Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, centers on an African American family in the late 1950s. Hansberry directs her work towards specifically the struggles faced by African Americans during the late 1950s. Through the dialogue and actions of her characters, she encourages not only a sense of pride in heritage, but a national and self-pride in African Americans as well. Hansberry promotes a sense of African heritage through her character, Beneatha. She characterizes Beneatha as a college student struggling to find her identity, who tries to achieve such by getting in touch with her roots. The author expresses Beneatha’s struggle with the arguments between her and the rest of her family, namely her mother, Lena. Beneatha tries to express her opinions and ideas, yet because she is the youngest in the household, she tends to feel confined and restricted. Hansberry states Beneatha’s conflict when she writes “Why? Why can’t I say what I want to around here like everybody else?” (Hansberry 39). This statement reveals how Beneatha feels as though her family lacks an understanding of her feelings as well as an appreciation of her opinion, thus leading to her feeling of needing to discover herself. Only when she begins to embrace the idea of returning to her African roots, an idea first given to her by the African exchange student, Asagai, does Beneatha’s mood appear happier and lighter. Upon Asagai’s presentation of a traditional Nigerian dress to her, Beneatha seems elated, and begins to contemplate wearing her natural hair after he comments “You wear it well—very well—mutilated hair and all” (Hansberry 48). Although, Beneatha’s happiness may in some cases be attributed to possible infatuation, Hansberry shows her true passio... ... middle of paper ... ...awjoud, Sayed. “Dreams ‘Deferred’ But Identity Affirmed and Manhood Restored: A New Look at A Raisin in the Sun”. Studies in Literature and Language. 5.3 (2012): 30-39. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. Bower, Martha Gilman. “Color Struck” Under the Gaze: Ethnicity and the Pathology of Being in the Plays of Johnson, Hurston, Childress, Hansberry, and Kennedy. Westport: Praeger, 2003. Print. Cheney, Anne. Lorraine Hansberry. New York: Twayne, 1984. Print Effiong, Philip U. In Search of a Model for African-American Drama: a Study of Selected Plays by Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, and Ntozake Shange. Lanham: University Press of America, 2000. Print. Matthews, Kristin. “The Politics of ‘Home’ in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun.” Modern Drama. 51.4 (2008): 556-578. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Samuel French Inc, 1987. Print.
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a play that displays housing discrimination in Chicago during the 1950s. Housing discrimination was partially an effect of the Great Migration. This was an event during the 1950s that resulted in about six million African Americans “migrating” from the south to the north, Midwest, and west regions of the United States. This caused the population of black people in major northern cities to increase rapidly. They are then only able to live in certain neighborhoods, which keeps their communities segregated.
When Beneatha is first introduced in the play, we see her waking up on a regular morning; she is living under the same confined circumstances as the rest of the characters. Prior to Beneatha’s entrance, the audience observes Walter and Ruth over breakfast. Walter begins to complain about “colored women” through out the play his character continually spits out patriarchal and misogynistic comments, often targeted at Beneatha. As he finishes his negative complaints, Beneatha enters. The long character description molds her persona. She is illustrated not as pretty but her “almost intellectual face has a handsomeness of its own”(Hansberry, 35). This specific use of handsome portrays her character as a sharp and unfeminine. Hansberry’s word choice is extremely intentional as she connects Beneatha with masculine qualities, which inherently matches the stereotype of her feminist personality. The fact that her face is also described as intellectual implies that she carries an intelligent look in her features.
“Raisin in the Sun” is a play set in the 1950s written by Lorraine Hansberry about a struggling African American family living in Chicago. Following the death of of a person who held a key role in their family, they try to determine what to do with the notable insurance money left to them upon their loved one’s death. Beneatha, a daughter and sister in the family, aspires to be a doctor. Hansberry calls attention to the struggles African Americans and women had to face during these times. The prejudice working against Beneatha caused many obstacles to be placed in her path. Beneatha has risen above this prejudice encircling her gender by tearing down the negative stigma that surrounds it.
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.
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...
