Experiencing a sense of loss causes great pain for many people, but how the grief is dealt with shows their strength as a person. English playwright, William Shakespeare, wrote his famous work “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” in 1603. In this play, Shakespeare demonstrates the idea that when characters come together with mixed emotions, it may result in failure at what is trying to be accomplished. Lorraine Hansberry, an astonishing playwright and writer, published her well known play “A Raisin in the Sun” in 1959. This play shares the challenges of racial segregation a family faces, but proves that in order to move past the judgment from society they must succeed to accept one another first. These stories relate because they both find a way in dealing with their grief by starting off in denial and resulting in acceptance. Everyone’s journey through grief is similar in many ways, but it is how one chooses to handle it that makes their journey unique.
A first reaction to devastating news usually results in denying the facts that have been brought up upon the unfortunate event. It is hard to believe what can’t be seen, but if what is seen seems unrealistic people begin to think they are delusional. “He waxes desperate with imagination” (Shakespeare Act 1, Scene 5, Line 87). Horatio desperately wants the “Ghost” to be Hamlet’s father, but is then pulled back when realizing that maybe it is all in his head. Charles Kamen, a graduate from Stanford University School of Medicine states that denial is used as a sense of protection (1330). People feel safe when denial is used as a shield to protect others from the truth. Denial is a defensive trait used to block all sorrow and problems. In “A Raisin in the Sun”, Ruth denies having money to gi...
... middle of paper ...
...enial on health-related quality of life in
patients with HIV.” Quality of Life Research. 21.8. (2012):
1327-1336. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Dec 2013.
Praill, Nancy. “Age Differences in Women's Anger Experience and
Expression.” International Journal of Psychological Studies. 5.3.
(2013): 122-134. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Dec 2013
Schwartz, Gary. “On Imagining the Afterlife.” Journal of Cognition &
Culture. 11.4. (2011): 367-389. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1
Dec 2013.
Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.” Making Arguments about Literature: A
Compact Guide and Anthology. Eds. John Schilb and John Clifford.
Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2005. 771-876. Print.
Young, Norman. “Non-pharmacological treatments for patients with
depression.” Nursing Standard. 28.7. (2013): 43-51. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 1 Dec 2013.
Denial was also used through the novel as a defense mechanism so that the person can protect themselves from the pain he or she was feeling at that point in time. When Oskar father Thomas Schelle, has gone missing him and his mother both decided it would be a good idea to “fill a suitcase with a poster of Oskar's father and post them all around town they refused to believe that Thomas could have been dead”(For 229). When Oscar and his mother put up these posters it gave them a sense of belief and hope that their loved one may still be alive. Another person the denied the death of a loved one was Oskar grandfather, they believed he was“trying to remake the girl he knew seven years before”, his beloved Anna, who had died in the bombing of Dresden (83). Many Psychologists have said that “ People grieve because they are expecting their loved ones to magically appear even though he or she is really gone”. Living in denial is very hard for a person and it is hard to move on into their day to day routines. Denials help delay the other stages of the grief and this stage usually lasts the longest. One of the first feelings that we experience after Denial is anger. Anger comes after the numbing of shock that something bad just had happened. Oskar puts all of his anger towards his mother because he thinks that his mother does not love his father anymore because he believes she is not honouring his name and memory. Seeing his mother being happy and continuing on with her life makes him think that she does not miss his dad (Foer 170). Oskar was releasing all of his build up anger towards his mother because he felt that it was her fault and that she was moving on without
The critics who perceived this book's central theme to be teen-age angst miss the deep underlying theme of grief and bereavement. Ambrosio asks the question, "Is silence for a writer tantamount to suicide? Why does the wr...
The characters in Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones are faced with the difficult task of overcoming the loss of Susie, their daughter and sister. Jack, Abigail, Buckley, and Lindsey each deal with the loss differently. However, it is Susie who has the most difficulty accepting the loss of her own life. Several psychologists separate the grieving process into two main categories: intuitive and instrumental grievers. Intuitive grievers communicate their emotional distress and “experience, express, and adapt to grief on a very affective level” (Doka, par. 27). Instrumental grievers focus their attention towards an activity, whether it is into work or into a hobby, usually relating to the loss (Doka par. 28). Although each character deals with their grief differently, there is one common denominator: the reaction of one affects all.
In the four years between 1861 and 1865 this country was in civil war over the rights and freedom of blacks in America. When all was said and done, the blacks won their freedom and gained several rights that would make their lives better. Nearly one hundred years later, in 1959, Lorraine Hansberry wrote her great play, A Raisin in the Sun. It described the everyday life of a black family in the Southside of Chicago sometime after World War II. Throughout the play, Hansberry talks of the difficulties that the Younger family faces trying to get from one day to another; the problems that should have been resolved by the Civil War. Even after the Civil War and this play, many of these problems still exist today.
