Brenda Tamayo

Ms. Storer
English 3 Honors
March 13th 2020
My Biggest Takeaway from A Raisin in the Sun
The biggest takeaway I had from reading A Raisin in the Sun is how important money
really is in everyone’s lives. It determines people’s futures, their opportunities, their status and
their current living situations. It ultimately shapes people’s identity and their whole lives.
In my life I have been on both side on the spectrum when it comes to my family’s
financial status. Before 2008 my family was very well off. They bought a brand-new house that
was very expensive, and we always ate out on the weekends at expensive restaurants. However,
when the 2008 economic recession occurred, my mother got laid off from her job. As a result, we
could not pay the bills for our house and the house got taken away from us. We had to move out
of my parents dream house and move into a tiny shack in a sketchy part of town. We were living
off my father’s teaching salary for almost 3 years. We basically lived check to check.
Fortunately, now we are well off and are not struggling financial anymore. From this experience,
it made me realize how important money was to have a quality life.
When I review my life in comparison to the Younger family, I see some similarities.
When my mother got laid off and my father was the only one providing for our family, they
constantly fought over money. In the novel when Ruth and Walter were bickering over money, I
really sympathized with their situation. From firsthand experience, I know how stressful an
uncertain financial status can be. Not knowing how much money one has in the bank can cause
great anxiety in anyone’s life. I sympathized with Travis when he asked for money and his
mother said “Well, I ain’t got no fifty cents this morning…I don’t care what teacher say. I ain’t
got it” (Hansberry 28). Ruth knows that they don’t have a lot of money, so she does not want to
spend what they don’t have. Travis on the other hand doesn’t understand the situation that his
family is in, so he is confused as to why he can’t have 50 cents, which seems like very little
money to him. However, those 50 cents could actually make a huge difference in making ends
meet for the family.
This play also made me realize how someone’s house and the neighborhood they live in
is very interrelated with their economic status. In the PBS articles the white family lived in a
suburban neighborhood and were very well off as a result of where they lived. On the other hand,
the African American family did not live in a “white” neighborhood, so they struggled
financially, which ultimately affected their children in the future. This disparity is also seen in A
Raisin in the Sun. Since the Younger family lives in a black neighborhood and a small cramped
apartment, they live in poverty and have a lower/inferior social status. However, Lena and Ruth
dream about moving out and living in a house, that so happens to be in a white neighborhood.
They want to move in this house because they believe it will spring them forward in life and help
improve their economic status. It is evident that living in a “white” wealthy neighborhood means
that you are successful, while living in the “ghetto” poor neighborhoods means you are not
successful. In the future, I hope people will not associate where one lives with being successful.
It is unfair, especially since it is out of the hands of many people.