Blocked Callings: A Raisin in the Sun (2024)

FAQs

What does Mama do with the $10000 in Act 2 Scene 1 of A Raisin in the Sun? ›

Concerned that Mama spent the life insurance money that he wants to use to buy a business, Walter begins to question her. Mama announces that she has used the money to buy the family a home. Ruth and Travis, Ruth and Walter's son, are excited, but Walter is upset.

In her famous play, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry demonstrates Langston Hughes's claim that a dream deferred can only lead to negative consequences through her characters Walter and Mama.

Walters boss called and told Ruth that Walter hasn't been going to work for three days and that he would get fired if he didn't come to work the next day.

Mama receives a check for $10,000, a life insurance payout from the death of her husband. Mama wants to use the money to buy a house for the family. Her son, Walter, wants Mama to give the money to him so he can open a liquor store. Mama initially refuses because it goes against her religious beliefs.

Mama's insurance check is a payment for her deceased husband, Big Walter. The $10,000 insurance payment symbolizes hope and the possibility of life-changing money toward achieving the American Dream.

She gives him the remaining $6,500 of the insurance money, telling him to deposit $3,000 for Beneatha's education and to keep the last $3,500. With this money, Mama says, Walter should become—and should act like he has become—the head of the family. Walter suddenly becomes more confident and energized.

An overall message of A Raisin in the Sun is that while people may have to defer or put off realizing their dreams to a later time, they can still make their dreams a reality. Despite oppression and lack of money, if a family is united, the members can achieve their dreams.

What happened in A Raisin in the Sun, Act 3? Though at first Walter decides to sell the new house to make back some of the money he has lost in a scam investment, he changes his mind. The act and the play end with the family happily moving into their new home and looking forward to a fresh start together.

Ruth Younger is a character from Lorraine Hansberry's stage play A Raisin in the Sun. Because of her family's poor financial situation, she has to double as a housewife and a working mother, working as a domestic worker, who is a person that cleans the homes of other people.

Walter takes $6500 of the $10000 life insurance payout and invests it in the liquor store, even though he promises Mama that he will put aside $3000 of it for Beneatha's education. The man takes the money and runs, resulting in both Walter and Beneatha being unable to pursue their dreams.

Is Ruth pregnant in the raisin in the sun? ›

Ruth was at the doctors because she fainted. She found out she has been pregnant for two months. She is considering an abortion because the family cannot provide for another child and her relationship with Walter has been rocky.

Mama is a devout Christian and chastises Beneatha for using the Lord's name in vain, and when Beneatha says that God does not exist, Mama forcefully slaps her.

Why did Beneatha say she wouldn't marry George? She admitted that he was rich, but she thought he was shallow. She liked him well enough to go out with him, but she didn't love him. What was Beneatha's attitude towards God?

He has a nickname for her: Alaiyo, which means One for Whom Bread - Food - Is Not Enough. Both the gift and the name are appropriate for Beneatha, because she wants to become someone else, a better version of her current self.

Beneatha is an intellectual. Twenty years old, she attends college and is better educated than the rest of the Younger family.

Mama wants to use some money for Beneatha's tuition and some for a payment on a house. Beneatha thinks deeply and is frustrated with her life.

His widow Lena, or “Mama,” wants to buy a house; their son Walter Lee wants to open a liquor store; their daughter Beneatha wants to go to medical school. Walter Lee's wife, Ruth, is torn, but she ultimately wants the best for her family, especially their ten-year-old son Travis.

As she explains to Walter and Ruth: “Them houses they put up for colored in them areas way out all seem to cost twice as much as other houses.” For these reasons, Mama decides to purchase a home in the all-white neighborhood of Clybourne Park.