A Raisin In The Sun Gender Roles Essay

“Gender roles are absurd” is a prominent theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s novel, A Raisin in the Sun. Through the use of her character’s personalities and their relationships with one another, she conveys this.

Women being tough is prominently woven throughout the novel, conveyed through Beneatha. Studying to be a doctor and spouting atheist ideas, Beneatha sharply contrasts with the other women of this time period. There’s a strong desire in her to be more than a man’s wife, which can be seen in her response to Ruth when she’s told to get over George Murchison’s shortcomings: “Get over it? What are you talking about, Ruth? Listen, I’m going to be a doctor. I’m not worried about who I’m going to marry yet-if I ever get married.” (Page 50). Her reply exhibits the fire in her to make something of herself.

She conveys this through Walter. A lot of Walter’s stress comes from feeling unsuccessful as the “man of the house”. This can be noted when Walter is confronted by his mother about

This is depicted through Walter and Ruth’s marriage. Ruth rebels against Walter. For example, when Walter asks to have his eggs unscrambled, she scrambles them.

Some might argue that women being in control of themselves isn’t one of Hansberry’s messages. I say it is because Beneatha exists and her presence doesn’t leave room for argument. There are people who would say Walter doesn’t convey manhood’s toxicity but he goes through so much trouble because of this idea so I see it as Hansberry saying it’s pretty toxic. Other debaters might say Hanberry isn’t saying that women shouldn’t be subservient to their husbands with Ruth and Walter’s relationship. I disagree because what other purpose could they serve.

There are several vital messages in Hansberry’s novel. Gender roles and how stupid they are is a very prominent message in this novel as you can see by my