Lorraine Hansberry depicts her character of Beneatha as being inferior to the rest of the human race through the use of the name “Beneatha”, depicting the hardships of African Americans. Hansberry accomplishes her depiction of the hardships through the use of discrimination, both stereotypical and racial, against the African American race and through the general inferiority of her character of Beneatha, in her play, A Raisin in the Sun. For instance, when Hansberry introduces the character of Beneatha, she illustrates that Beneatha is inferior to Ruth in physical appearance (35). Hansberry writes: "([Beneatha] is not as pretty as her sister-in-law)"(35). This passage illustrates the hardships of the African American race through the character of Beneatha, portraying the inferiority of Beneatha through the name Beneatha. This passage is significant because it shows Beneatha as inferior before she can even show her personality, therefore identifies her as inferior. Since she is labeled as inferior, society treats her in a childlike manner and she does not receive the same general rights and treatment as other members of society.
When Beneatha enters the scene, she looks up at the ceiling, symbolizing her inferiority (46). Hansberry writes: “(Beneatha comes in brushing her hair and looking up to the ceiling, where the sound of a vacuum cleaner has started up)”(46). This passage depicts the general inferiority of Beneatha. This passage exhibits the fact that Beneatha is inferior to the rest of society. Although she is literally beneath the people on the floor above her, she is also figuratively below them. This passage is significant because it depicts the reality of the true superiority of society versus the character of...
... middle of paper ...
...even looking up) In your heart of hearts you are much drunkard.
BENEATHA: (To encourage WALTER, thoroughly caught uwith this side of him) OCOMOGOSAIY, FLAMING SPEAR!
RUTH: (Having had enough, and embarrassed for the family) Beneatha, you got company—what's the matter with you? Walter Lee Younger, get down off that table and stop acting like a fool.
RUTH: He's had a little to drink…I don't know that her excuse is.
GEORGE: Oh, don't be so proud of yourself, Bennie—just because you look eccentric.(78-80
In this passage, George tells Beneatha that she needs to stop being so obsessed with her heritage. This passage is significant because it illustrates Beneatha as a child by displaying her childlike obsession with her heritage. Beneatha is shown as being beneath other people and as a child through her fascination with her family origin.
Playwright, author, and activist or maybe hardworking, dedicated, and passionate are all worthy to describe the phenomenal Lorraine Hansberry. Born on the south side of Chicago, Hansberry was introduced to racial segregation at a young age. Racially discriminated and treated unfairly, Lorraine Hansberry set out to make a difference in the world some day. Attending University of Wisconsin in Madison, it was there that Hansberry discovered her appreciation of writing. This newfound love opened up an entirely new world for Hansberry in theatrical playwright. Hansberry found that theater plays allowed her to express her feelings and thoughts about the multiple issues and events that were constantly occurring during the Civil Rights era. Lorraine Hansberry believed strongly in not only racial equality, but gender equality as well. She like many Civil Rights leaders during that time period believed that all human beings should be treated equally no matter their race, gender, or beliefs. These strong views on the African American society lead the writing of one of the most famous plays of all time, “A Raisin in the Sun”. The highlight of her success “A Raisin in the Sun” became a stepping stool for Hansberry that allowed her to send her own personal message to her readers about things that bothered her. Being an African American woman during the 1960's caused Lorraine Hansberry to be ridiculed and looked down upon, not only by whites but by her own race due to the fact that Hansberry did not follow the stereotype that was placed on African American women. Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" uniquely illustrates the gender stereotypes African Americans placed among themselves during the 1960's Civil Rights era.
Beneatha wants women to have the same rights and the same expectations that men have. In the setting of A Raisin in the Sun, women are not expected to go to medical school and to become a doctor. If anything, they are “supposed to” become a nurse, or be a stay-at-home mom. Beneatha’s dreams to be a doctor often contradict what other people expect her to do with her life, but she doesn’t care what they say. She identifies as an anti-assimilationist, showed in A Raisin in the Sun when she says, “(Wheeling, passionately, sharply) I am not an assimilationist!”. She is accused of being an assimilationist by Asagai and passionately denies it. She thinks that being an African-American assimilationist would be an insult to her culture and thinks that African Americans should embrace their native culture. Her position on this matter often get in the way of her relationships with other people. This is shown in A Raisin in the Sun when George says “Oh dear, dear, dear! Here we go! A lecture on the African past! On our Great West African Heritage! In one second we will hear all about the great Ashanti sculpture of Bénin - and then some poetry in the Bantu - and the whole monologue will end with the word heritage! Let’s face it, baby, your heritage is nothing but a bunch of raggedy-assed spirituals and some grass huts!”. George wants Beneatha to leave behind her heritage and embrace what Americans are doing. He wants her to abandon her family history and be an assimilationist. Beneatha is willing to fight against this mindset and this shows that she is willing to fight for what is right. Beneatha would much rather prefer to embrace her heritage and be proud that she is African rather than submit herself to American culture and leave behind her
...llow." Ruth replies by saying, "He’s rich!" That is exactly Beneatha's point. She does not want to be in a relationship with George (boyfriend) simply because he can support her financially. That is how Beneatha proves her point about looking beyond the surface. He seems her obstacle in fulfilling her dream of becoming a doctor. She is a strong woman who faces the negative attitude of people with great patience. For example, when Mrs. Johnson (neighbor) says, “I know--- but sometimes she act like ain’t got time to pass the time of day with no body ain’t been to college. It’s just--- you know how some of our young people get when they get a little education” (Hansberry 527).
