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Racial topics in a raisin in the sun
Character analysis in a raisin in the sun
Character analysis in a raisin in the sun
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The play has an example of the technique of foreshadowing when Ruth faints. This foreshadows her later announcement of her pregnancy. The unchangeable setting is considered as a motif. Although the actions that affect the family happen outside. Yet the audience never goes out of the Youngers house. Mama goes out to buy a house, Walter goes to drink and Bennie goes for dates. All these actions are not shown, but the characters go out and come back to tell what they did. By keeping the actions in their apartment only, this reinforces the idea that the family is trapped in their small house and their life is not changing. Hansberry also uses the look of the apartment to convey the situation of the family that they are worn out of this life. Especially when Hansberry says that the furniture is placed to cover worn spots in the rug (loos40). …show more content…
All characters have their own dialect and their ways of speaking differ slightly" (Hansberry 40).They speak a real language of their community, a language that is unconventional. They speak a common dialect in the black communities (Hansberry 40). One can see that mama's speech is different from Beneatha's. Although Mama has an obvious lack of formal education, yet her speech is flavored with "southernisms" which are absent from Walter's speech. The speech of every character reveals information about their education. Walter does not have as much education as Beneatha, but he is not as unschooled as Mama (Hansberry 40). Ruth's speech reveals that she is the most uneducated person in the family. She makes many grammatical mistakes and her speech is flavored with southernisms as Mama's. Walter's speech proves that he is more educated than Ruth. Beneatha is the most educated one in the family. She speaks Standard English and sometimes Black English when she is emotional (Hansberry
Walter feels as though no one in the family supports his idea of opening a liquor store, but they want him to be an entrepreneur, but opening a liquor store is against his mother's moral grounds. Walter's arrogance is clearer when he asks Beneatha about her decision to become a doctor: He asks why she couldn't just become a nurse or get married "like other women." When he comes home after drinking with his friends and Beneatha is dancing to the African music, he says, "Shut up" to Ruth, just before joining Beneatha in the dance. Walter is obsessed with getting money so that he can buy "things for Ruth"; he is unaware that treating Ruth more kindly and with more respect would be more appreciated and valued than any "gifts."
Although Beneatha is more intellectually advanced, as well as being college educated, her family ceases to acknowledge her true
Everyone encounters struggle and “ain’t nobody bothering you” but yourself (1872). Many African Americans encounter hardships and conflict in their own lives because of their race. Before integration, not only were African Americans facing internal struggles but also the external struggles caused by prejudices. A Raisin in the Sun elaborates on the conflicts of African Americans when dealing with segregation, discrimination, and few opportunities to improve their lifestyle. Hansberry expresses her hardships as an African American woman without civil rights in the 1950’s through the Younger family and the decisions they make when confronting their own struggles.
Walter and Beneatha’s relationship is very complex. The spiraling tension between the two siblings causes confrontation to form and creep into the Younger household. Walter needs his family to respect him as the man of the family, but his sister is constantly belittling him in front of his mother, wife, and son. This denigrating treatment taints Walter’s view of himself as a man, which carries into his decisions and actions. Beneatha also subconsciously deals with the dysfunctional relationship with her brother. She desires to have her brother’s support for her dream of becoming a doctor, yet Walter tends to taunt her aspiration and condemns her for having such a selfish dream. Mama as the head of the family is heartbroken by the juvenile hostility of her adult children, so in hopes to keep her family together she makes the brave move of purchasing a house. Mama’s reasoning for the bold purchase was,“ I—I just seen my family falling apart….just falling to pieces in front of my eyes…We couldn’t have gone on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forw...
The siblings argue over Beneatha’s hope of becoming a doctor. Walter responds to Beneatha’s fantasy by saying, “Who the hell told you to be a doctor? If you so crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people then go be a nurse like other women or just get married and be quiet… “ (Hansberry, 38). Instead of being excited for his sister in becoming an African American doctor, he belittles her only dream by suggesting that she should either be a nurse or just get married. Walter talks in a sexest tone by implying that women should be nurses instead of doctors. Walter screams inappropriate, incomplete words signifying that he is embarrassed by his sister. The rude tone proves that he isn’t a sophisticated man. Later, Walter undergoes a turning point where he shows his new, grown addition. Mr. Lindner, a white man from the Youngers’ new neighborhood introduces himself. Mr. Lindner tells the family that he is the leader of the “Clybourne Park Improvement Association” and attempts to convince the family that he is helping them. He tries bribing the Youngers out of the white neighborhood and he claims that African American families are happier in their own black communities. Walter explains to Mr. Lindner that the family will keep the house regardless of Mr. Linder’s argument, Walter says, “I mean and we are very proud people. That’s my sister over there and she’s going to be a doctor and we are very
The five members of the Younger family are sharing a two bedroom apartment in the beginning of the play, due to the low paying jobs offered to African Americans at the time. Walter and Ruth are husband and wife are share one room, and Mama ( Walters mother) and Beneatha (Walters sister) share the other room, while Travis Walters (Walter and Ruth’s son) sleeps on the couch. With the passing of Mama 's husband the family is going to receive a $10,000 dollar insurance check. Each person in the family has a different idea of what the money should be used for. Mama wants to buy a bigger house for the family due to Ruth being pregnant and their current apartment being too small, Walter wants to invest in a liquor store, and Beneatha to use some money to attend to medical school. Although Beneatha going to medical school is not the biggest problem the Younger family faces, it still is prevalent in the fact that at the time females did not commonly become doctors and especially black women. If Beneatha were to have went to medical school, she would have faced discrimination due to being a black female. One of the main problems this family faces is trying to find a new house in a primarily white neighborhood called Clybourne Park. Although they are
Walter Sr. was Walter and Beneathas father he died and his wife mama received ten thousand dollar for life insurance. Walter wants the whole ten thousand dollars for himself and put it down on the liquor store. But Beneatha wants to go to medical school and be a doctor. Walter thinks that it is selfish of Beneatha that she wants to attend medical school because he then wouldn't get all of the money for the liquor store. Beneatha "that money belongs to Mama, Walter, and its for her to decide how she wants to use it. I don't care if she wants to buy a house or a rocket ship or just nail it up somewhere and look at it. It's hers. Not ours hers." Mamas getting all the money and it is up to her if she wants the money for herself give it to Beneatha for school or give it to Walter for the liquor store. Now that it is getting closer to the date in which the money will arrive. Walter is acting more and more desperate for that money.
