A Raisin in the Sun is set on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s and depicts the life of an African-American family, the Youngers, who like many other African-American families migrated from the South to the North to leave behind social, economic and educational oppression. Unfortunately, it's no different in the North. In the play we see how Mom only believes that the meaning of life is freedom and Walter, her son, believes that money is life. These two characters have conflicting ideas about what they perceive as the meaning of life. These ideas will be analyzed closely, using evidence from the text, to illustrate why they are relevant to Mama and Walter. The function of time will also be closely analyzed to show how, over the course of a few weeks, it influences the particular meaning of their lives. I agree with Mom that their interpretations of life are due to intergenerational differences, not Walter's suggestion that life is always about money. The aspect of the American dream deferred, which seems to me to be a central issue in the play, will also be treated in relation to Mom and Walter's dreams and how time functions in relation to them. Mom, the matriarch of the Younger family, she is very religious and completely selfless. For mom, life is freedom. She is the fifth generation to come from slavery in her family, so she is much more involved in the issue of slavery and is very aware of slavery and the lack of freedom. She belongs to a different generation than Walter and therefore her sense of life is different. Mom feels like Walter doesn't appreciate the struggles his family went through and endured to get where they are today. Mama and Walter's generation have different views on life because ... middle of paper ...... are African-American and a red line is present, which created exclusion zones , community areas, prevents blacks from obtaining bank loans and insurance and certain areas are reserved for whites. By analyzing the relevance of Mom and Walter's meaning of life, we can see how time worked to specifically change Walter's meaning of life and realize that life is not about money, we see the different generations and why there are different views on the meaning of life due to the different problems Mom and Walter faced. Time has changed generations' outlook on life and what is important is different. Hansberry believes that the American dream will never be true for the Younger family, even though the Youngers believe they can achieve upward mobility, the rest of the world and Hansberry are cynical about this and do not believe it is true..