Unit 2. post 2

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. Act two, scene one and two.

In this blog, I hope to answer question 11. Characters in this play seem to be overwhelmingly lonely in their own respects, while being together in a cramped apartment. Walter seems lonely because he is unanimously unsupported in his dreams by the rest of the family. His desires are shot down by Ruth and Beneatha because they require money. Beneatha is in the same boat as Walter because she is seen as a chaser of unattainable dreams. Mama and Ruth mock her for her desires and say the only way that she will make something of her self is if she marries George, a rich man who is dating Beneatha. Ruth seems alone because she is responsible for nurturing the ambitions of the rest of the family while she puts her own dreams alone. Mama seems alone in her own struggles because she wishes to see her family happy which will not happen in the oppressively small apartment. I believe that Mama buying the house is a symbol of how they are overcoming the oppression and finally making their dreams a reality, at least Mama and Ruth. Beneatha and Walter are displeased that the money, which they assumed as their own when it really wasn't, had been all spent on something that was not beneficial to their own selfish desires. Although the Youngers are achieving some of their dreams by moving into the new house, they are still having to delay some of their other ambitions because of a lack of means to achieve them.

"It's been rough, ain't it, baby? I guess between two people there ain't never as much understood folks generally thinks there is" (Hansberry, 88).