The Raisin In The Sun Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Poems are tools used to demonstrate dissatisfaction. The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry leads by foreshadowing its theme of crushed dreams by starting with the poem A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes. The play follows an African-American family in 1950s Chicago, consisting of protagonist Walter Lee Younger, his son Travis, his wife and Travis’ mother Ruth, sister Beneatha, and mother/grandmother Lena, called simply “Mama” in the play. Walter is ambitious and wants to move out of his small and run-down home and find a better job than a chauffeur for the kind of man he wishes he could be.

A Raisin in the Sun To be prideful is human nature, even when it hasn't been earned. Being proud of who you are and what you have accomplished is an important part of everyone's life, but sometimes we are prideful without something to be proud of. This kind of pride is shown in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry through the character Walter Younger. He enters the play with a false sense of pride in being a man, despite the fact that he is a chauffeur who is struggling to support his family.

“What were you guys talking about?” I asked out of curiosity. “Laura, you don’t need to worry about any of this stuff.” Papa replied. It looked like he was hiding something.

In the play Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry takes place on the southside of Chicago where Walter and his family are racially profiled and show us how the survive throughout their struggles. The central struggles for the younger family in their search for the American dream is mostly poverty and being racially profiled against for their actions. Hansberry challenges the traditional gender roles and issues of dominance throughout the play when Mama gives Walter lee the rest of the money at the end of the play. He becomes all excited and was supposed to save some for himself and put the rest of the money to Beneatha 's education. Instead, he gave all that money to Willy another character in the play which later on that he stole from him.

This indicates Walter has forgotten just how much this means to his family and that now he has put his own greed ahead of his sister’s future. Thus, the need of money making one forget his families and needs is shown through the climax of A Raisin in the

Hence giving Walter all the insurance money and not butting into Beneatha's business. However, her beliefs soon progressed by teaching her family to love their family and in turn, learning about it herself too. For instance, on pg. 145, Mama told Beneatha " There is always something left to love. [....] Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most?

Actually I was listening.” The noun ‘Daddy’ shows her childlike attributes and how she is silent, attentive and subservient. Her attitude portrays her as a character who cannot look after themselves without the care of others, this can be seen by her frequent references to how a woman should care more about her appearance than anyone else, “ Oh - it’s wonderful! Look – Mummy – isn’t it a beauty?”

In this passage, Charlotte Perkins Gilman highlights the theme that women must use their intellect or go mad through the use of literary qualities and writing styles. Gilman also uses the use of capital letters to portray the decline in the narrators’ sanity. This shows the decline in the sanity of a person because the words in all-caps is shown as abrupt, loud remarks. Gilman uses this method multiple times in her short story and this method was used twice in this passage. When the narrator wrote, “LOOKING AT THE PAPER!”, the major decline in her mental health was shown.

“Everyday use” shows that while Mama describes her daydream, Walker explains Mamas true feelings about being masculine: “One winter I knocked a bull straight in the brain...had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall” (470). The way Walker describes mama, shows that she accepts and is very proud of who

Normally a vain and cocky person, Al struggles to speak to his mother when driving the truck. He finally spits out a question of concern about if Ma is afraid of going to a new place. She admits she has a little fear inside of her; however, she is not completely doubtful. Hinting a desire of reassurance, Al continues to ask, “Ain’t you scared it won’t be nice like we thought?” Quickly, she replies, “No, I ain’t.

Mama’s honesty about herself gains the reader’s trust. For example, she has no illusions about being pretty or feminine: “In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the hot day” (494). Later she references her second-grade education and mentions that she “never could carry a tune” (495).

(114-115) By giving up the money, Walter is shown to be spontaneous and quick to trust. He made a quick decision about giving Willy the money, without even thinking about the consequences, which shows his spontaneity and trust issues. He also didn’t even think to put any money away for Beneatha and he just trusted Willy to get the license before actually getting to know him. The play A Raisin in the Sun, shows how Walter settles on a brisk choice to give his Mamas insurance money to the character Willy Harris so he could purchase an alcohol store. Thus, his choice accounts Willy Harris to steal the cash which causes an apathetic temperament in the story and makes lost expectation in the family.

Raisin in the Sun Book Report     Being in close relations with family member definitely has its ups and downs. There is nothing easy about being in a close relationship with family, but to many family is the most important relationship in their lives. In the story “A Raisin in the Sun” there are many great examples of importance in family relationship just from the way they treat each other and the conversations they have. In the story, Lena Younger, Ruth Younger and Walter Younger all make it very obvious how important family relationships are. Lena Younger (Mama) is the head of the family.

Mama says in the text that “ There’s

“Is everything alright, dear?” I asked. I’d asked her the same question every day since I started noticing a difference in her demeanor, but in the past, she had only repeated that she was fine and had to go do her homework, proceeding to shut herself in her room until I called her to dinner. Today, however, was different. “Mom, I – I have to talk to you,” she stuttered.