Raisin_in_the_Sun_Group_1

=R.I.T.S =

**Plot: The plot of this story is that a family living in a very racial 1960's era. We see the Younger family waiting for a life insurance check of ten thousand dollars and every body in the family has different ideas as to what to do with the money. The mother, Lena, wants to get a house and make sure that her daughter gets into medical school and that her son and his family have a good life. The son, Walter, wants to invest the money into a bar so that he has a change of life and that he gets ahead as a person and in society. Lastly the daughter wants to use the money to get into medical school so that she can pursue her dream. ** **Setting: South Side, Chicago. 1960's** **Theme: This book is primarily based on race and racism problems; this is pretty much to show the hardships and the difficulties that people have while trying to achieve the things that they want out of life.** **Characters Ruth Younger: Ruth is Walter Lee's wife, a deeply emotional and old fashioned woman. Despite her true love for family and her husband, she has difficulty dealing with Walter's mistreatment of her. Ruth is pregnant and goes to a female gynecologist to put a down payment on having her unborn child aborted. Ruth is the family member most excited to move into a new home because she wants her son Travis to have a better life. Travis Younger: Travis is Ruth and Walter Lee's only child and sleeps on the couch in the living room. He loves his grandmama deeply and buys her a large gardening hat as a moving gift. Although he often plays one parent against the other unknowingly, he has a close relationship with both Ruth and Walter. Walter Lee Younger: Walter Lee is Lena's oldest child and only son. He is married to Ruth and works as a chauffeur for wealthy white people. He constantly feels as though the entire world is against him, especially the women in his life: his mother and his wife. He seems to care only for money and wants the insurance money to start a liquor store with Bobo and Willy Harris. Although Walter is obsessed with money and seems to ignore his family, he matures at the conclusion of the play, as he tells Lindner that his family cannot be bought. Beneatha Younger: Beneatha (also known as Bennie) is Lena's youngest child and only daughter, who plans to become a doctor. She has two gentleman callers in her life: George Murchison, the wealthy Negro whom she dislikes intensely, and Joseph Asagai, the Nigerian intellectual who sweeps her off her feet. She constantly presents herself as a modern, black woman, with new freedoms and rights, and plans to find her roots both in America and in Africa. Lena Younger (Mama): Lena (Mama) is the matriarch of the Younger family, controlling everyone's emotions and actions, and calling the shots on the future. The check belongs to her, since it is her husband who passed away. She cares nothing for money and only about her beloved family and life. She adores plants and carries her window plant with her to the new house. Although she scolds her children, she wants nothing more than for them to get along and raise happy, healthy families. She migrated north to Chicago from the South during the harsh lynching period for Negroes and cannot understand the modern ways in which people are heading. Everyone in the family looks to her for advice and love, which she openly gives with all her heart. Joseph Asagai: Asagai is Beneatha's African boyfriend. He is from Nigeria and wants to take Bennie back with him to practice medicine in Africa. He is very intelligent and stays close to his roots, causing Bennie to fall for him. George Murchison: George Murchison is Beneatha's wealthy gentleman caller. He is true Negro wealth and has an ego to back it up. Although the Younger family appears to want Bennie to marry George for his money, Bennie despises his character and wants to be with Asagai. Karl Lindner: Mr. Lindner is the white representative from the Clybourne Welcoming Committee. He comes to the Younger household feigning respect, and attempts to appear accepting, while secretly wanting the Negro family out of his community. He offers the Younger family money in exchange for their absence from his neighborhood. Bobo : Bobo is one of Walter Lee's acquaintances. He is one of the men in on the deal for the liquor store and informs Walter Lee that Willy Harris has disappeared with both his and Walter's money. Willy Harris: Willy Harris makes no physical appearance in the play, yet is mentioned several times as a no-good scoundrel. He is one of the men with whom Walter plans to open a liquor store, but disappears with both Walter and Bobo's money leaving no trace.**

**   Quote 1: "Check coming today?" (The importance of money) Quote 2: "In my mother's house there is still God." (No matter how hard the situation is, you have to believe) Quote 3: "Sometimes you just got to know when to give up some things...and hold on to what you got." (Take everything as it comes to you)

~*Lorraine Hansberry*~ (1930-1965) Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago. she was the daughter of a real-state broker; Carl Hansberry and the niece of William Leo Hansberry, a Howard University professor of African History in D.C. Hansberry's parents were intellectuals and activists. her father was an active member of the Republican Party. He won an anti-segregation case before the Illinois SUpreme Court, upon which the events in "A Raisin in the Sun" was loosely based. When Lorraine was eight, her parents bought a house in a white-dominated neighborhood, where they were welcomed one night by a racist mob. Hansberry became interest in Africa began at an early age, after writing an autobiography, she studied art at the University of Wisconsin and in Mexico. In Wisconsin she joined "The Young Progressives of Amerca" and later the "Labor Youth League." After attending a school performance of a play by the Irish playwright Sean O'Casey, she decided to become a writer. In 1950 she dropped out of college and worked as an associate editor of Paul Robeson's "Freedom". During this period she met, among others the famous writer Langston Hughes. ~*America in the 1950's*~ The end of WWII brought back thousands of young servicemen back to America to pick up their lives and start new families in new homes with new jobs. With energy never before experienced, American industry expanded to meet peacetime needs. Americans began buying goods not available during the war, which created corporate expansions and jobs.**

~*Jenni Rox, Joe Maneri, Joey Mistretta, Philip Sacca, Scott Atreyu Carey, Edwin Vargas Chucuy*~