Simon Mattar

Ms. Storer
English 3H
3/13/20
My Biggest Takeaway from A Raisin in the Sun

Reading and watching the play by Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun was truly an
eye-opening experience. I was able to see the life of an African American family in the 1950’s.
The biggest takeaway that I had from this novel is how people may think that they have their life
figured out and have all of their dreams aligned, but it is not always their purpose in life to fulfill
those dreams. Maybe they have a bigger purpose in life that they have are meant to pursue. This
theme in the novel is applied to the characters of Beneatha and Walter Younger.
In the play, Beneatha is a bright and young student in college who is on her way to entering
medical school. This has been her passion from an early age when she experienced an emergency
vehicle help her friend. Because she knew that she wanted to go into the medical field, she
started to save up for medical school. She had about $3500 that she saved. Her life dreams
depended on this money. It would decide her career for the rest of her life and how well off she
does. On the other side of the spectrum, we have Walter Younger. Walter is a chauffeur for
people in high society and have a lot of money. Walter absolutely hates his job of driving
snobby, rich men all over town. He wants to do something more in life. He wants to break
through the barriers of racial, African American stereotypes. He is tired of being the one doing
all the dirty work that does not make a lot of money. He wants to invest in a liquor store chain so
he can make the big bucks. According to Walter, money is life. In a conversation with his mom
about using the insurance check to invest in the liquor store, he tells his mom about how money
has always been a major factor in life, no matter what your situation is: “No-it was always
money, Mama. We just didn’t know about it.” (Hansberry 74). Eventually, Walter does get the
check and gives it to his friend Willy. Walter also has the money that Beneatha saved up for
medical school. However, he has not yet deposited it to the bank. Walter then uses Beneatha’s
money as well and adds it to the check from his mom. He then gives the money to Willy. A
couple of days later, Walter finds out that Willy has run off with the money. Bobo tells the new
to him: “Man, Willy is gone” (Hansberry 128). The money from the life insurance and the
money from Beneatha’s medical school savings were gone. In an instant, the dreams of Walter
and Beneatha were stripped away. The things that they worked so hard for were taken away from
them. They thought that they had their dreams aligned, but plans changed, and they had to adapt
to it even though they were devastated.
In my life, I have had some struggles that I had to adapt to as well. Sophomore year, I
trained all offseason for the next football. I would go to the gym almost every day and do speed
training. I could wait for the next season. During the offseason, I earned the starting spot as well.
However, a few weeks before the season opener, I went up to block someone and I stepped the
wrong way in the turf. I twisted my ankle and I went down. The trainer said it was a severe
sprain and I could not play for a couple of weeks. I would not be able to play for the season
opener. This devastated me and I wondered why this happened to me. My goals were achieved
and all of a sudden, they were taken away from me. This is similar to how Beneatha and Walter’s
dreams were crushed and stripped away.
All in all, no matter how much we think we have our life figured out and everything will
happen perfectly, God might have something different in plan for us. We will be awakened from
our dreams and come back to reality. We will accomplish something different that has a greater
meaning for us which will lead to a happy life.