Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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There are may lessons and ideas that one can learn from life, and several of those can also be found in books. Lorraine Hansberry portrays a variety of themes throughout her play A Raisin in the Sun. She uses several characters and relationships portray these themes. One such relationship is the extreme change of heart between Walter and Ruth. These two have been married for around 10 years by the time the play opens and their relationship is beginning to lose its youthful infatuation. The reader then gets to see growth as a couple into something that is better than it was original. Hansberry also expresses themes through just the singular character of Walter. He goes through many difficulties from the difficulties with his wife to being forced …show more content…
Towards the beginning of the book, Ruth and Walter’s relationship is going through a rough patch, as seen in this quote from Ruth: Honey, you never say nothing new. I listen to you everyday, everynight and every morning, and you never say nothing new” (34). Ruth and Walter have been married a decent amount of time and have, therefore, lost some of the young love they once had for each other. But as the book progresses Ruth and Walter rise out of the bad place their relationship was in and make an effort to love each other like they used to. This is seen as Ruth is later seen reflecting on her date from the previous night: “We went to the movies. We went to the movies. You know the last time me and Walter went to the movies together?” (111). One can tell from the tone of Ruth’s words that she is almost jubilant about the trip to the movies. She enjoyed the special occasion where she and Walter had the chance to just care about each other. However, if this was a normal occasion for the two of them Ruth probably wouldn’t have responded in the same way. Nor would she have responded in the same way if their relationship hadn’t been in such a hard place just a few weeks earlier. Without the complications in their relationship earlier in the book, the same happiness would not have …show more content…
Lorraine Hansberry portrays this theme through the experiences of two characters One example of this is Walter and Ruth’s relationship. Throughout the play, their relationship takes a turn from being in shambles due to the recent stress the family has been under to reuniting the two as things get worked out and life is easier on their relationship. Without everything that they were going through the couple wouldn’t have been as strong at the end of this book. Walter, on the other hand, goes through some growth of his own. He takes some chances with the insurance money from Walter Sr’s death and comes out on the losing end. This ruins his pride in his family and himself. But when it comes down to it Walter grows and truly learns what it is he need sot have pride in. Something he wouldn’t have found if these events hadn’t happened. This lesson is something a lot of people learn throughout their life. For some people, it takes them their entire lives to accept the twists of life as a fact, and others are born with the idea ingrained in the from birth. This book helps people see that society has been dealing with this idea for decades if not
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