Discrimination In A Raisin In The Sun

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As an African American woman who grew up before civil rights, Lorraine Hansberry had firsthand experience with deferred dreams. Becoming such a respected writer had many challenges, but Hansberry persisted through her obstacles and achieved a high level of success. She channels her views on racial injustice into her work A Raisin in the Sun, which continually draws attention to discrimination against African Americans. The Younger family, who always has higher aspirations than settling for deferred dreams, embodies the willful spirit of Lorraine Hansberry as a female African American writer. In order to portray the obstacles that African Americans encountered in the 1950s, Hansberry presents the struggles with personal identity, pride, and
While Walter and Beneatha vie for the insurance money for personal gain, Mama looks past the materialistic aspect of the check. “Somebody would of thought my children done all but starved to death the way they talk about money here late,” she scoffs in an attempt to remind her children of the reason they have the money (18). Mama knows that Mr. Younger intended to leave the money for the benefit of the whole family, but Walter and Beneatha are selfishly taking advantage of the excess money. After Beneatha quotes the Bible in vain, Mama makes her repeat, “In my mother’s house there is still God,” for comfort, although she is aware of her children’s non-religious values (24). For years, Mama and Mr. Younger took their children to church, and Mama is disappointed when they abandon those values due to preoccupation with their own self-interests. As she notices that Walter enters a crisis, Mama ventures to convince him that he cannot abandon the needs of his family when times are strenuous. In an attempt to appeal to Walter’s masculinity, Mama taunts, “I’m waiting to hear how you be your father’s son. Be the man he was…” (42). Ashamed that her son feels so entitled to success without hard work, Mama reminds Walter that he must put forth the effort to become a man like his father. Without traditional values to keep her children sensible, Mama must make an effort to encourage them to make moral decisions for the benefit of the

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