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 subject of “Strangers Like Me” is outcasts in society. In the line, “I wanna know about these strangers like me,” the reader sees that the main character in the song feels like an outsider to his surroundings. The reader can compare this with how the monster feels in Frankenstein. The two can relate with the feeling that everything is new to them, and they do not feel like they belong. Phil Collins goes on to request, “Tell me more, please show me.” People who are foreign to a place tend to ask questions until they begin to understand. The main character in the song is begging for information from these strangers, which mirrors how the monster in Frankenstein has a hunger for knowledge from the cottagers.
When Walter loses his "sister's school money," the consequences are widespread and Beneatha sees that dream diminish before her eyes. She sees her slipping through Walter's fingers and finds her lifelong goals changing. From the days of her childhood, she has longed "to be a doctor" and "fix up the sick." While her family and friends do not understand Beneatha's dream, she continues longing for the education she needs to create a successful life she desires rather than one where she is waiting "to get married.
The play "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, provides the reader with a clear view on the reality of the struggle for African Americans during the late 1950's. Full of conflict and racial tension, Hansberry creates a strong distinction between her different and unique characters. The main theme of dreams creates conflicts that are evident in the play because the family is aiming for an individual dream that seems to never happen; however, in the end, they get away form the individual dream and finally reach a common ground.
Adventure is the first value that Beneatha and I share. I am always interested into traveling and going to different places, which is same with Beneatha. I love to go to different countries and especially to England because I love their accent and I like to speak like British people. Thus, Beneatha has the same value she loves traveling. In the play, she wanted to go to Africa to the extent that when Asagai asked her if she wanted to
Even though south side chicago had a low amount of hope, the characters of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Walter, Beneatha, and Mama found a way to dream big. It led them to doing what they thought was right, eventually molding Walter into a greedy man during most of the play, Beneatha into an aspiring woman that demands respect, and Mama into an improvising woman who loves her
When talking to Mama and Ruth in a scene about marriage, Beneatha’s opinion on this topic shocks the two other women. When she is asked about her thoughts on who she will marry, Beneatha responds by saying, “I’m not worried who I’m going to marry yet—if I ever get married” (Hansberry 50). Beneatha is not concerned about marriage at the moment because she is studying to become a doctor. Her motivation to become a doctor stems from her want to change the world. Beneatha’s motivation is parallel to her generation’s, the Baby Boomers, drive to improve the world. As the conversation leads towards the topic of religion, Beneatha tells Mama and Ruth that “God is just one of the ideas I don’t accept” (Hansberry 51). Being the youngest of the three women, Beneatha is not as religious as Mama. Instead, she believes that it is wrong that He gets all the credit of humankind. Beneatha not believing in God lines up with how the Baby Boomers are less devout than the GI Generation. Beneatha’s beliefs show how she incorporates more modern values into her
In A Raisin in the Sun, Beneatha is a character that has changed dramatically after her first run in with Asagai. After their first conversation, Beneatha decides not to assimilate with the white culture anymore, “I’m not interested in being someone’s little episode in America.” (Hansberry 515). Asagai
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.
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a modern tragedy in which the protagonist, Walter Lee Younger, is unable to find the fulfilling life he wants so badly. A contrasting view of the quest for that fulfilling life is offered in the character of Beneatha (whose name seems a play on her socioeconomic status, i.e. she-who-is-beneath), who serves as a foil against which the character of Walter is defined. Both Walter and Beneatha, representing the new generation of blacks coming of age after World War Two, are in conflict with Mama, who represents the previous generation and its traditions. The character of George Murchison is also opposed to both Beneatha and Walter, since he symbolizes assimilation on the white man's terms. Walter and Beneatha are also in conflict with their environment, a society where they are marginalized and subject to daily humiliation because of what is called their race (not, in fact, a biological distinction but a cultural construct).
This event shows yet another time in which a family member threatens to ruin the inherent stability of the family structure by trying to build in a manner which is completely incompatible with the rest of the structure. Beneatha, although believing in bettering herself, is leaving an important part of herself and her heritage behind. Beneatha's speech about God is her attempt to show her independence and uniqueness in the world, but when she asserts herself in an area that is extremely sensitive to the family heritage and structure, she threatens to wean herself from the only guaranteed support group in life, the family. Once again, as with Walter, Benetha realizes later in the story that it is the furtherance of long-standing family values and morals which give the foundation upon which to build a wonderful 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).