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, has often been dubbed a “black” play by critics since its debut on Broadway in 1959. This label has been reasonably assigned considering the play has a cast that consists primarily of African American actors; however, when looking beyond the surface of this play and the color of the author and characters, one can see that A Raisin in the Sun actually transcends the boundaries of racial labels through the universal personalities assigned to each character and the realistic family situations that continue to evolve throughout the storyline. As seen when comparing A Raisin in the Sun to “The Rich Brother,” a story for which the characters receive no label of race, many commonalities can be found between the characters’ personalities and their beliefs. Such similarities prove that A Raisin in the Sun is not merely a play intended to appeal only to the black community, nor should it be construed as a story about the plights of the black race alone, but instead should be recognized as a play about the struggles that all families, regardless of race, must endure in regard to their diversity and financial disparity. A succinct introduction and excellent writing!
Hard truth is uncomfortable to deal with; some cope with it with the approach of denial and anger.
In the play A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry (1959), the author depicts an African American family whom struggles with the agonizing inferiority present during the 1950s. Hansberry illustrates the constant discrimination that colored people, as a whole, endured in communities across the nation. Mama, who is the family’s foundation, is the driving force behind the family on the search for a better life. With the family living in extreme poverty, their family bond is crucial in order to withstand the repression. Hansberry effectively portrays the racism within society, and how it reinforced unity amongst the family members.
In America, every citizen is guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although each person is given these rights, it is how each person uses them that defines how successful they will be in America. There are several obstacles that some Americans face on their pursuit of happiness. In this country’s past, Americans lived by a very specific set of beliefs that valued the importance of hard work, faith, and family. As time progressed and America began to evolve as a nation, this capitalistic society no longer devoted itself to family and faith but rather success, and the pursuit of prosperity. The shift from dependence on tradition towards a society that values success and how people struggle to b successful when society makes it difficult marks a common theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun. Two of the main characters in this story Lena Younger (Mama) and her son Walter Lee directly reflect the shift from tradition to a focus on success and capital and the struggles they face in regards to racism. Mama and Walter Lee’s contrasting values about the American dream and the way in which they pursue their own dreams while facing racism exemplifies the shift from valuing tradition like in previous generations in America, to valuing success and prosperity like in more current generations.
Imagine that the person you love most in the world dies. How would you cope with the loss? Death and grieving is an agonizing and inevitable part of life. No one is immune from death’s insidious and frigid grip. Individuals vary in their emotional reactions to loss. There is no right or wrong way to grieve (Huffman, 2012, p.183), it is a melancholy ordeal, but a necessary one (Johnson, 2007). In the following: the five stages of grief, the symptoms of grief, coping with grief, and unusual customs of mourning with particular emphasis on mourning at its most extravagant, during the Victorian era, will all be discussed in this essay (Smith, 2014).
The story of “A Raisin in the Sun” is during a time where racism was still very alive and threatening to the African American race. A black family, the Younger’s is affected by this reality throughout the course of the play. Each family member is affected in a way uniquely their own. This essay will explore these occurrences and as a result what effect they have on the family.
Heffernan, Teresa. “Beloved and the Problem of Mourning.” http://www.questia.com/library/ 1G1-54196882/beloved-and-the-problem-of-mourning /. N. p. n. d. Web. Nov 24, 2012.
who were depressed were 4 to 5 times more likely to have made serious inquiries about
Overcoming the grief that is felt after losing a loved one is a physically and mentally agonizing task. According to Dr. Christina Hibbert, a clinical psychologist who graduated from the California School of Professional Psychology, three main stages of grief include anger, depression and acceptance. Each one of these emotions can be seen in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and The Descendants (2011, Payne) as the artists explore the effects of grief and the different emotional responses that one can have due to the loss of a loved one. Additionally, in Ismail Kadare’s Broken April, the Berisha family feels the sufferance that is associated with unexpected death, as well as the various temperamental reactions that one will have after losing a loved one. Each of these works of art represent a powerful example of the stages that one will go through after feeling the intense sorrow that is connected with death, as well as the unavoidable effects of grief.
dealt with and the individual moves on. Susan Philips and Lisa Carver explored this grieving
The complexity of the human brain is a puzzle that is not easily understood, but to some the puzzle fits together like a mosaic. The psychology of loss is necessary to recognize how the mind works during hard times. Loss is broken down into five stages, those stages are denial and isolation, anger, bargaining and acceptance. In Shakespeare's play Hamlet Hamlet and Gertrude’s personalities/actions apply to the human experience including the stages of grief and difficult decisions.