In “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, the main character, Beneatha Younger is a 20 year old black woman. She struggles with her identity throughout the play by not wanting to assimilate into white culture, but has no connection to her distant African culture. Beneatha dates two men who represent these different identities. George Murchison, an African-American man, comes from a wealthy family. George and his family represent assimilation into white culture and finding success by doing so. Their success makes George the favorite of Beneatha's suitors among her own family. The second man, Asagai, is Nigerian. He represents a connection back to Beneatha’s distant African culture. Beneatha feels the most connected with Asagai, as he provides …show more content…
hope for finding her identity. Asagai and George represent two different identities for Beneatha, traditional African culture and white culture. By choosing between these two men, Beneatha attempts to discover her identity in a society where a mixing pot of black and white culture makes it difficult to know who you are and what you believe in. Asagai represents, according to Fred Rich in Wilkerson’s "A Raisin in the Sun": Anniversary of an American Classic”, “the rise of independent African nations … brings home the reality of his people's struggle for liberation” (444). Asagai and Beneatha met at school as children when Beneatha came up to Asagai and said “Mr. Asagai - I want very much to talk with you. About Africa. You see, Mr. Asagai, I am looking for my identity” (298). Beneatha approached Asagai because in America, many black people were assimilating into white culture in an attempt to fit in and succeed in society, but she instead wanted to learn about and convert back to her African culture. She believed that because of Asagai’s African descent, he could help her do so. However, African culture is very distant in Beneatha’s family history. Therefore, she is trying to reconnect to a culture she was never really a part of. She doesn’t want to assimilate into white culture, but this culture is already a part of her, as it is how she and her parents, and possibly her grandparents, were raised. Despite being raised into white culture, Beneatha is realizing that assimilation has so far not changed the community’s view on her and her family, so she might as well convert to African culture, and embrace the differences. Asagai helps Beneatha discover African culture by presenting her with various cultural items, such the traditional robes of a Nigerian woman and cultural music (297). When Beneatha wears the robes, and later performs to the music in them (308), it appears rather ridiculous. Beneatha does not know much about the culture she is imitating, as when Ruth asks the meaning of the dance she was performing, Beneatha says “How should I know - out hunting or something. Anyway, they are coming back now” (308). By not understanding the meaning of the dance, she is appropriating a culture that she knows nothing about. She is trying to integrate herself into African culture by imitating it, rather than learning about and understanding it. Asagai is enabling Beneatha to appropriate a culture by giving her what she wants, symbols of culture, but does not actually teach her the meaning behind what she is doing. Although Asagai means the best for Beneatha, he has not yet given her the cultural knowledge necessary for her to understand the identity she wants to assume. Asagai does promise this knowledge in the future, saying “I will show you the mountains and our stars; and give you cool drinks from gourds and teach you the old songs and the ways of our people - and, in time, we will pretend that - you have only been away for a day” (346). Asagai is saying that despite Beneatha’s assimilation into white culture, she can still find her way back to her distant African culture Asagai is disapproving of Beneatha’s assimilation into white culture so far. He comments on her straightened hair, saying “Mutilated hari and all… Were you born with it like that” (297). This causes Beneatha to feel insecure. She tells Asagai, when he asks her if she thinks her natural hair is ugly, “Oh, no - not ugly. But it’s so hard to manage when it’s, well - raw” (298). This causes her to cut it and keep it in it’s natural state. This symbolizes Beneatha attempting to reconnect with her African culture by taking on the cultural trend of natural hair. Asagai’s opinions on Beneatha are significant because they cause her to become more strong willed and sure of herself. His criticisms cause her to critically think about what she wants her identity to be. Asagai’s help with the discovery of Beneatha’s identity causes Beneatha to prefer him over her other suitor George Murchison, an assimilationist African American. George Murchison is an African-American man who fully embraces assimilation into white culture. According to Lloyd W. Brown, the “intrinsic ambiguity of the American dream is demonstrated by the Murchison family, especially by George, whose bourgeois materialism illustrates the American propensity to confuse material achievement with the total promise of the American dream” (242). George’s family has found great success by assimilating into white culture, accomplishing the American Dream. This makes George the ideal man in the eyes of Beneatha’s family, as he serves as a future image the family strives to achieve. Therefore, Beneatha’s family hopes that she will choose to be with him so they they can realize their own desire of achieving the American Dream. However, Beneatha does not share her family’s approval for George, nor their ideas of a perfect life. George is everything Beneatha doesn't want.
