The award winning play/novel “a Raisin in the Sun ” written by Lorraine Hansberry is undoubtobly a classic, inspiring generations of readers to truly inform themselves on the social and economic issues affecting african americans. Hansberry starts us in a worn down apartment that, in her words, “the furnishings of this room were actually selected with care and love and even hope—and brought to this apartment and arranged with taste and pride.” (page 24) In other words, at one point in time the apartment and its furniture was picked out with genuine love and hope, but, as like many of the dreams these characters had, it passed them by and in the current day it’s ragged and clearly overused. I find the relationship between Walter and Ruth, as well as both of their relationships with Mama to truly show the extent of sadness that hangs over the house due to defferred dreams. We see through the dialogue Hansberry writes for Ruth that, while she is putting up a brave face in the first scene for those around her, she is clearly unhappy with where she is in life and how her and her family have turned out. Whether that is anyones fault or not isnt necessarily the point in this instance, it’s just to point out how crushed her spirit seems to be when we first meet her. Despite the description of her telling us that in her youth she was a vibrant beautiful woman, it seems life has passed her by, or at least she thinks it has. Between pages 28-30, I believe we see a perfect example of my point with how she awakens her son and husband. It’s almost robotic for her at this point. “Come on now, boy, it’s seven thirty! (Her son sits up at last, in a stupor of sleepiness) I say hurry up, Travis! You ain’t the only person in the world got to use a bathroom!” (Pages 28-29) This is followed by a constant barrage of yells at her husband to awake, despite the bathroom not even being open yet, showing us just how used to Walters rough mornings she is and how sick and tired they all are of living the way they do. Walter even asks Ruth later in the scene multiple times “What’s the matter?” and continuously responded with “Nothing.” Because to Ruth there really is nothing wrong, she has unfortunately seemed to accept her, and her family’s place in the world and doesnt want to take any risks with her husband. Even if her reasons for saying no to Walter are valid it shows a lack of willpower that many might have felt at the time due to the terrible circumstances they were placed in. Later in the scene we see Walter and Ruth having an argument over Walter wanting to possibly go into business with a few friends and using “the check” Mama is supposed to get as a jumping off place. It seems, immediately, that this is not the first time Walter has brought something like this to Ruth. And it is implied that Walter’s plans are never well thought out, or actually possible. But this one doesnt seem all that crazy, and Ruth just continuously shoots him down until Walter begins to question why “His Woman” does’nt blindly support him on anything he wants to do. Showing another big issue with some of the characters in this book, misogyny. What these examples are showing is a larger, overarching issue of how our country was at the time of this play. The system was rigged, and the “American Dream” told them that as long as they worked hard and stayed out of trouble they would be ok. But despite every single one of the members of Mama’s family being extremely hard working, they barely get by in the most basic of living quarters. They share a bathroom with other families, which Walter seems to have a lot of issues with. The house is way too small for the amount of people living in it, and beyond that, they can barely afford the extras on top of that. All while both Walter and Ruth work and Travis even makes some extra change holding groceries, and Mama has her big check. They still can very rarely afford anything, with my example being Ruth saying no to her son asking for 50 cents when he needed it for school. Even though Walter ends uo giving it to him because he doesnt want his son to know about the family’s money struggles, it’s hard to hide it from him with the way that they live.
In conclusion, the relationship between Ruth and Walter, to me, perfectly shows what themes Lorraine Hansberry was trying to convey. With the ideas of money troubles being a constant talking point with the two, as well as bickering over how they share those troubles with their son. And the Mother who still lives with them as well has her own very strong opinions on how they should handle things, even if being a little old school. Each character provides a different look into life during this time period and shows the themes presented by Hansberry.
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Hey Terrance, I like how you mentioned the state of the apartment that the story is set in. In the beginning of scene one, the furniture in the house was described grimly. “Now the once loved pattern of the couch upholstery has to fight to show itself from under acres of crocheted doilies and couch covers which have themselves finally come to be more important than the upholstery” (Hansberry, 23). I connect this to Mama’s relationships with her children, as you mentioned. The décor in the house shows that old things may have forgotten beauty that is ignored because of their current state, similar to how Mama is the oldest and wisest member of the family, but nobody seems to appreciate or listen to her. Like the couch, Mama is older, has more experiences, and recognizes that money isn’t everything. Her view is overshadowed by the dreams of her children. Everybody is fighting to show their opinion on how to use the check. If everybody were to think like Mama and not be so driven by money, there would be a lot less conflict and stress within the family and their individual relationships, but the money may not be used in the most helpful way.
To start, I think one of the most significant takeaways from “A Rasin In the Sun,” is the fact that the people in this family feel as though they are not able to live out their dreams. I think the tension that is frequently seen throughout Act 1 shows that they all experience this internal war of feeling as though they cannot live their lives to their fullest potential. As much as everyone has tension between each other, and it seems as though Mama is the glue that holds everyone together, I think this family is very tight and relies on each other a lot. Ruth has been in the family for many years, so much so that Mama defends her to her own son, Walter when hearing the bickering going on between them. One quote that really stood out to me was one said by Big Walter, the father of Benetha and Walter. “Seem like God didn’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams- but he did give us children to make them dreams seem worthwhile.” This quote spoke to me because it demonstrated the importance of the children to Mama and Big Walter. This blog post succeeded in explaining thoroughly what I found to be one of the most important parts of the story thus far.
I think the dynamic in the relationship between Walter and Ruth is important to the story because it shows, the struggles of a couple in a marriage. You have this family who has had to sacrifice and work hard to provide, like you said for this worn down apartment. They can’t afford a big enough space for their family. You have Walter who is clinging to the dream of the Liquor Store. Then you have Ruth who is struggling with the small space they currently have. They have money troubles, they have power struggles, and they have no personal space. While these are issues that are relatable to any couple, I think it’s important that we understand that Ruth and Walter, are a black couple in the 1960’s. We need to take into account how race played a big part of their struggles to acquire the American Dream. Walter say’s, “I’m thirty-five years old; I have been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room (Very, very quietly) – and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live…” (Pg. 34) I think Hansberry wants us to relate to their struggle but, to also understand the racial inequities and disparities to achieving that dream in the 1960’s.