Comparison Of Family In Brighton Beach Memoirs And A Raisin In The Sun

Family struggles have been present since before time. Every family has there own challenges that they are forced to face. Two plays show how a family can deal and compensate with their daily battles. A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a play set in Chicago, before the civil rights movement, about the Youngers. The Youngers lived in a crammed apartment, with just enough space for the five of them, and are expecting another child. They are depending on their father’s life insurance check to get them out of poverty and into better living conditions. Once that money is lost, they have no way of getting it back. Similar to the second play, Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon set in Brooklyn, NY, in the 1930’s, about a family struggling to make ends meet. Times are tough when the Jerome-Morton family is dependent on their father Jack’s and their son Stanley’s salaries. Within the two plays, both families struggle to deal with poverty in their everyday lives with budgeting their money and keeping a steady salary, and making sure that they are able to keep a job to support themselves and their loved ones.
Throughout the Youngers and the Jerome-Morton family, they all had to sparingly spend their money where it was most needed. When Travis Younger had asked his mother, Ruth, for money to bring to school to donate, she had stated
Throughout each play, economical challenges are present in their everyday lives. Whether it is bringing 50 cents for school, or just replacing old sneakers. Paying to stay in a very crammed apartment was even shown to be tough. It was also presented difficult to keep a stable job with a steady income to pay for their bills. All of these causes are what pushes families to their lowest points, poverty. Poverty can challenge those to their breaking points and drive them to test their