Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin In The Sun Essay -- essays research pap

Lorraine Hansberry’s novel, A Raisin in the Sun, revolves around a middle-class African-American family, struggling during World War II. By reading about the Younger’s true to life experiences, one learns many important life lessons. One of the aforementioned would be that a person should always put family’s needs before their own. There are many examples of this throughout the novel. Just a few of these would be the example of Ruth and her unborn baby, Walter regaining the respect of his family, and Mama and her unselfish ways.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first event that shows one should always put family before oneself is the case of Ruth and her unborn baby. At first, Ruth is thinking about having an abortion, and has already paid a five-dollar down payment to the doctor. She explains to Walter her reasoning for such drastic measures by saying, â€Å"†¦I—I’m sorry about this new baby, Walter. I guess maybe I better go on and do what I started†¦ I guess I just didn’t realize how bad things was with us†¦ I guess I just didn’t realize.†(87) Ruth is going to destroy this baby because she feels that she and Walter just do not have enough money to support another family member, and feels that she and Walter will only bring the baby into a world of fighting. Beneatha also has influence on Ruth’s decision by asking, â€Å"†¦ where is he going to live? On the roof?†(58). Beneatha feels that if Ruth has another baby it would just complicate the living situation, which is strenuous enough as it is. Later, even with all of this negat ive energy, Ruth comes to realize that she should not take the life of her baby and decides to keep it. One of her reasons for this change of heart is that her and Walter have been getting along much better, and their constant fighting was one of the main reasons she did not want to have the baby in the first place. Also, now that they are all moving into a new house, there will be enough room for the baby. In the end, although having an abortion seems like an easy way out, Ruth instead thinks about the baby’s life rather than her own, and chooses not to terminate her pregnancy. Another example that proves this, is when Walter gives away his and Beneatha's money to buy a liquor store, and loses it all. He then tries to get the money back by selling their new house to Mr. Lindner, although the only reason Mr. Lindner wants to buy it is becau... ... buy the family a new house so that Travis would have a better place to grow up. Mama could have spent that money on something she wanted, but instead bought something that would make the whole family happy. After she buys their new house, Mama gives Beneatha $3000 dollars towards college and gives Walter $3500 dollars to better his future. Mama has given all of the insurance money to the people she cares about, and kept none of it for herself. She thought about her children’s future and decided to invest the money towards a better life for them. This is a very unselfish act on Mama’s part, a perfect example of putting family before oneself. Although sometimes people can get wrapped up in events that they feel only concern themselves, they should always take a moment to think about how their actions could be affecting the people they love. Friends will always come and go, but family is forever. If a person wants to stay close to their family, they have to consider things from both theirs and the other person’s points of view. For love, people have to sacrifice things that they might not want to, but they have to love their families enough to help them before they help themselves. Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun Essay -- essays research pap Lorraine Hansberry’s novel, A Raisin in the Sun, revolves around a middle-class African-American family, struggling during World War II. By reading about the Younger’s true to life experiences, one learns many important life lessons. One of the aforementioned would be that a person should always put family’s needs before their own. There are many examples of this throughout the novel. Just a few of these would be the example of Ruth and her unborn baby, Walter regaining the respect of his family, and Mama and her unselfish ways.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first event that shows one should always put family before oneself is the case of Ruth and her unborn baby. At first, Ruth is thinking about having an abortion, and has already paid a five-dollar down payment to the doctor. She explains to Walter her reasoning for such drastic measures by saying, â€Å"†¦I—I’m sorry about this new baby, Walter. I guess maybe I better go on and do what I started†¦ I guess I just didn’t realize how bad things was with us†¦ I guess I just didn’t realize.†(87) Ruth is going to destroy this baby because she feels that she and Walter just do not have enough money to support another family member, and feels that she and Walter will only bring the baby into a world of fighting. Beneatha also has influence on Ruth’s decision by asking, â€Å"†¦ where is he going to live? On the roof?†(58). Beneatha feels that if Ruth has another baby it would just complicate the living situation, which is strenuous enough as it is. Later, even with all of this negat ive energy, Ruth comes to realize that she should not take the life of her baby and decides to keep it. One of her reasons for this change of heart is that her and Walter have been getting along much better, and their constant fighting was one of the main reasons she did not want to have the baby in the first place. Also, now that they are all moving into a new house, there will be enough room for the baby. In the end, although having an abortion seems like an easy way out, Ruth instead thinks about the baby’s life rather than her own, and chooses not to terminate her pregnancy. Another example that proves this, is when Walter gives away his and Beneatha's money to buy a liquor store, and loses it all. He then tries to get the money back by selling their new house to Mr. Lindner, although the only reason Mr. Lindner wants to buy it is becau... ... buy the family a new house so that Travis would have a better place to grow up. Mama could have spent that money on something she wanted, but instead bought something that would make the whole family happy. After she buys their new house, Mama gives Beneatha $3000 dollars towards college and gives Walter $3500 dollars to better his future. Mama has given all of the insurance money to the people she cares about, and kept none of it for herself. She thought about her children’s future and decided to invest the money towards a better life for them. This is a very unselfish act on Mama’s part, a perfect example of putting family before oneself. Although sometimes people can get wrapped up in events that they feel only concern themselves, they should always take a moment to think about how their actions could be affecting the people they love. Friends will always come and go, but family is forever. If a person wants to stay close to their family, they have to consider things from both theirs and the other person’s points of view. For love, people have to sacrifice things that they might not want to, but they have to love their families enough to help them before they help themselves.