Intro to multicultural literature

“A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry is a popular play that has been adapted for both the Broadway stage and the movie screen. In Act II Scene 2, Walter is upset because Mama bought a house with the insurance check from his father’s death. Mama then reveals to Walter that she still has money left over after buying the house. She tells Walter she wants him to put money into the bank for Beneatha’s education, but she also wants him to open a savings account and put the money away for himself and his business. This is a very touching moment between Mama and Walter because for awhile, they have been clashing because of the difference of opinion of what the check should be used for. Though this part is an emotional moment between Walter and Mama, the movie and the book convey it differently, and makes the audience feel a different way. 

In the play, the interaction between Mama and Walter happens in their home. Walter has been having a rough couple of days because he feels like his dreams of becoming a successful businessman have been crushed due to Mama using the money for a new home. However, Mama talks with Walter in the house and gives him the news about what she wants to do with the check. After she tells him the important news, Mama leaves the room and Walter begins to celebrate. Travis, his son, thinks he is drunk, he states “Daddy ain’t going to never be drunk again…” (107). Walter is so happy and filled with joy, that all he wants to do is talk with his son. He begins to tell his son about how they are going to live a rich and fancy life, with a big house and nice cars, and their lives are going to be completely different from where they are at now. “You just name it son…and I hand you the world!” (109).  This moment in the story is something that feels emotional to the reader because you can sense a feeling of relief and accomplishment that comes over Walter. This is something he has wanted for so long, now that he has this money available to him he feels like he is one step closer to getting the life he has always wanted to live. 

The 1961 film adaptation of “A Raisin in the Sun” portrays this scene a little differently. After Mama finds out that Walter has not shown up at his job for the past three days, she asks Ruth which bar is the spot Walter always goes to drink. Ruth responds, and Mama heads out to find him. When she finally finds Walter, they sit down at a nearby booth and have a heart to heart. They do this in the play as well, only this time the setting is different. The deal that she makes with him is still the same, except this time, Walter sits there in disbelief and actually begins to cry. Instead of Walter going and talking to Travis, he goes home to find Ruth crying, and instead he lays with her to comfort her. Although the scene does not end up in celebration like the play, you can still tell that Walter is very grateful to Mama for giving him this opportunity.

Whether it is the play or in the book, the desperation that Mama feels to fix her family is evident. Although she thought that buying the house would fix all the family’s problems, she can tell that Walter will never be truly happy if he does not achieve his dreams. This is an important scene in the story because it shows their family dynamic. Even though they do not always see eye to eye, the members of the Younger family ultimately want to support each other and see each other happy. 

1. How does Mama’s actions affect Walter and his relationship with his son? 
2. If the story continues when Travis is older, how do you think he will take these opportunities that are being presented to him to better his life in the future? 

Andrea Moro

As we collectively read A Raisin in the Sun, we come across so many themes and points throughout the piece. There’s common sayings that go around when a book has a corresponding movie. “The book is way better than the movie” or “no way, the movie was so much better than the book!” It is true that certain parts of books can be more exciting and thrilling once seen in a moving picture. A Raisin in the Sun has many of these moments, one being the infamous scene of Beneatha’s folk dancing. 

It has been made clear that Beneatha values her heritage and wants to embrace who she is without being shut down for it. In Act 2 Scene 1, we see this first hand. Ruth comes into question Beneatha’s doings by stating “what kind of dance is that?” and “what kind of folks do that, honey?”(77). Beneatha quickly explains that it is a dance of welcome from Nigeria, and she begins her chants to the music, “alundi alundi, alundi alunya, jop pu a jeepua, ang gu soooooooooo, ai yai yae, ayehaye-alundi”(77). Reading this can be VERY boring. This is an important scene, but it can be very impersonal since as readers, we aren’t able to see Beneatha dancing, or hear the music she is dancing too. This can be crucial in understanding a text, in that since we aren’t “in the moment” with her, we have to imagine it ourselves. This imagining can vary from person to person. Since no one will think the same, this can then create different meanings throughout an audience. 

Watching the scene from the movie gives the audience a completely different light on the scene. Seeing Beneatha change the music, and watching how serious her face as shes dancing, you can really see the family’s dynamic. Ruth questioning her and Walter coming in drunk is brought to life. Hearing the hype of the music and the strong vibe it gives off, you can almost relate the beat of the music to how Beneatha chooses to represent herself. As well as this, she is in tribal clothing, which is the cherry on top in her presentation. The strength Beneatha carries in wanting to become a doctor and wanting to be more comfortable in being a young black woman is shown in this scene. It also shows how she doesn’t care what her family has to say about her and her beliefs. She is a free spirit who has important aspirations for her life. 

