Beneatha Obstacles

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The chaotic and continuous path of life can lead us on a completely unexpected or unexpected path. We all have different desires and obstacles that we face. In the book “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, one of the Characters, Beneatha, has these different desires and obstacles in comparison to other people in her time. In this book, we are taken through the journey of the Younger family, a lower-class black family living through the 1950’s. Being herself is so important to Beneatha. Identity, goals, and obstacles greatly impact the life of Beneatha and who she is as a character. The main obstacle to her identity, goals, and obstacles is her race and gender. We can see some of this show in Act 1 scenes one and two and Act 3 scenes …show more content…

These obstacles can relate to their personal identity, their goals, desires, or even something smaller like miscommunication. We can see some obstacles she faces in Act 1 scene one with her brother Walter Lee. He is being very unsupportive of her and what she wants to do in her life and just who she is in general. The text states, “This is just what is wrong with the colored woman in this world...Don’t understand about building their men up and making ‘em feel like they are somebody. Like they can do something” (Hansberry, pg 34) Women in general during this time were constantly still seen as less than in comparison to men, regardless of their race. Obstacles made Beneatha who she is. Beneatha is an extremely strong character. She is very independent and carefree when it comes to the opinions of others. She wants to do things for herself and not others. Beneatha just wants to live her life and do what she wants to do like become a doctor, but then there are people like Walter who belittle her for it. What people like her family say about her can affect her majorly, especially because it comes from someone so close to her. Rogers says, “We know that family stories and projections are an important part of intergenerational transmission of values, codes of conduct and aspirations.” (Rogers, pg 3). Things like what Walter says to Beneatha make her who she is. People like him are big obstacles that she faces, but that makes her who she is. People who think they have a say in who she is and what she should do are the types of obstacles she faces. But these are the things that make Beneatha herself and what impacted her growth as a

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