She doesn’t desire the white-picket fence lifestyle that her family does. This is proven when she says to Asagai “Go ahead and laugh - but I’m not interested in being someone’s little episode in America - one of them” (229). She wants more than the life that George can provide for her. This is the meaning behind Beneatha’s nickname “Alaiyo” given to her by Asagai, which means “One for Whom Bread—Food—Is Not Enough” (300). She wants to find independence and worth in her life, and she believes that she can do that by connecting with her African heritage, which is something George does not support. He would rather assimilate into white culture, or as Beneatha says, “give up his own culture and submerge himself completely in the dominant, and in this case, oppressive culture” …show more content…
(311). George attempts to repress Beneatha’s independence and confidence. He degrades Beneatha by discouraging her to pursue her education, as he believes that a woman like her doesn’t need to. He says “Guys aren’t going to go for the atmosphere - they’re going to go for what they see” (321). He is essentially telling her that she is worth nothing more than her looks, and she should not think that she can be anything more. This lack of value, that George has for her, angers Beneatha, who after this conversation, calls him a fool (322). George is not only disrespectful of Beneatha as a person, but also disrespects her desire to rediscover her African culture. When he arrives to pick up Beneatha for her date, he doesn’t want her to wear the Nigerian robe. He says “Oh, don’t be proud of yourself, Bennie - just because you look eccentric” (311). He implies that he would be embarrassed to go out in public with her dressed that way. He outright mocks African culture, saying “Your heritage is nothing but a bunch of raggedy-assed spirituals and some grass huts” (311). By saying this, George is not only putting Beneatha down, but also himself, because he is also distantly a part of African culture. He, unlike Beneatha, is not proud of his African heritage. He chooses to ignore and put it down, and assimilate into white culture in an attempt to separate himself further from being associated with African culture. This makes George ignorant in Beneatha’s eyes, as she does not understand how he can disrespect such a vibrant culture (312). Beneatha’s desire to reconnect with her African culture in a society where assimilation into white culture is nearly a necessity to survive puts her in a very vulnerable, unsure place.
She is confused about who she is and where she fits into society, and believes that finding her true African culture will help connect her to her purpose. Asagai and George represent white and black culture respectively, and Beneatha choosing between them means severing her ties with one culture. In the end, Beneatha chooses to move to Africa with Asagai and embrace her distant African culture (355). She believes that she will fit in there, and not feel out of place. Had she chosen to stay in America and be with George, she would have continued to assimilate herself, along with her family, into white culture, and perhaps find success there. Although, perhaps she never would have really fit in. I believe that Beneatha chose African culture because she realized that no matter how hard her and her family tried, they would have never fully fit into society due to white supremacy. The world is not color blind, and differences will always exist. Beneatha chose to embrace those differences, rather than disguise
them.
The story also focuses in on Ruth Younger the wife of Walter Lee, it shows the place she holds in the house and the position she holds to her husband. Walter looks at Ruth as though he is her superior; he only goes to her for help when he wants to sweet talk his mama into giving him the money. Mama on the other hand holds power over her son and doesn’t allow him to treat her or any women like the way he tries to with Ruth. Women in this story show progress in women equality, but when reading you can tell there isn’t much hope and support in their fight. For example Beneatha is going to college to become a doctor and she is often doubted in succeeding all due to the fact that she is black African American woman, her going to college in general was odd in most people’s eyes at the time “a waste of money” they would say, at least that’s what her brother would say. Another example where Beneatha is degraded is when she’s with her boyfriend George Murchison whom merely just looks at her as arm
Beneatha on the other hand is more of a realistic character. She is optimistic some days and pessimistic on others. Beneatha is optimistic in the sense that she is a colored woman living in the ghetto and still, she strives and dreams to be a doctor.
