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Racial topics in a raisin in the sun
Character analysis in a raisin in the sun
Character analysis in a raisin in the sun
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The play has an example of the technique of foreshadowing when Ruth faints. This foreshadows her later announcement of her pregnancy. The unchangeable setting is considered as a motif. Although the actions that affect the family happen outside. Yet the audience never goes out of the Youngers house. Mama goes out to buy a house, Walter goes to drink and Bennie goes for dates. All these actions are not shown, but the characters go out and come back to tell what they did. By keeping the actions in their apartment only, this reinforces the idea that the family is trapped in their small house and their life is not changing. Hansberry also uses the look of the apartment to convey the situation of the family that they are worn out of this life. Especially when Hansberry says that the furniture is placed to cover worn spots in the rug (loos40). …show more content…
"The language of A Raisin in the Sun is marked by the use of black dialect.
All characters have their own dialect and their ways of speaking differ slightly" (Hansberry 40).They speak a real language of their community, a language that is unconventional. They speak a common dialect in the black communities (Hansberry 40). One can see that mama's speech is different from Beneatha's. Although Mama has an obvious lack of formal education, yet her speech is flavored with "southernisms" which are absent from Walter's speech. The speech of every character reveals information about their education. Walter does not have as much education as Beneatha, but he is not as unschooled as Mama (Hansberry 40). Ruth's speech reveals that she is the most uneducated person in the family. She makes many grammatical mistakes and her speech is flavored with southernisms as Mama's. Walter's speech proves that he is more educated than Ruth. Beneatha is the most educated one in the family. She speaks Standard English and sometimes Black English when she is emotional (Hansberry
40). An example on the Black English is the double negation when mama says: "I don't think I never met no African before." (I.ii.26) she means she does not think she ever met an African before. Another example is using ain't instead of am not, is not and have not. For instance when Mama says "we ain't no business people, Ruth" she means they are not business people (Hansberry 40).
Walter is seen as struggling to become the head of the family throughout the book and this comes to a head at the end of the story when he gets to his lowest point. Felder goes over the male characters in each sitcom and analyzes how they all have the same roles acting as head of the family, in charge and in control. The women were expected to be soothing and calming, as Felder writes “It was her husband, Jim, who ultimately solved the many problems concerning the couple’s three children… often appeared overly authoritarian and frequently lost his temper with his sons… these negative “masculine” character traits were countered by the soothing “feminine” presence of his wife” (Felder 156). As Walter loses control of his life after he lost the money, the women of the family ridicule him for not taking control like he is expected to. Beneatha and Mama have a conversation about the way Beneatha was treating her brother and adds this: “That’s what I thought you said. You feeling like you better than he is today?... Yes? What you tell him a minute ago? That he wasn't a man? Yes? You give him up for me? You done wrote his epitaph too- like the rest of the world? Well who give you the privilege?” (Hansberry 108-109). Beneatha ridicules her brother because he wasn’t able to take the role he was expected to. He wasn’t able to control the family or handle the problems like he was expected to even though that is what every man of the family ‘needs’ to do. The influence of these gender roles is so prevalent as Mama stops Beneatha from ridiculing her brother, Walter’s inability to take the role that is expected of him completely breaks him down and pushes him to his
In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry uses an allusion to compare Walter Lee to the mythical Prometheus. This allusion was conveyed by George Murchison in the Act I, Scene II, when George and Beneatha went on a date. Walter’s reaction to George calling him Prometheus was not a good one. Walter was upset with George Murchison because he did not necessarily know what Prometheus means. If Walter would have known what George Murchison meant by calling him Prometheus, he would have reacted a totally different way than he did at the moment. When a person call another person Prometheus, it should have a positive connotation to it.
This passage contains a wide array of literary devices, ranging from syntax to figurative language. These devices all help to describe the situation Jim is in, in this part of the book. He stayed the night at the Cutter’s house instead of Ántonia, which resulted in him being injured and humiliated. From the figurative language and imagery at the start of the passage, such as, “My lip was cut and stood out like a snout. My nose looked like a big blue plum” (161), the sheer damage is shown to its full extent. This connects to the larger motif of the past or childhood that backdrops the entire novel, as it is this kind of very drastic experience that impacts someone. Such an event serves an important role in the development of an adolescent, and the repercussions of this event may be elaborated on later in the book.
Walter Sr. was Walter and Beneathas father he died and his wife mama received ten thousand dollar for life insurance. Walter wants the whole ten thousand dollars for himself and put it down on the liquor store. But Beneatha wants to go to medical school and be a doctor. Walter thinks that it is selfish of Beneatha that she wants to attend medical school because he then wouldn't get all of the money for the liquor store. Beneatha "that money belongs to Mama, Walter, and its for her to decide how she wants to use it. I don't care if she wants to buy a house or a rocket ship or just nail it up somewhere and look at it. It's hers. Not ours hers." Mamas getting all the money and it is up to her if she wants the money for herself give it to Beneatha for school or give it to Walter for the liquor store. Now that it is getting closer to the date in which the money will arrive. Walter is acting more and more desperate for that money.
A Raisin in the Sun The creativity of Hansberry played a crucial role in the development of African-American drama since the Second World War. A Raisin in the Sun was the first play by an African-American author to be set on Broadway and was honored by the circle of New York theater critics. Drama of A Raisin in the Sun (1959) brought Hansberry to the Society of New York Critics Award as the best play of the year. A Raisin in the Sun shows the life of an ordinary African-American family who dreams of happiness and their desire to achieve their dream.
Although Beneatha is more intellectually advanced, as well as being college educated, her family ceases to acknowledge her true
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...