Shackled by poverty and prejudice, Walter Lee Younger, from the play A Raisin in the Sun, is obsessed with a business idea that he believes will solve all of his economic and social problems. Walter’s business idea of co-owning a liquor store provides him with the hope and dream of a better future. The poems “Let America Be America Again” and “I, Too” by Langston Hughes, along with a motown classic song by Aretha Franklin from the civil rights era, perfectly describe Walter Younger’s passion for money, desperation for respect, and ambition for a better life in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun.
Lorraine Hansberry’s carefully selected words in the play A Raisin in the Sun, prove to be a metaphor of the Younger’s past, present, and future life. During this time in American history it was hard for black people to make a name for themselves, and they were almost never seen as equals to white lives. As Hansberry describes the house in which the Younger’s live, she is always describing the struggle that they face. She starts this by saying “The Younger living room would be comfortable and well-ordered room if it were not for a number of indestructible contradictions to this state of being” (Hansberry 23). One could assume that has Hansberry speaks of the living room she is actually speaking of the lives of the Younger’s. Therefore as we
In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry uses an allusion to compare Walter Lee to the mythical Prometheus. This allusion was conveyed by George Murchison in the Act I, Scene II, when George and Beneatha went on a date. Walter’s reaction to George calling him Prometheus was not a good one. Walter was upset with George Murchison because he did not necessarily know what Prometheus means. If Walter would have known what George Murchison meant by calling him Prometheus, he would have reacted a totally different way than he did at the moment. When a person call another person Prometheus, it should have a positive connotation to it.
This passage contains a wide array of literary devices, ranging from syntax to figurative language. These devices all help to describe the situation Jim is in, in this part of the book. He stayed the night at the Cutter’s house instead of Ántonia, which resulted in him being injured and humiliated. From the figurative language and imagery at the start of the passage, such as, “My lip was cut and stood out like a snout. My nose looked like a big blue plum” (161), the sheer damage is shown to its full extent. This connects to the larger motif of the past or childhood that backdrops the entire novel, as it is this kind of very drastic experience that impacts someone. Such an event serves an important role in the development of an adolescent, and the repercussions of this event may be elaborated on later in the book.
A Raisin in the Sun The creativity of Hansberry played a crucial role in the development of African-American drama since the Second World War. A Raisin in the Sun was the first play by an African-American author to be set on Broadway and was honored by the circle of New York theater critics. Drama of A Raisin in the Sun (1959) brought Hansberry to the Society of New York Critics Award as the best play of the year. A Raisin in the Sun shows the life of an ordinary African-American family who dreams of happiness and their desire to achieve their dream.
Later in the morning Beneatha, the younger sister of Walter, initiates a conflict by speaking in an unacceptable manner about God – seemingly rejecting values that have been taught to her since childhood.
Beneatha and Walter both yearn to be successful. Escaping poverty was one of their biggest desires, even though they struggled to achieve this goal throughout the play, a great deal of their joy and unhappiness was directly connected to their accomplishment of, or failure to accomplish, this dream of being successful. Walter is his own problem to attaining his goals– he wants to be wealthy and successful, but he only attempt get-rich-quick schemes, which doesn’t succeed over and over again. He has a sincere entrepreneurial disposition and wants to progress. He also feels that having money is an indication of his success. Beneatha is the base of many of the fresh ideas and viewpoints that penetrate the family's home. At this time in college, she is continuously questioning the thoughts of race, society, gender, and the faith that her family has been raised with. She feels d...
Walter constantly criticizes Beneatha’s dream of being a doctor. He treats it as though his dream is anymore feasible. He’s portrayed by Hansberry to be fairly pathetic and helpless. It seems like he needs women to help him move into his