“A Raisin in the Sun”

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Recommended: Symbolism in A raisin in the sun

Lorraine Hansberry used symbolism in her successful drama, “A Raisin in the Sun” to portray emotions felt in the lives of her characters and possible her own. Hansberry set her piece in Chicago’s South Side, probably the early 1950’s. During this period in history, many African-Americans, like the Youngers, struggled to overcome the well-known prejudices that were far too familiar. The main scene, in this touching realist drama, is the home of the Youngers, an overcrowded run-down apartment. Hansberry used this private scenery to enhance the many feelings the Youngers, and other African-Americans, fought to conquer and to embrace in the name of happiness.
As with families of any ethnic group, the Youngers ultimate goal was to be happy. Unfortunately, being African-American meant there were certain disadvantages they must face due to prejudices. Hansberry used the aging cracks of the apartment walls and the worn-down carpet to represent their emotions towards this unwanted truth and the despair they felt. The over used furniture around the apartment, barely fulfilling its purpose, symbolized the robotic beings they had become, too tried and over worked to do little more than go through the motions of life. Hansberry demonstrated the struggle and limitations they felt through the parallels of their economical state and their social status. The Youngers felt they had few options when it came to their living space due to finances, just as they had few options when it came to the way society viewed them based on skin color.
There was also a tone of embarrassment by the characters. Mama demonstrated this when Beneatha invited Asagai over on cleaning day, it was as if she wanted to hind the reality of their lives. This feel...

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...sberry emphasized the Youngers emotional journey through unnoticed symbolism through the entire piece. She used, “A Raisin in the Sun,” to demonstrated the positive and negative moments not only the Youngers family experienced, but possible moments from her own life. Hansberry’s interest for civil rights, as well as, her own personal feelings towards discrimination while living in an all-white neighborhood gave her a passion that reflects through this piece giving it a quality of success that only true emotion could attract.

Works Cited

Booth, Alison, and Kelly J. Mays. "Reading More Drama."
The Norton introduction to literature. Portable 10th ed. New York: W.W.
Norton & Co., 2011. 27 April 2014. Print.
"Lorraine Hansberry Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web.
27 April 2014.
com/people/lorraine-hansberry-9327823.>

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