Everyone encounters struggle and “ain’t nobody bothering you” but yourself (1872). Many African Americans encounter hardships and conflict in their own lives because of their race. Before integration, not only were African Americans facing internal struggles but also the external struggles caused by prejudices. A Raisin in the Sun elaborates on the conflicts of African Americans when dealing with segregation, discrimination, and few opportunities to improve their lifestyle. Hansberry expresses her hardships as an African American woman without civil rights in the 1950’s through the Younger family and the decisions they make when confronting their own struggles.
The siblings argue over Beneatha’s hope of becoming a doctor. Walter responds to Beneatha’s fantasy by saying, “Who the hell told you to be a doctor? If you so crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people then go be a nurse like other women or just get married and be quiet… “ (Hansberry, 38). Instead of being excited for his sister in becoming an African American doctor, he belittles her only dream by suggesting that she should either be a nurse or just get married. Walter talks in a sexest tone by implying that women should be nurses instead of doctors. Walter screams inappropriate, incomplete words signifying that he is embarrassed by his sister. The rude tone proves that he isn’t a sophisticated man. Later, Walter undergoes a turning point where he shows his new, grown addition. Mr. Lindner, a white man from the Youngers’ new neighborhood introduces himself. Mr. Lindner tells the family that he is the leader of the “Clybourne Park Improvement Association” and attempts to convince the family that he is helping them. He tries bribing the Youngers out of the white neighborhood and he claims that African American families are happier in their own black communities. Walter explains to Mr. Lindner that the family will keep the house regardless of Mr. Linder’s argument, Walter says, “I mean and we are very proud people. That’s my sister over there and she’s going to be a doctor and we are very
The five members of the Younger family are sharing a two bedroom apartment in the beginning of the play, due to the low paying jobs offered to African Americans at the time. Walter and Ruth are husband and wife are share one room, and Mama ( Walters mother) and Beneatha (Walters sister) share the other room, while Travis Walters (Walter and Ruth’s son) sleeps on the couch. With the passing of Mama 's husband the family is going to receive a $10,000 dollar insurance check. Each person in the family has a different idea of what the money should be used for. Mama wants to buy a bigger house for the family due to Ruth being pregnant and their current apartment being too small, Walter wants to invest in a liquor store, and Beneatha to use some money to attend to medical school. Although Beneatha going to medical school is not the biggest problem the Younger family faces, it still is prevalent in the fact that at the time females did not commonly become doctors and especially black women. If Beneatha were to have went to medical school, she would have faced discrimination due to being a black female. One of the main problems this family faces is trying to find a new house in a primarily white neighborhood called Clybourne Park. Although they are
Ruth Younger is a caring mother who feels internal conflicts when she feels strongly about something her husband does not agree with. Ruth lives in a small apartment with her extended family. She tries to be a good wife, supportive of her husband's decisions but she also longs for a better life for her family. Gladys Washington, literary reviewer, points out that Ruth, "seems to hold fairly traditional ideas about motherhood, but she finds herself, without the counsel of her husband, considering abortion as an alternative to bringing another child into the world" (Washington screen 3). She would sacrifice the life growing inside her to ensure her current family had a place to sleep. When her mother-in-law presents them with the opportunity to move from their small run down apartment to a home of their own Ruth is overjoyed, but sees that Walter is furious with his mother for spending so much money on a home in a white neighborhood. Ruth wants so badly to be excited that she urges her husband to see the good that would come from moving. She says, "Please, honey -- let me be glad... you be glad too"(Hansberry 998). She tells him they should, "say goodbye to these Goddamned cracking walls!--and these marching roaches!--and this cramped little closet which ain't now or never was no kitchen!"(Hansberry 999). After being offered money by their white neighbors not to move in, Walter decides to take the money and keep his family in their cramped apartment. Ruth is being torn to pieces at the thought of losing the home she dreamed of but she has done enough pleading. She had already rebelled and let her husband know how she felt about the new home. Finally right before Walter signs the papers to accept the white community's money, his wife and mother's pleas get through to him. He turns down the white man's money and Ruth finally gets a better life for her family.
Beneatha is the most educated of the whole Younger family and she too has a dream which is to one day become a doctor. Her lover , George, believes the same as Walter. They both believe that women were made to just cook and clean but Beneatha believes different. She wants to make a change and show that women, black women, were not just made to cook and clean, they were made to be...
Shackled by poverty and prejudice, Walter Lee Younger, from the play A Raisin in the Sun, is obsessed with a business idea that he believes will solve all of his economic and social problems. Walter’s business idea of co-owning a liquor store provides him with the hope and dream of a better future. The poems “Let America Be America Again” and “I, Too” by Langston Hughes, along with a motown classic song by Aretha Franklin from the civil rights era, perfectly describe Walter Younger’s passion for money, desperation for respect, and ambition for a better life in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun.
“WALTER: “.See, that just goes to show you what women understand about the world. Baby, don’t nothing happen to you in this world ‘less you pay somebody off!”(Hansberry). Walter says that money is a man’s domain, and that Ruth, being a woman, just wouldn’t understand. This sexist remark seems to come from his own lack of self-esteem. Unfortunately, for Walter and those around him, he feels the need to put people down in order to feel more powerful.”
They strived socially and economically throughout the play but bonded in the end to understand their biggest dream of getting a house. The mother strongly believes in the value of family, and she tries to educate this importance to her family as she fights to keep them together and going steady. Walter and Beneatha learned a valuable lesson about relations at the end of the play, when Walter must cope with the loss of the thieved insurance money and Beneatha blocks Walter as a brother. Even tackling such disturbance, they team up to decline Mr. Lindner’s racist offers. They are both strong individuals, but they are now individuals who behave as part of a family. When they begin to put the household and the family’s needs before their own, they combine their separate dreams with the family’s main dream.