Also, you can read the disappointment as George enters the scene, as he abruptly tells Beneatha to change, he states “look honey, we’re going to the theatre-we’re not going to be in it…so go change huh?”(80). In watching this, you can visualize Beneatha’s face, and how disgusted George is with her actions. When it comes to body language and seeing reactions on characters faces, it can help immensely in understanding a story line and its hidden meanings. Of course, since this is a play, the stage directions within the book can help with determining how a character is feeling or what their physical movements are. It’s almost like reading a text. You can never really tell how the person on the opposite side is feeling through a text, and is also why most people say it’s good to do things in person. 

A Raisin in the Sun embodies so many different life lessons, and in this particular scene being true to yourself can be a huge takeaway. Beneatha’s care-free personality blossoms in the film, and you can see how she presents herself and how she interacts with her family. In this case, having a film and a book helps the audience tremendously in understanding the Younger family dynamic. 

1. How does the film change your perspective on Beneatha’s personality? 
2. What does the book embody that the film doesn’t? What does the film take on that might not be clear in the book?

Sometimes a dream does get deferred. Maybe because of the color of one’s skin or one’s financial situations. The purpose of dreams are meant to be a reality, not to be condemned. For the Youngers family, dreams are essential. They are what brings the family together after all. In Raisin In The Sun Act 1, Hansberry uses the yearning theme of unfulfilled dreams that each character encounters to build the social commentary that dreams are just illusory and never achieved. There is symbolism that ties to the insurance payment. 

Each character clings to distinct dreams, which have been deferred due to the socioeconomic barriers placed on the family. One of the prominent protagonists, Walter, his dream is to own a liquor store and start a business. Beneatha, her dream is to become a doctor but struggles to determine her identity as a well-educated black women. Lena, known as “Mama”, wants to live in a luxurious house with a backyard to fulfill her dream for her family to move up in the world since they are poor. Ruth’s dream is to build a happy family and believes one step toward this goal is to own a bigger and better place to live. Travis is clearly treated with love the most in the family from the fifty cents his teacher has told him to bring to school. Asagai has a strong sensational love for Beneatha and hopes that she will return to Nigeria with him. We see that the Youngers family struggled to attain these dreams and much of their happiness and depression is directly related to their attainment of, or failure to attain, these dreams.

However, for all the characters in the play, these dreams also involve money and are rejected because the lack of it. The family received a $10,000 insurance from Mr. Younger’s death which to them is expensive. Mama is a great example to begin with. Her dreams gets deferred first when she moved into the small apartment in Chicago that the Youngers family stay in. She also could not fill her dreams since she did not have enough money to do so. Ruth, who has the same dream as Mama’s, gets deferred when the family are forced into the crowded apartment. Ruth and Mama both have dreams that include amounts of money. In Raisin in The Sun, For the Younger’s, a division of the money of who gets to have authority makes it extremely difficult because they live in squalor. Money provides a constant source of division and preoccupation in the Younger household. Although the Younger family seems isolated from predominantly white cultures, they value the same materialistic dreams as the rest of American society. We see that living in a society where the fulfillment of dreams is based upon material wealth, the Younger family strives to overcome their hardships as they search not only happiness but prosperity in the African-American culture. 

As money has never been a way of life for the family, the insurance check’s arrival becomes a symbol that brings each person to see the chance that their own dreams can become reality. Also, the insurance payment epitomizes the hope and nobility of the Younger family. Unfortunately, Walter does not the skills and work ethics to achieve his financial goals. Ruth hopes the money might mean some kind of stability and flourishing success for her family. Rather than gamble it on a liquor store, Ruth wants the money to actually mean something for the family as well. Beneatha, wants to use the insurance payment for medical school. She wants to exceed her family circumstances and redefine herself and her place in the world.

1. How do Ruth and Beneatha’s attitude toward Mama’s money contrast with Walter’s, and what do these attitudes reveal about each character?

1. Do dreams ever become destructive, a substitute for action? Or is it absolutely essential to keep a dream alive?

Money is an object, but would one ever think about it as something more? In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, money is much more than a thing, it means something different to every character in the play. To this family money seems like it is a little more than just money and that it represents something they want in life. The family does not have a lot of money, but they will soon receive a life insurance check, in which they all have their own ideas on how to use it. Along with the ideas from each character, there is symbolism to the money.  

