Theme of Family in A Raisin in The Sun Essay Example

In a Raisin in the Sun there are multiple different important lessons and themes but the one that is the most important is family. 

My first reason why I believe one of the most important themes in this story is family because the Younger’s are faced with many difficult situations and decisions that revolve around their family. Not everyone in the family gets along, a lot of them don’t, but they’re still they’re for each other. One example is when Ruth fainted and soon found out after that she was pregnant, Mama was there for her the entire time, they weren’t family but treated each other as one. When Walter came home the night Ruth fainted, she wanted to talk about the pregnancy but he didn’t have any interest talking to her or Mama. Mama ended up making him listen and telling him about her pregnancy and if it wasn’t for Mama caring about Ruth, Walter may have never found out she was pregnant and was planning to get rid of it. Another example is when Mama saw how badly Walter wanted to own the liquor store and Beneatha wanted to go to college, she gave him and Beneatha $6,500, although it was all the money she had left, she used it on her kids. Mama says, (Hansberry 107) "I want you to take this money and take three thousand dollars and put it in a savings account for Beneatha's medical schooling.” 

The second most important theme I chose is following your dreams. Everyone in the story had a dream whether it was owning a liquor store, going to college and becoming a doctor, or for Mama, owning a house. The Younger’s family all felt passionate about their dreams but Walter had the most desire, although the dream never came true. Walter was so passionate about his dream that he was willing to put everything behind to be able to pursue it, which made him do good and bad things with his drive for it. Beneatha also felt very strongly about becoming a doctor, she even chose to stay in her hometown to become a doctor rather than going with George to Nigeria. Beneatha's decision to follow her dreams was so important because she wanted it so badly and turned down other opportunities to be able to pursue it. All of their dreams and what they chose to do with it helped shape the way the story ended in a positive way, Walter says, (Hansberry 100) , "And we have decided to move into our house because my father -my father- he earned it for us brick by brick... We don't want to make any trouble for anybody or fight no causes, and we will try to be good neighbors. And that's all we got to say about that... We don't want your money" At the end of the story, they finally moved into the house which was always Mama’s dream. 

Being there for your family and following your dreams are two of the most important things in the story and in real life. Everything the family did for each other based on dreams or just out of love for them helped the family come together at the end of the story more than they had ever been before.