David Andreea Language and Literature MA 1st year

A Raisin in the Sun By Lorraine Hansberry

At the end of the play, Walter says, "What I am telling you is that we called you over here to tell you that we are very proud and that this... This is my son, and he makes the sixth generation our family is in this country. And we have all thought about your offer....And we have decided to move into our house because my father earned it for us brick by brick. We don't want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no causes, and we will try to be good neighbors. And that's about all we got to say about that. We don't want your money." How does Walter's understanding of the American Dream change in the play? Why?

Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun is based on a black familys experiences and dreams from the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. The prologue of the play consists of some verses of a poem by Langston Hughes. Moreover, one of these verses stands for the title of the play. The main theme of the play is about dreams. Every member of the Younger family has his or her own and individual dream. For instance, Beneatha, Walters sister, dreams of becoming a doctor, while Walter dreams of getting rich over night. Ruth, Walters wife, dreams of having a happy family and marriage without constantly fighting poverty. Lena, Walters mother, dreams t of owning a house with a garden and a yard. By the end of the play, through the materialization of Lenas dream, they realize what things truly matter the house which reunites the family1. Through the play, not only Walters understanding of the American Dream changes, but also it changes himself and his behavior toward his family. Walter serves as both protagonist and antagonist of the play2. He starts to want more from his life. He is not no longer satisfied with his simple and honest job as a chauffeur. He wants to open a liquor store together with two other

friends. For this, he counts on the insurance money of his father, but he does not have the support of his family to start this business. Because of the lack of support from his family he gets more and more frustrated and begins to drink. At this point, the relationships between him and the rest of the family become very tense. Moreover, his mother decides by herself to buy a house with a garden in an unusual place a neighborhood with white people only instead of giving him the money to open the store. When Lena realizes that Ruth is thinking of getting an abortion, she decides to give to Walter the rest of the insurance money so he could save the family. He had to put a certain sum of money in the bank for his sisters tuition and use the rest of it for his dream. His mother tells him a very important thing that she has never stopped trusting and loving him. Walter is very happy and optimistic when he receives the money, but his happiness did not last too long. He is deceived by one of his partners and he loses not only his money but also his sisters. Because he invested all the money that his mother gave him , he ruined his sisters dream of becoming a doctor. Walter has a moment of insanity when he finds out what happened. Walter says that he learned the life lesson about all being divided up between the takers and the tooken. He decides to become a tooken himself " now, and calls back the one who offered him money in order not to move in that neighborhood. He wants to him because of the fact that the new neighbors are racial discriminators. Walter is on the verge of selling his soul to the devil; he can save his family from the money crisis; all he has to do is admit that he is not the equal of the white residents who dont want him moving in, that his pride and self-respect, his identity, his black heritage, can be bought3. Walters understanding of the American Dream changes in the play from having-moneyand-social-position quality to things-that-money-can-not-buy quality. By accepting that offer he would have lost everything that all the five generations have gained so far. He would have proved that the new white neighbors are right being afraid of them. The Youngers had to struggle in order to prove the fact that labeling people as black does not imply that they are bad persons or labeling people as white does not imply that they are good persons. Walters mother is the reason why his understanding of the American Dream changes. First and foremost is what his mother says to him:

Son 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 poor. (Raising her eyes and looking at him).We ain't never been that dead inside.4

Secondly, it also seems to me very important, the lesson about what loving somebody means that mother gives to her daughter when she renegades his brother for having lost the money for her school tuition. There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing. (Looking at
her) Have you cried for that boy today? I don't mean for yourself and for the family 'cause we lost the money. I mean for him: what he been through and what it done to him. Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain't through learning because that ain't the time at all. It's when he's at his lowest and can't believe in hisself 'cause the world done whipped him so! When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is.5

In the face of his mothers life lesson, principles and beliefs, Walters sense of consciousness that his parents taught him awakened and brought him back on the right way. Walter Lee had to put forward to his son the American Dream, that of being proud of who and what they are and trying to fight against all the prejudices. He resists ultimately to Mr. Linders temptation or offer. He becomes a hero in the last moment.

(1). http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/raisin/canalysis.html (2). Ibid. (3). http://www.sparkascreen.com/files/APFiles/HowToReadLiteratureLikeAProfessor.pdf (4). Hansberry, Lorraine; A Raisin in the Sun, (1959), pdf, p. 51. (5). Hansberry, op. cit., p. 52.