The Clash Of Old and New in Lorraine Hansberry’s Play, A...

In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, she uses the characters Beneatha and Walter to show the generation gap from Mama to her children, the generation gap causes a clash between values of new and old. Mama’s children are obsessed with money and the future, while all Mama cares about is freedom and her family. Beneatha and Walter’s outlook on life is very different from Mama’s outlook on life. Mama states â€Å"Once upon a time freedom used to be life – now it’s money. I guess the world really do change.† Mama is saying that all that matters in her life is freedom and family, but now everyone only wants money. Beneatha and Walter prove what Mama said to be true throughout the play, they only think about money and how they are going to spend their father’s insurance check when it comes. But what they do not realize is that that insurance check isn’t theirs to spend its Mama’s. Beneatha is looking to spen d the money on going to college to become a doctor, while Walter wants to use the money to open up a liquor store. But all Mama wants is to do what is best for her family and to make her husbands dreams come true for his family. Mama’s husband always had the dreams for his family to live in a house and not have to worry if they will have a place to sleep at night. Mama never let go of that dream, and when the insurance check came she had a choice to make: to spend it all on a house, to give it to her kids, or to split it up. Mama chose to split it up because she had