A Raisin in the Sun is a play telling the story of an African-American tragedy. The play is about the Younger family near the end of the 1950s. The Younger family lives in the ghetto and is at a crossroads after the father’s death. Mother Lena Younger and her grown up children Walter Lee and Beneatha share a cramped apartment in a poor district of Chicago, in which she and Walter Lee's wife Ruth and son Travis barely fit together inside.
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
Since the forced-migration to the Americas, African-Americans have been assigned between two cultures: being African and being American. Both cultures are forced upon African-Americans who lack a culture of their own. Neither Africa nor America is truly home to the African-American and the connections between both cultures have been separated. In the play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the duality of African-American race is explored within the characters of Joseph Asagai and George Murchison – boyfriends of Beneatha Younger. Asagai and Murchison portray the struggle African-Americans encounter when they try to be either African or American. African-Americans face a great deal of strife when they seek to be both African and American.
...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).
Beneatha believes that education is the way to understanding and self-fulfillment through knowledge and wisdom. It was rare at this time to find a poor well-educated black woman with such high ambitions. Her Mama knowing how much her education meant to her, told Walter to save $3000 for Beneatha's medical school. When they discovered that Walter had invested the money in his liquor store scheme and Willy had run off with all the money, Beneatha was devastated. Her dream according to Langston Hughes poem Harlem”Or does it explode?” She had lost all hope and even though her spirits may have been lifted after her talk with Asagai and the chance to move into a new house, it seems that Beneatha will never realize her
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
Beneatha is Mama’s daughter. She wants to become a doctor when she gets out of college. She also wants to save her race from ignorance.
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).
In the words of Jim Cocola and Ross Douthat, Hansberry wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun to mimic how she grew up in the 1930s. Her purpose was to tell how life was for a black family living during the pre-civil rights era when segregation was still legal (spark notes). Hansberry introduces us to the Youngers’, a black family living in Chicago’s Southside during the 1950s pre-civil rights movement. The Younger family consists of Mama, who is the head of the household, Walter and Beneatha, who are Mama’s children, Ruth, who is Walter’s wife, and Travis, who is Walter and Ruth’s son. Throughout the play the Youngers’ address poverty, discrimination, marital problems, and abortion. Mama is waiting on a check from the insurance company because of the recent passing of her husband. Throughout the play Walter tries to convince Mama to let him invest the money in a liquor store. Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor while embracing her African heritage, and Ruth just found out that she is pregnant and is struggling to keep her marriage going. The Youngers’ live in a very small apartment that is falling apart because of the wear and tear that the place has endured over the years. Mama dreams of having her own house and ends up using part of the insurance money for a down payment on a house in an up-scale neighborhood. The Youngers’ meet Mr. Lindner, who is the head of the welcoming committee. Mr. Lindner voices the community’s concerns of the Youngers’ moving into their neighborhood. Is the play A Raisin in the Sun focused on racial or universal issues?
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.
She is determined to find her fullness as an individual and to not be defined by the man she marries. Walter constantly criticizes Beneatha’s dream of being a doctor. He treats it as though his dream is no longer feasible. He’s portrayed by Hansberry as being fairly pathetic and helpless. It seems like he needs women to help him move into manhood.
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 is Mama's youngest child. She aspires to become a doctor. Mama wants Beneatha to become what she wants so she decided to put aside some of the insurance money for Beneatha's schooling. Beneatha struggles as a young independent woman who has yet to find her identity. She finds herself trying new hobbies and dating two very different men. During a conversation with one of those men, Asagai, Beneatha is forced by Asagai to realize that she is not very independent at all. In fact she has been depending on the insurance money to get her through school. After this realization, Beneatha gains thoughts on how to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor (Kohorn). She presents her mother with her decision of getting married and how she "plans to find her roots in Africa" with Asagai (Silver).