A Raisin in The Sun

Kency Nicolas #20
Mr. Alsafar
English 1101
09 June 2008

A Raisin in The Sun

The movie A Raisin in he Sun was based on the every day problems African Americans face during the 1960’s in Chicago. Threw the whole movie Benny, Walter, Ruth, and Lena faced many trials and tribulations that seem like they would never get threw but eventually they did. Instead of breaking the family apart with every problem that occurred it brought the family even closer. The purpose of this paper is to talk about the various themes movie. Some of the themes were money, family, pride, and discrimination.
First and for most one of the biggest themes in the movie was money. The reason why money was the biggest theme in the movie was because all the problem the family faced in the movie was because of money. Walter was all bitter inside and always depressed because of money. He putdown everyone around him because he felt as no one understood him or knew his struggles. Another problem was that Walter’s father had passed and some insurance money was coming in the mail, ten thousands dollar to be exact. That caused a lot of controversy between the family. The reason being is because everyone had there own dreams on what to do with the money. Walter wanted to invest in a licker store, Benny need the money to pay for her school, Walter’s wife Ruth wanted Lena to spent the money on her self. Eventually Lena spent the money on a house in Cleburne park. Lena felt that was the best thing to do since Walter and Ruth were expecting a new baby.
Secondly, another theme in the movie was family. Although the family fought and argued many of times in the movie, they continued to be close and stayed together as a family to face each and every problem they had. Lena bought a house with the money because she saw the family falling apart. The new baby was un expected so it took every one in the family by surprise. At first Walter was even angry about the new baby. Most of the anger came from his mother buying a new house with the money. As result of his frustration he didn’t go to work for three days and almost got fired. Lena saw what Walter was going threw and saw how bitter his heart was getting and decided to tell him she didn’t spent all the money on the house. She told Walter that she only put a down payment of three thousand five hundred dollars on the house. So to cheer Walter up Lena put her trust in Walter again, and gave him the rest of the money. Lena told Walter to put three thousands dollars in the bank for Benny’s medical school, then take the rest of money for himself and be the head of the family, lead the family like his father Walter senior once did when he was living and working.
Third one another huge theme in the movie was discrimination. Discrimination was a very big factor in the movie it affected every one in the movie in various ways. Lena went to the supermarket for apples and did not get the right customer service because she was black. She asked one of the white workers for fresh apples and he gave her rotten ones, a white women asked the same white worker the same thing and he gave her fresh apples with ease. When Lena and family moved to Cleburne park none of the white people wanted them there, because that was a community where only white people lived. So every one else that was a resident there felted colored people were not welcome or even shouldn’t be allowed to live there. Some people were even felt threaten by Lena and family moving in the new house. So the neighborhood’s committee chairman came to Walter to try and bribe them to leave the house so that every one in the community could be happy again.
Lastly, one last theme in the movie was pride because it played a big part in the end of the movie. After Walter blew all the insurance money on his licker store investment the family was devastated. They didn’t know what to do any more, Lena even thought about leaving the house and going back to the apartments. Lena knew since they were broke they wouldn’t be able to afford the mortgage for the new house she bought. As a result of all that was going on Walter was trying to find a way to redeem his self for losing all the insurance money on his investment. So Walter decided to call the Cleburne chair man and take the bribe because the family desperately need the money. But when the chair man got to the house Walter surprised every one when he told the chair man that his family is a very proud and that taking this bribe would only degrade his family. His family has way to much pride for that so he decided to just move in the house with his family . No matter the problems that him and his family will face knowing that their neighbors don’t want them there.
In closing, in the movie A Raisin in The Sun the family went threw many problems and issues. The themes in the movie spoke for themselves money, family, pride, and discrimination. Although the family’s back was always against the wall the sun finally raised at the end of the movie and they were finally truly happy.