A Raisin In The Sun And Invisible Man Comparison Essay

tyMarisa Pollock

Mrs. Markwood

English IV AP

February 24, 2014

AP Literature and Composition Research Paper

As Carl Schurz once said “From the equality of rights springs identity of our highest interests; you cannot subvert your neighbor’s rights without striking a dangerous blow at your own.” Naturally the human self-worth is wrapped around the ideas of what others think of us and writers of this time are stressing the idea of liberation from society’s standards. In both inspirational works of literature “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, and “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison, both authors illustrate how a lack of civil equality leads to self-discovery.

1st Comparison Similarity: Suffering through social divisions and low social standards reveal what is truly important in life. Some people wouldn’t truly know what’s important until they have suffered a great deal. A dream is blinded by the thought of failing to fit it; during the Civil Rights Era it’s almost impossible. During the late 1950’s the play A Raisin in the Sun presents the solution to this problem. The Youngers are American working class family that live in the Southside of Chicago. They go about their days in their tiny “rat trap” of an apartment where the bleak future reflects the atmosphere and dying hope. This novel symbolizes the surrender of human spirit to what the rest of black society has accepted to be normal. The man of the house, Walter Younger, is the average idealist. In comparison to his father “Big Walter”, Walter Younger sets his expectations high in hopes of making big money. Walter’s mother, Lena Younger, can see the clear difference in value for her son and husbands motivation and tells her daughter in law how “Big Walter use to say, he’d...

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...therefore don’t support him. He feels alone, exhausted, with trying to have his family see things his way. As he kneels besides his mother he states “sometimes when I’m downtown and I pass them cool, quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking ‘bout things . . . sitting there turning deals worth millions of dollars . . . sometimes I see guys don’t look much older than me.” (Hansberry 74-75). Hansberry presents the internal struggle of African Americans among each other and how they need to do away with their differences in order to move up in realms of American society. To the extent that the play reveals racism “it considers racism within the context of a particular family’s dreams. Mama makes her decisions, in other words, based on her love for her family rather than primarily on ideological opposition to segregation.” (Domina 1).