fEsther Li
Bicknell ¾
May 15, 2006
A Raisin in the Sun log #1
The story is about an African-American family after WWII. With a check of $10,000
from the deceased husband of Lena Younger (MAMA), the average not-so-rich family in
Chicago was very enthusiastic with different plans to spend the money.
MAMA was the head of the household: Walter, his wife Ruth, his sister Beneatha, and
the boy Travis. MAMA was a fundamentalist Christian who had a lot of authority in the family.
When Beneatha said God's name in vain, MAMA was extremely serious and even slapped
Beneatha's face. When she realized that her son Walter would not encourage his pregnant wife
to keep the unexpected baby, MAMA was totally shocked at Walter's stubbornness saying that
his actions "are a disgrace to [his] father's memory" (75). The next day she used some of the
money to buy a house in a white community. Her actions were not surprising since she was
brought up in a very pious family. Her blatant action of buying the house might be explained as
a method to distract Walter and Ruth from their current economic hardships, because the only
reason for Ruth to have an abortion was to lighten up the economical burdens of the family.
Soon after MAMA's decision of buying the house, a neighbor told her that a black family was
bombed in a white community. Interestingly enough, Beneatha said "Mama, if there are two
things we, as a people, have got to overcome, one is the Ku Klux Klan—and the other is Mrs.
Johnson [the neighbor]." (104) This quote showed that Beneatha and MAMA were not afraid to
move into the new house, especially since MAMA's children dreamed of living in their own
house. Thus, after years of wishing to live a more luxurious life, the family was not afraid to
face any challenges that would crash their dreams. MAMA would have been very confident.
However, two main conflicts aroused: first, Mr. Lindner visited the family basically
saying that the community did not welcome them; second, the rest of the $10,000 given to
Walter and Beneatha were stolen, due to the mistake of Walter who asked a person to invest the
money. After these two misfortunes, MAMA along with the rest of the family changed their
perspective. She completely changed her attitude from a confident head-of-household to a
compliant old mother: Lena Eggleston, you aims too high all the time. You need to slow down
and see life a little more like it is … Me and Big Walter just didn't learn it right (139). At this
point, she realized that she could not control the family and might as well let things flow the way
they were intended to "a little more like it is". However, Ruth strengthened up at this point and
shouted at MAMA and Walter that they had to move even if it mean "if I have to and scrub all
the floors in America" (140) I think Ruth was finally able to see past her present problems and
possess the audacity to live up to her dreams, even if the road was not as smooth as she thought it
would be.
Beneatha through the play also was able to see the shallowness of her former boyfriend
and chose to marry Asagai, who supported her medical education and encouraged her to practice
her skills in Nigeria.
The father education and influencing the son is prominent in the story. Since Travis is a
little innocent boy whose father was a limo driver, it was natural for him to say that he wanted to
be a bus driver when he grew up. After getting the money and before it was stolen, Father
Walter was finally able to educate his son to dream dreams like people living in a two bedroom
complex, but like people living in a house: Just tell me, what it is you want to be—and you'll be it
(108). It was very significant at the end of the story when Mr. Lindner came to sign the contract
to prevent the Youngers from moving that MAMA insisted Travis to witness the procedure.
Walter, holding Travis beside him, told Mr. Lindner that they were going to move because my
father—he earned it for us brick by brick. (148) What was the major force that helped Walter to
make this decision? Was it for the future of his son? Was it for the pride of the family and
heritage? Was it because of his own dream, buried deep inside for years and years, that finally
wanted to be realized?
The story stopped when the optimistic family was moving. What would happen to the in
the new community? I think they will not be welcomed, but they will act with pride and
strength, which will help them to survive and live better lives.
One of the biggest themes of A Raisin in the Sun is the oppression for African Americans
during the post WWII era: such as the the riots, the negotiation with Mr. Lindner, and the typical
servile jobs and living conditions of African Americans back then.
A symbol in the play might be the money, it symbolizes a stumbling block that could be
dangerous if mistreated or wonderful if properly used. In the story, money enabled MAMA to
pay for the new house and thus quieted the arguments between Walter and Ruth a bit. However,
when Walter misused the money and caused it to be lost, the family was desperate again, if not
more, because now they were deciding to face Mr. Lindner and tell him to pay back the money
and not move.
Son—I come from five generations of people who was 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 on the earth. We ain't never been that poor. We
ain't never been that—dead inside. (143)
However, when Walter strengthened up his heart by not valuing money as god, he was able to
refuse to negotiate with Mr. Lindner and save the pride of the family so that they could be
“alive” again. Thus, money is a huge part of the Youngers' life, but when they put money in to
perspective below the values of the family, they could handle difficult situations well.