Like most families, the Youngers have hopes and dreams for their lives. However, their lack of money has forced them to make changes and sacrifices in these dreams. As the play unfolds, we watch the family decide what to do with Big Walter's $10,000 insurance check.
Leana Younger, Walter's mother, is the matriarch of the family. Her dream is that the family can move up in the world. She believes they can achieve this by buying a bigger house in a different neighborhood. She sees her husband's insurance money as a vehicle for achieving this dream.
Walter Lee Younger is a chauffeur who wants to be wealthy instead of driving around other wealthy people. As he discusses his plan to go into the liquor store business with his friend Bobo, it is clear that he's had several plans to get rich quickly before. Now that there is the possibility of using his father's insurance money for the store, he believes his dreams will come true. As he tells his mother, " I want so many things that they are driving me kind of crazy…Mama – look at me." Walter wants to be able to make a name for himself and to be able to take care of his family's financial needs.
Ruth Younger, Walter's wife and mother to Travis, tries to be a strong woman for Walter. She's described as being only 30 but looking so much older. She spends her time worrying about the other members of the family. There is no mention in the text about her family, so the Youngers are her only family now and so they are who she cares the most about in the world. Poverty has affected her when she realizes that she's pregnant. She knows they barely have enough money to take care of each other, and so she worries about how to take care of a baby. She considers abortion as an option to alleviate any burden a new person in the house may cause.
Beneatha is Walter's sister. At just twenty years old, she often disagrees with her mother's older generation viewpoints. Bennie is in college and dreams of becoming a doctor. Poverty impacts her as she cannot achieve her goals without the insurance check to fund her tuition.
Travis is Ruth and Walter's son. They've tried to protect him from the world, but since the boy doesn't even have his own bedroom, he is well aware of their situation. He tries to help out by carrying groceries after school for extra money when his parents can't give him any extra money.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Discuss the tensions that have arisen between family members due to the poverty that they face. How have their dreams been affected?
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