A Raisin in the Sun

I greatly enjoyed the movie “A Raisin in the Sun”. Nothing against Diddy, but I watched the original with Sidney Poitier, as it is the version I have seen the most bits and pieces of. I don’t know why I never bothered to sit down and actually see it all the way through- it is such a wonderful, rich story. I must confess that as much as I like Sidney Poitier, I didn’t care for Walter Lee, his character. I understand that Walter was a walking, talking example of frustrated manhood, unable to provide for his family, unable to live out his life’s dreams, never realizing the potential he thought he possessed. But Walter took it further than that- when the insurance check came, he let the hopes and dreams of his family take second seat to those that he saw for himself. He wanted to “be a man”, and to him that meant money. To his father, being a man meant taking care of your family and teaching them right from wrong. To Walter, being a man meant making money any way you could, being a “big shot”, making deals. He wasn’t interested in his family’s wishes. He ignored his wife, he didn’t support his sister in her goal to be a doctor, and he spoke disrespectfully to his mother and all who didn’t agree with his plans.

Some of the most interesting things for me were when Mama spoke about the plant, and how it couldn’t grow without sun; when she told everyone she bought the house, we physically see the exhausted Ruth stretch out towards the ceiling, smiling, thinking of how nice it would be to have a house, just like a plant reaching out towards the sun. When Walter was pleading his case for the liquor store, he said that even when people couldn’t pay their rent, they would always have money for liquor, and later we see him in the bar drinking, when Ruth didn’t have fifty cents to give her son. He spoke of what he knew. When the friend ran off with money, Walter and Mama cry and mourn, not just over the money, but because losing the money is like losing the father all over again; the money was their last link to his memory, it was his last gift to them. I liked what Asagai had to say to Beneatha about her being dependent- they were all dependent on the death of the father for that money. No matter what kind of deal Walter fell into, he could never be a “man” until he stood up and did something for himself. He finally did that at the end when he spoke up for his family, and I like to think of them all living as happily as they could, given the times, and that Beneatha became a doctor and went to Nigeria.