Friday, May 16, 2008
Question #9
Walter, the father in the struggling family, fights to help provide his family. One day his mother comes home with good news: "[I] went out and.. bought you a house." She says this to her grandson, Travis, Walter's son. What do you think the author's intent was when she had the grandmother go out and buy a house?
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3 comments:
The author's intent for Lena, the grandmother, to buy a house was to show that Walter wasn't the head of the household. Since Lena got that insurance check she had enough money to buy the family a new house. The author could have been showing readers that not always are fathers the dictators. They don't always make the rules and arent always repsonsible. Lorraine Hansbury wanted to show that Lena was the mother of the entire household. She wasnt just Walter and Bennie's mother she was the mother of the whole family.
KIA
I agree with the previous. Lena proved that the choices made were not coming from Walter, the "man of the house", but from Lena herself. Despite Walter's obviously appearant annoyed or upset disposition he does nothing to fight against Lena buying the house. Lena makes the decisions and everybody is expected to go along with it. This even happens again when Lena talks Ruth out of getting an abortion. But this is not necessarily a bad thing since Lena is a good person only wanting to make the family a better one.
MJS
Like the previous comments said, it was just restating that Lena was in fact the head of the house at that time. She had the money, she was the oldest, and she made the decisions. She didn't give up that position until she handed the money to Walter and gave him a few directions on what to do with the money, but not much else. He screwed up at first and gave away the money, but he fixed himself and took his position as the head of the house and directed that they move into the house that Lena had bought.
RPN
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