Would you choose money over your family? If you won a great sum of money, but it would only make things worse for your family, would you still want it? Lorraine Hansberry challenges the idea of family versus money in her play "A Raisin in the Sun." Walter, a main character, constantly strives for great sums of money but for the cost of unhappiness for his family. In "A Raisin in the Sun," Lorraine Hansberry shows the reader that family always triumphs over money.
In the beginning of "A Raisin in the Sun , Mama is about to receive a $10,000 check due to her husband dying. Walter views the money as his own, even though Mama attempts to use it as beneficial money for the whole family. Mama would like to buy a new house for the family, put Beneatha through medical school, and she even offered to give Walter the leftover. But Walter wants to invest all of the money into a liquor store. He constantly worries and questions Mama about the money. On page 73, Walter says, "Do you know what this money means to me? Do you know what this money could do for us? Mama - Mama, I want so many things. This dialogue demonstrates that Walter is struggling with what he should value in life and focusing on material things. He wants new cars and a fancy house to impress everyone that he has money. Another quote in "A Raisin in the Sun  is walter saying "It is life Mama" (page 74). When walter say this he is referring to money. This clearly show the reader that in the beginning of the book walter values money more than family. In the beginning of the book, Walter does not understand that money is nothing - merely a materialistic item. Family is something that you should treasure and always hold onto before it's gone.
In the middle of the book, Walter starts to change slightly but he still strongly believes that money will solve all of his problems, so he puts it before his family. Instead of talking to his family about the money, he talks to Willy...