Ruth's Character in A Raisin In The Sun Essay

A Raisin in the Sun

I can closely relate to the struggles of Ruth Younger in A Raisin in the Sun. She remains strong for her family during times of despair and neglects her own happiness to ensure continued progress. Ruths character shows the multiple dimensions of being a woman of her age, social class, and time. She shows strength when needed, weakness when unavoidable, and common good sense overall.

When the play opens, we find Ruth going about her daily routine. She is exhausted and perhaps a bit bored with where she has found herself to be at this point in life. Her husband, Walter, briefly sees a spark of life in her reminiscent of the way he remembers her many years ago a bitter reminder of the consequence of unfulfilled dreams and time gone by. The constant bickering between Ruth and Walter is nothing new, and their feelings of contentedness turned to bitterness and depression are all too obvious. I can closely relate to Ruths feelings toward Walter at the beginning of the play. He is a stubborn man with big dreams and too anxious to bring them to life. Ruth dreams as well, but she takes a more realistic approach. She wants the best for her family, but she knows that hard work and remaining frugal will only help the family grow.

Ruth and her mother-in-law, endearingly referred to as Mama, are patiently awaiting the life insurance check that will be arriving soon. Walter and his sister, Beneatha, on the other hand, are already selfishly spending the money before it arrives. This is Mamas money and Ruth will not interfere with the decisions she will make about its uses. She knows that Mama will put aside some for Beneathas schooling, and that what is left over will be used only to benefit the family. At this point, I feel that Ruth realizes what the money could mean for the family and what a pivotal time it is. What decisions are made now will lay the path to the Younger familys future.

To complicate things further at this critical time, Ruth learns she is pregnant. She and Walter did not plan the pregnancy. I can almost feel her emotions as a woman having gone through a similar upbringing and experience. She is frustrated, confused, and possibly feeling defeated. This is not the time for such a thing to happen. How can her family progress when there is constant oppression? She begins to consider terminating the pregnancy which at that time was illegal in the United States. The magnitude of this is heart-wrenching because not only are the moral consequences evident but also the physical. She is now a desperate woman trying to hold on to what little her family already has.

I feel that Ruths character dominates the play and helps to develop the plot. The family appears to gravitate to her as if she is just as much, if not more so, the matriarch of the family as Mama. She is there to counsel her sister-in-law, remains a good wife to her husband even when he is undeserving, sets a good example for her son, and seems more like a peer to her mother-in-law. Ruths strength is evident throughout. Even when Ruth is faced with the dilemma of the pregnancy, and possibly feeling inadequate in many other respects, she carries on.

The spark of life that has gone out in Ruth is reignited when she learns that Mama has put down money on a home for the family. All the years that have led to this mundane state of existence will finally be worth it. This is so relatable to my life and probably many other womens lives because many times we find ourselves just existing and going through the motions. This is especially true when we feel we have failed at something or keep trying and trying to never gain any real results or find a new set of obstacles in the way to keep us from happiness.

Ruth Younger is a great example of everything a woman is, and I am very pleased with the way Lorraine Hansberry developed her character for the play. She did an excellent job conveying what it means to be a woman and all of the different emotions we feel on a regular basis.