can see her dream actually coming true with the insurance money. She has been around long enough to know that this is perhaps the last opportunity she will have to escape the cramped apartment in which they live. She wants to do this for not only herself and her family, but for her late husband as well, because he worked his entire life for the same dream and never saw it come true. That is the overdue dream and Lena wants to make it come true. When Walter loses the money, the hope of that dream coming true falters and no one can fully understand it but Lena. The title speaks to all of the dreams people have that never come true for one reason or another. Some of these reasons are the dreamers' fault and some of the fault falls on society.

Lena would have to be the most Christ-like in the play because she bears the burden for her family when she can and she sacrifices for them as seen with her allowing Walter to have the money. She is forgiving, however, and she always sees that there is something to love in everybody, even Walter when he has let the family down. Lena is the pillar in the family and without her, the others would eventually go their separate ways. With her wisdom, Lena leads the family in a realistic direction. She understands the difficulties of the world and knows the value of the money more than Walter. She knows how long it takes to earn such an amount of money and she is correct in not wanting to waste it. She tells Walter people should always be moving forward and trying to "do something different, push on out and do something bigger" (Hansberry 2238). She loves her children but she also wants to see them do something important with their lives.

The climax of the play occurs when Walter realizes Willy duped him. At this moment, we can see that things in the play are resolving themselves for worse. Walter's hope dies as soon as the money disappears. Along with it, his manhood. Unfortunately, this situation is not bad for only Walter. The Younger family will pay for Walter's mistake. Walter, therefore, did not just ruin his own future; he ruined… READ MORE

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