In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, "A Raisin in the Sun,” she uses the youngers family as individuals to portray different aspects of black culture, social dynamics and the importance of community. Essentially one could say that this is the story of Walter Lee Younger a man desperate, impoverished but living with a powerful dream. A dream quintessential to the black power movement in the era. Margaret B Wilkersons author of "A Raisin in the Sun": Anniversary of an American Classic writes. "Black Militancy born out of anger, frustration, and deffered dreams was captured in the explosive and desperate Walter Lee".(444) This deep frustration within the black community can be seen through the explosive nature of Walter Lee, he constantly surges in …show more content…
Wilkerson affirms this Matriarchal archetype of Lena Younger by assessing the image of Mama. Wilkerson states "The Black matriarch incarnate:The bulwark of the Negro family since slavery; the embodiment of the Negro will to transcendence" (447) This matriarchal part of Lena Younger can be seen when is addressing Walter Lee. "Son – you – you understand what I done, don’t you? (The purchase of the house)I – I just seen my family falling apart today . . . just falling to pieces in front of my eyes . . . We couldn’t of gone on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forwards – talking ‘bout killing babies and wishing each other was dead" Lena was more than just the bulwark for the family she was the vanguard. In the midst of her family torn asunder she took it upon herself to guide and direct the family down a better path as she iterates shortly after addressing Walter Lee. "When it gets like that in life – you just got to do something different, push on out and do something bigger" Wilkerson also assesses that Lena Younger was framed by Hansberry to act against political issues affecting African-Americans in her time stating that. "It is she who, while seeming to cling to traditional restraints, drives the young on into the fire hoses and one day simply refuses to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery" (447) Despite mamas portrayal as the arch-typical traditionalist character who clings to the old ways. She shows that she is socially aware of the plights of African-American community. This is shown with her short interaction with Mrs. Johnson. Despite the evident threat of being 'bombed' as Mrs. Johnson puts it. Lena Younger does not seem phased by the looming threat to her family. ((Insert conclusion
The play depicts the feelings and thoughts of the people of their time. Their feelings are different then what we see today in our lives. The family had to deal with poverty and racism. Not having enough money and always being put down because of the color of their skin held them back from having a lot of self-respect and dignity. I think that Mama was the one who had the most pride and held the family together.
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!
During the 1960s, the African-American people were in racial situations due to their “lowered status”. They had no control over the strong beliefs in segregation, which “is characterized by a mixture of hope and despair.” (Nordholt) African-Americans, like normal people, had strived to achieve set goals. Unfortunately, their ethnicity was what inhibited them from accomplishing their dreams. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, the author conveys the theme of the seemingly trivial efforts of the African-American people in their individual pursuits for a satisfactory life lead each person down a road of self-discovery that reveals an indefinite amount of truths, which transform their promising hopes into unachievable fantasies. By using powerful characterization, Hansberry creates characters with contrasting personalities dividing their familial hopes into different dreams. With the use of symbolism, each character’s road is shown to inevitably end in a state where dreams are deferred.
The idea of family is a central theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry alludes to the Old Testament book of Ruth in her play to magnify “the value of having a home and family”(Ardolino 181). The Younger family faces hardships that in the moment seem to tear them apart from one another, but through everything, they stick together. The importance of family is amplified by the choices of Walter and Beneatha because they appear to initiate fatal cracks in the Younger family’s foundation, but Mama is the cement who encourages her family to pull together as one unit. The hardships of the family help develop a sense of unity for the Younger household.