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a dramatic play written in 1959. The play is about an African American family that lived on the Chicago South Side in the 1950’s. Hansberry shows the struggles and difficulties that the family encounters due to discrimination. Inspired by her personal experience with discrimination, she uses the characters of the play, A Raisin In The Sun, to show how this issue affects families. Hansberry faces housing discrimination due to her race, which affects her family.
Beneatha’s dream is to become a doctor. She believes that her dream was deferred when she was born since she is coloured and a female. Although she fights this, her dream is deferred even more when Walter looses the money which she needed to get into medical school.
Some say that this play is racial in that the family is black, and what the family is going through could only happen to people of that race. One prominent racial is...
An Analysis of A Raisin In the Sun & nbsp; "A Raisin In The Sun" is a play written by an African-American playwright - Lorraine Hansberry. It was first produced in 1959. Lorraine Hansberry's work is about a black family in the Chicago South Side. the Second World War. The family consisted of Mama(Lena Younger), Walter.
Works Cited Austin, Addell. A Raisin in the Sun. Cyclopedia of Literary Characters, Revised. Third Edition (1998): 1-2. Literary Reference Center.
Hansberry, Lorraine. “A Raisin in the Sun.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Myer.
Lorraine Hansberry in her play, “Raisin in the Sun”, attempted to explain the feelings of the average African American Male in the 1940s. This persona, which is portrayed in the character Walter, had experienced a severe feeling of depression and hopelessness. In order to understand this source of grievance, one must relate back to the Great Migration and the dreams it promised and the reasons why many African Americans sought to move to the North. A desire to achieve freedom from racial injustices and poverty was the prime factor that encouraged Blacks to abandon the south. However, these dreams where soon crushed as African American noticed that Northern whites had still maintained unequal segregation and where as stumbling block to Black advancement. The consequences of a “dream deferred”, as Langston Hughes called it, was dependency on others, alcohol addiction, as well as dysfunctional families.
In Lorraine Hansberry “A Raisin in the Sun”, the issues of racial discrimination, the debate of heroism, and criticism is vividly displayed. The play, which was written in the late 1950’s presents itself in a realistic discerning matter that implicates the racial division among the black family and white America. The play insinuates Walters’s heroism as well because of the black family’s struggle not to become discouraged in trying to obtain the world riches and still maintaining human dignity. When Hansberry wrote “A Raisin in the Sun”, many critics questioned the motive behind her play because it showed the America the world wants to grow oblivious to. This presents the reality of racial discrimination and heroism for the black man among
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a play about segregation, triumph, and coping with personal tragedy. Set in Southside Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the individual dreams of the Younger family and their personal achievement. The Younger's are an African American family besieged by poverty, personal desires, and the ultimate struggle against the hateful ugliness of racism. Lena Younger, Mama, is the protagonist of the story and the eldest Younger. She dreams of many freedoms, freedom to garden, freedom to raise a societal-viewed equal family, and freedom to live liberated of segregation. Next in succession is Beneatha Younger, Mama's daughter, assimilationist, and one who dreams of aiding people by breaking down barriers to become an African American female doctor. Lastly, is Walter Lee Younger, son of Mama and husband of Ruth. Walter dreams of economic prosperity and desires to become a flourishing businessman. Over the course of Walter's life many things contributed to his desire to become a businessman. First and foremost, Walter's father had a philosophy that no man should have to do labor for another man. Being that Walter Lee was a chauffeur, Big Walter?s philosophy is completely contradicted. Also, in Walter?s past, he had the opportunity to go into the Laundromat business which he chose against. In the long run, he saw this choice was fiscally irresponsible this choice was. In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Walter Lee's dreams, which are his sole focus, lead to impaired judgement and a means to mend his shattered life.
BENEATHA: “I know – because that’s what it says in all the novels that men write. But it isn’t. Go ahead and laugh – but I’m not interested in being someone’s little episode in America or –” (With feminine vengeance)” – one of them!” (ASAGAI has burst into laughter again) “That’s funny as hell, huh!”(Hansberry).