Money As Power In A Raisin In The Sun By Lorraine Hansberry

In the story, “A Raisin in the Sun” written by Lorraine Hansberry, the power that Walter has for the dream he once had is story and detrimental and makes him struggle in life. This contributes to the theme of how some people are going to do anything for this “american dream”. That the struggle he goes through for the power he wants is only going t o be his downfall.

He wakes up in the morning and his first thought of the day is the money. The money that actually doesn’t belong to him, but rather to his mother from the death of her husband. To him this money would give him the power for a grateful life that can secure him and his family for a while. Once he sees that Mama rather spent the money on a house and not on her son's dreams he then lashes out on her and the rest of his family. This power he thought he had is gone and now he takes it out on his family, along with drinking away his sorrow to not think about it. Once he sees this power coming back to him when Mama offers him the rest of the money he takes it and makes a horrible and rash decision that affects the whole family. The power then slips away from his fingertips. Everyone around him just sees him struggle for this money and power he wants. 

The power he wants so bad is only coming to him then leaving in this horrendous cycle that ends up driving him mad. That’s why he lashes out at his family. The madness of him struggling for this power is all he can think about and it is his downfall until he overcomes his mindset of power and realizes that he has this power already. That he has always had this power and just needed a push from Mama to activate it. 

Overall Walter has struggled for this power he wants so bad for as long as he can remember and when he finally overcomes this power he is one with himself and one step closer to being the man with the power of the family. We see at the end Mama fully trusts him and lets him make the final decision. He had overcome the struggle for power.