After World War II, African Americans had unequal opportunities in many aspects of their lives. A Raisin in the Sun, a play by Lorraine Hansberry, mirrors the conflicts endured by African-Americans after World War II who were hoping to better their lives, but were still held back by the racism and bigotry of previous eras. Despite the legal barriers of segregation in the 1950s, black families were still being denied access to jobs, higher education, and particularly as it relates to the play, desirable neighborhoods in which to raise their families. At this time, black families, like the Youngers, basically had planned living arrangements from zoning issues. They were blocked from some
In the book of A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry the characters lived in a time where social and justice was prevalent and as a consequence the people have to really struggle to make their dreams come true. In the 1950’s Afro-American families have to overcome a lot of hardships in their social environment and within themselves to make their dreams come true. At the beginning of the story one can say that the century in were the Younger family lived has become old and faded and they very depressed including Momma . It is also important to realize that this story takes place in the 1950’s on the Southside of Chicago.
People have dreams and pursue them to give them a reason to give them a reason to go forward in their lives. In the play of A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, the main characters in the play are the Youngers’. Their environment was on the south side of Chicago and lived in a small apartment during the 1950’s. The apartment consisted of Lena Younger, but in the play she is mostly called Mama because she is the oldest in the family and everyone looks up to her. Walter Lee her son, Beneatha her daughter, Ruth her daughter in law, and Travis her grandson.
I propose to read Lorraine Hansberry short story, “A Raisin in The Sun” with the intent of examining and exploring three womanist themes. The primary theme is gender wars/battle of the sexes. Beneatha, Ruth, and Lena (Mama) Younger are three generation of women with a different outlook on life. Mama and Ruth share traditional views on marriage, their role as women, and they even work in traditional roles as a domestic servant which is some of the jobs that were open to Black women at the time. Beneatha wants to become a doctor which at the time is a male-dominated profession and she tells Rutha and Mama that she is not concerned with marriage/ might not even get married. However, Walter Lee who is Beneatha brother repeatedly criticizes her
Essay: One’s experience in America and the American dream in relation to “A Raisin in the Sun” Lorraine Hansberry's play "A Raisin in the Sun" is a story of the Younger’s, a poor African- American family who is living in a congested two-bedroom apartment in Chicago’s Southside. The title of the play “A raisin in the Sun” uses dull black and bright white colored imagery to show a black family’s experience in America by considering black family’s dreams as the raisin and American culture as the Sun. The play's setting wraps up a fundamental time for race relations in America after World War II and before 1959. The Younger’s family is struggling against racial discrimination because they attempt to better themselves with an insurance payment
The residents of the white neighborhood where Lena bought the new house do not want them moving in. The family faces racial discrimination and must decide what to do. A representative from the new neighborhood offers the Younger family money to buy their home so they do not move in. Initially, Walter accepts the offer because he feels he will make up for losing the money in the liquor store scam.
Everyday people, feel the push and pull struggle of morality. However, it is up to the individual to decide what to do with it. In Arthur Miller’s The Death of a Salesman and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, two moral characters stand up for human dignity. Charley and Mama help guide many people to the right decisions, help people in need, and act as a moral compass to the characters and playgoers.
Lorraine Hansberry is a playwright through that movement. She is a playwright, author, and an activist. She is the first black playwright and the youngest American to win a New York Critics' Circle award. She wrote A Raisin in the Sun which is a real story that happened to her and her family. It is a significant play that shows the struggles the Blacks face in their lives.
One of the first ideas mentioned in this play, A Raisin In the Sun, is about money. The Younger's end up with no money because of Walter's obsession with it. When Walter decides not to take the extra money he is offered it helps prove Hansberry's theme. Her theme is that money can't buy happiness. This can be seen in Walter's actions throughout the play.
Walter dreams of being a successful business owner and believes that through his business idea, he will acquire all the money he will ever need. " Mama – 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" (41). Walter Lee is jealous of white men who can afford a high standard of living. He is tortured by the men who are the same age with him but have more chances.
Change is the only thing that is constant in people’s lives. Everyone must undergo transformation during his or her lifetime. Change is brought about by numerous factors, such as disappointments in life. The latter allow persons to have alternative perspectives about their lives. They begin to see things from multiple views, unlike in the past where their rigidity made it difficult for them to handle the things they faced from different viewpoints.