To start with the ideas that each character brings up during the first act of the play, three of the characters have their very own, unique things they would want to see the money go toward. Mama would like to use the money to pay for Beneatha’s medical school funds, while Beneatha herself would like for her mother to keep the money and use it for an extravagant trip or vacation. Beneatha’s brother, Walter had his own idea of where the money should go that would only be beneficial to him. He would want to take the money and open a liquor store, which he believed would help make more money for the family, but he can not be positive on that thought. This leads into the more symbolic representations of the money. The ideas of where the money should go reflect the character’s personalities as well as show the symbolism of money specifically to each character.  

For the actual symbolism and representation of money by each character Mama is a good example to start. Given that she wants to help her daughter go through medical school, money symbolizes hope for her daughter, and frankly herself. She believes in her daughter and that if she wants to do something, she will do it which is why she wants to give her daughter the money. She knows that if her daughter becomes a doctor one day, she will probably help her mother with money. This explains why the money represents and symbolizes hope for Mama. Money also symbolizes love for Mama. This is because the mother is focusing on her children before herself which is symbolic of her husband’s love for his children. It was stated that he loved his children beyond words and Mama was just following that love from her late husband. For Beneatha, the money is symbolic of help for her mother. She knows how much her mother went through and she wants to give her the best life possible. Beneatha believes her mother should keep the money because it will help her mentally and help her feel more stable in life and their current situation, whether she uses it to go on a trip or keeps it for further use. Walter is the character that seems the most greedy with the money. It does not seem like he wants the money to help anyone but himself. For him the money symbolizes happiness. He believes that he needs money in life to be happy and have a great life which is why he is trying to open a liquor store with the life insurance check. 

For all the characters money represents freedom and security at some level. The freedom comes from the ability to do a lot with the money. In the play, it is talked about that the family could get a new home, one that is bigger and more fit for the family. The family will be able to do more than before because of the increased funds in the household whatever way it is used. The money is also representative and symbolic of security for the family. Money usually represents security for many people but for the Younger family specifically, it means more. They do not have a lot of money and the addition of the check to their bank account would allow the family to feel more secure, especially Mama. Money is something that does not mean a lot from the surface but the true symbolism of money emerges when put into deep thought.

Do the symbolic meanings of money foreshadow anything to the readers about the Younger family? 

How does the money symbolize a connection to other symbols throughout the play, more specifically through the rest of act one, such as Mama’s plant? 

Hi, I’m Taylor and I’m a senior here at Cortland, majoring in exercise science. I live on the Great Sacandaga Lake which is in Saratoga County. During the summer, I bartend at a bar and restaurant on the lake back home and I spent most of my days off lounging out in the sun on the beach. After Cortland, I plan to attend graduate school to receive my doctorate in physical therapy, and I’m hoping to go to graduate school at Sage in Albany. I’m looking forward to the rest of the semester and getting to know everyone!

My name is Adriana Murphy and I am a sophomore majoring in Psychology. I’m from Saratoga Springs, New York, which is about 45 minutes north of Albany. Outside of school, I spent most of my time participating in my school’s Drama Club, the swim and the softball teams, and working after school at my job. I also really enjoy reading in my free time so I’m looking forward to taking this class and getting to know all of you more!

I am a Sophomore here at Cortland. I am majoring in Secondary English Education. I am from Halfmoon, which is in Saratoga Springs County. I am among the few people who are not from Long Island. I have an older sister who is twenty-one and I also have a dog. I love going to school at Cortland and I’m excited to get to know all of you!

Hi everybody, my name is Marissa and I’m a community health major. I would like to go into nursing in the future. I am a Binghamton, New York. I love to spend time with my friends and get involved on campus!

Hello, I am Makense Garcia. I was born and raised from the Boogie Down Bronx but I am from Dominican Republic. My major is Criminology with a minor in Political Science. I plan to get into the Law Enforcement field. I love to watch basketball highlights and spent time with my friends. I am excited to get to know everyone!

Hi, my name’s Deirdre Lynch. I am a Sophmore and my major is Inclusive Education with a Humanities minor. I’m from Long Island, NY. I love to swim, the beach and to bake. I swam most of my life on a swim club and on my school team. My favorite thing to bake is chocolate chip cookies. I am looking forward to this semester!