NON AFRICAN DRAMA Lorraine Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun Consider the importance of of the check in the play.

Answer Details

In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, the insurance cheque of ten thousand dollars is one of the most important elements of the plot. It sets the action in motion, exposes the different dreams of the family members, and becomes the test through which their characters are revealed.

Origin and meaning of the cheque. The money is the life-insurance payment following the death of Big Walter, Mama's husband, who worked himself to death for his family. The cheque therefore carries deep emotional weight: it represents years of a black man's toil and suffering, and Mama regards it almost as sacred, the fruit of her husband's life.

A focus for competing dreams. The cheque brings into the open the clashing aspirations of the Younger family, the many dreams deferred that give the play its theme. Walter Lee wants to invest it in a liquor store to become rich and to escape his humiliating job. Beneatha needs money for medical school. Mama dreams of a decent house to give the family dignity and space. The single sum cannot satisfy all these desires, and so it becomes a source of tension and conflict.

Driver of the plot. Every major turn of the action revolves around the money. Mama's decision to use part of it as a down payment on a house in the white neighbourhood of Clybourne Park precipitates the confrontation with Mr Lindner and the white community. Her entrusting of the remainder to Walter, and his loss of it to the swindler Willy Harris, produce the crisis of the play.

A test of character. The way each character relates to the money reveals who they are. Walter's obsession with it exposes his materialism and frustrated manhood; its loss brings him to the brink of self-abasement before Lindner. His final refusal to sell the family's pride for Lindner's money shows his moral growth. Thus the cheque becomes the instrument through which Walter, in particular, is tested and transformed.

Symbolic importance. Beyond its plot function, the cheque symbolises both opportunity and danger. It embodies the hope of escaping poverty, but also the temptation to measure life solely in terms of money. The play finally affirms that dignity, family unity and self-respect matter more than wealth.

In conclusion, the check is of great importance in A Raisin in the Sun: it launches the plot, reveals the family's conflicting dreams, tests and transforms Walter, and carries the play's central meaning about the true value of human dignity over material gain.