“A Raisin in the Sun” Segregation has unfortunately been a part of our country’s history since the beginning of humanity. Racial segregation in particular lasted about sixty years and caused many African Americans to live a life of hardship and turmoil. When one feels oppressed it is difficult to pursue one’s dreams. A deferral of such dreams can either lead to a lifetime of waiting or a lifetime of dissatisfaction. Lorraine Handlebar’s “A Raisin in the Sun” examines three characters, Walter, Beneath, and Mama, which represent the extremes of his theory.
All of the characters are waiting on Walter’s father’s life insurance check, which could be used to purchase the necessary means for each characters dreams to be met. Walter wants to own a liquor store, Beneath wants to be a doctor, and Mama wants to own a house with her own garden. The characters in “A Raisin in the Sun” represent the possible outcomes of a dream deferred; and although Mama is the only character to actually achieve her original dream by the end of the play, each character learns valuTABLE life lessons that surpass the value of their original desires.
Walter’s dreams of wanting more cause him to make reckless decisions that ultimately force him to learn what really matters in life. Walter believes owning a liquor store will inspire fellow African Americans to follow their dreams of owning their own business. Its unclear when exactly Walter decided his job as a chauffeur was not enough for him, but Mama notices how his burning desire for more is “eating (him) up like a crazy man. ” Even Walter’s wife, Ruth, fails at comforting her husband when she offers him the only thing she has left to give: eggs.
Walter refuses to eat the eggs. The eggs n this scene represent Walter’s current job and lifestyle; Walter’s refusal to eat them implies that he is tired of settling and wants more than what he is being given. When Mama asks Walter why he is so obsessed with money he replies that “it is life. ” Walter eventually manages to get a portion of the money from his father’s life insurance check from Mama and decides to invest all of it into his future liquor store against her wishes.
When Walter is told the “business partner he gave his money to is nowhere to be found, he quickly learns that one can only rely on themselves when pursuing their dreams. To the family the loss of that money meant Beneath would not be TABLE to go to medical school, and the family would not be TABLE to move into their dream home. Although Walter almost makes a degrading deal to earn back the money from the down payment on the house, he finally learns to step up as a man his father would be proud of and chooses to continue with the move into the house.
Walter realizes his father earned that house for his family “brick by brick” and could not let his family fall apart because of his greed. Beneath wishes to become a doctor so she can physically heal others but eventually realizes becoming a doctor will not fix what ails her emotionally. Throughout the play Beneath seems to be on a journey to “find herself. ” Mama and Ruth reminisce about Beneath past and describe her constant changing of interests as “flinty. ” One thing Beneath is sure of is her unwillingness to assimilate.
Beneath describes assimilation as “someone who is willing to give up his own culture and submerge himself completely in the dominant, and in this case oppressive culture. ” Beneath is in a constant struggle between identities because of this battle against assimilation. When Beneath boyfriend, Sagas, brings her African robes and calls her straightened hair “mutilated,” Beneath begins to dress eccentrically and cuts her hair to distance herself from such assimilation. Sagas also calls Beneath “Alai,” which means “One for Whom Bread Food Is Not Enough. This name is fitting due to Beneath constant want for more. As Beneath calls her other boyfriend, George, a “fool,” Mama finally listens. It is only when Mama tells Beneath not to ‘Waste (her) time with no fools” that she finally feels understood and satisfied. Mama gets her dream home with a garden while learning more about her hillier than ever before along the way. Handlebars describes Mama as “strong” and as the head of the house she has to be. Mama takes care of a plant during the play. This plant is a direct representation of her family.
Mama is the nurturer of the house, and any time she feels distressed about her family she tends to and waters her plant. As Mama watches her son Walter worry “whistle sick AIBO?’ money, her daughter in law Ruth contemplate aborting her child instead of raising it in a house of disarray, and her daughter Beneath deny the existence of God, she questions what has become of the younger generations. At first, Mama sees nothing wrong with Walter’s job as a chauffeur, but as the play goes on she gets into a discussion with her noses neighbor, Mrs.. Johnson, and defends Walters idea of wanting more.
When Mrs.. Johnson says there is nothing wrong with Walter’s job, Mama says there is “plenty wrong with it” and that her boy “wasn’t meant to wait on nobody. ” In the beginning of the play Mama is telling Ruth that when she and Big Walter originally moved into the house they ‘ isn’t planning on living (there) no more than a year. ” Mama had wanted to fix the house up and have a garden, but “didn’t none of it happen. As time goes on Mama’s dreams of a proper home and garden fade but the loss of her husband presents her with the opportunity to get her dream home after all.
By the end of the play Mama’s deferred dream is made a reality. As the family heads to the moving truck Mama runs back inside to get her plant, because in the final analysis her family is all that really mattered to her. Lorraine Handlebars wrote “A Raisin in the Sun” in 1959, a time in which African Americans were just beginning to have their dreams of equality realized. The characters of this play embody the thoughts and emotions of hose who have had their dreams deferred. Walter lost the money he was so determined to have, yet was TABLE to make the morally sound decision of moving.
Beneath was finally understood and in turn was finally TABLE to understand herself. And Mama made the move her deceased husband would have wanted for the family. The end of the play does not suggest a “happily ever after” ending, but instead a “proudly ever after. ” The Younger endured the dilemmas they were dealt and did so with a sense of pride. Walter, Beneath, and Mama learn that sometimes the journey of pursuing their dreams is worth more than the actual destination.
