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Bernstein, Robin. “Inventing a Fishbowl: White Supremacy and the Critical Reception of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.” Modern Drama, vol. 42, no. 1, 1999, pp 16-27. ProQuest. April 22, 2018. In this article, Bernstein presents the argument that opposing interpretations of the play can lead to racist and non-racist perceptions. Bernstein suggests that A Raisin in the Sun can be seen as either universal between cultures or specifically black. How one interprets Hansberry’s portrayal of politics and black culture determines their point of view. Bernstein also suggests that by ignoring such politics and only acknowledging black culture, black audience members place themselves in a “fishbowl.” This “fishbowl” refers to black audiences being able to look at each other and their current situations, but not at anything beyond what is in front of them. Bernstein continues this argument by suggesting that a “glass” barrier is created for the white audience. This barrier separates white audiences from the black culture and characters of the …show more content…
He has earned a BA in English, an MA in English and Literature, and is currently working on a Ph.D. in Literature. Murray’s main goal in writing this article is to explain the use of the Southern history in A Raisin in the Sun and how it shapes the characters and interactions of the play. Through the use of A Raisin in the Sun, Murray provides examples from the primary source. The article also uses a number of outside sources that relate to the topics discussed. A majority of these sources have been written within twenty years of the article’s publication, therefore utilizing reliable information. When reading A Raisin in the Sun, I was able to identify the tension and conflicts caused by the differences in culture and race. By reading Murray’s article, I gained a better sense as to how and why such tension was created and the importance it
The play The Colored Museum is a pleasant change in pace, in how a play projects itself to the audience. I found that the interaction with the audience to be an exceptional manner to add humor to the play, which was made evident in the exhibits pertaining to the play. However, the theme is constantly present in each unique exhibit, although it would appear that each exhibit could stand on its own. The play is a satire on the stereotypes or clichés seen in African-American culture, both past and present, but at the same time there is some praise or a form of acceptance towards the same diverse heritage. Despite this inherent contradiction, the play does well to spark thought in the viewer on what was said and done and how it can be relatable
The issue of racism is one of the most significant themes in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.
Though there is realism within her work, the idealism is never far away at all. Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun allows one to see that progress is made through an idealistic view of the world and that hope is the root of many changes people search for in life. It was not uncommon for African Americans to have a realistic view of the world during the beginning of the 1900s. Segregation played a major role in shaping the century.
America experienced an explosive period of suburbanization after World War II. The suburban “home represented a source of meaning and security” (May 24) to those seeking refuge and comfort after a tumultuous time of war. Among those migrating from the cities to the suburbs were middle-class African Americans, who sought a suburban life that both “express[ed] and reinforce[d] their newly won social position.” (Wiese 101) However, this middle-class migration from urban areas left behind working class African Americans such as the Younger family of Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play “A Raisin in the Sun.” While the Younger family of “A Raisin in the Sun” finally realize the suburban dream of a home with “three bedrooms… and a nice big basement” (Hansberry 92), the decision to move from urban Southside Chicago is not encouraged by the other African Americans of the play; rather, the Younger family is met with disrespect and derision. Hansberry uses the characters of George Murchison and Mrs. Johnson to illustrate class stratification amongst African Americans during the post-war period. The scenes with these particular characters highlight the class conflict that occurred within the African American community throughout this period of suburbanization.
The dominant theme in A Raisin in the Sun is the quest for home ownership. The play is about a black family living in the Southside of Chicago-a poverty-stricken, African Ame...
The text To kill a mockingbird (TKAM) written by harper Lee depicts the story of life in the south of America in the 1930’s as seen through a young girl, Scout Finch. Although a coming of age story TKAM also concentrates very heavily on prejudice. This include racial, social and gender prejudicial attitudes. This is where TKAM connects to Reginald Rose’s play twelve angry men (TAM) where social, racial and personal prejudice attitudes begin to effect the results of a court case. The two texts differ however, as the prejudice in TAM was able to be overcome by the men, where as in TKAM readers were instead shown what happens when people’s prejudicial views cannot be battled, and this resulted in two very different outcomes
Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, centers on an African American family in the late 1950s. Hansberry directs her work towards specifically the struggles faced by African Americans during the late 1950s. Through the dialogue and actions of her characters, she encourages not only a sense of pride in heritage, but a national and self-pride in African Americans as well.
Detrimental stereotypes of minorities affect everyone today as they did during the antebellum period. Walker’s subject matter reminds people of this, as does her symbolic use of stark black and white. Her work shocks. It disgusts. The important part is: her work elicits a reaction from the viewer; it reminds them of a dark time in history and represents that time in the most fantastically nightmarish way possible. In her own words, Walker has said, “I didn’t want a completely passive viewer, I wanted to make work where the viewer wouldn’t walk away; he would either giggle nervously, get pulled into history, into fiction, into something totally demeaning and possibly very beautiful”. Certainly, her usage of controversial cultural signifiers serve not only to remind the viewer of the way blacks were viewed, but that they were cast in that image by people like the viewer. Thus, the viewer is implicated in the injustices within her work. In a way, the scenes she creates are a subversive display of the slim power of slave over owner, of woman over man, of viewed over
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
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, has often been dubbed a “black” play by critics since its debut on Broadway in 1959. This label has been reasonably assigned considering the play has a cast that consists primarily of African American actors; however, when looking beyond the surface of this play and the color of the author and characters, one can see that A Raisin in the Sun actually transcends the boundaries of racial labels through the universal personalities assigned to each character and the realistic family situations that continue to evolve throughout the storyline. As seen when comparing A Raisin in the Sun to “The Rich Brother,” a story for which the characters receive no label of race, many commonalities can be found between the characters’ personalities and their beliefs. Such similarities prove that A Raisin in the Sun is not merely a play intended to appeal only to the black community, nor should it be construed as a story about the plights of the black race alone, but instead should be recognized as a play about the struggles that all families, regardless of race, must endure in regard to their diversity and financial disparity. A succinct introduction and excellent writing!
In Lorraine Hansberry “A Raisin in the Sun”, the issues of racial discrimination, the debate of heroism, and criticism is vividly displayed. The play, which was written in the late 1950’s presents itself in a realistic discerning matter that implicates the racial division among the black family and white America. The play insinuates Walters’s heroism as well because of the black family’s struggle not to become discouraged in trying to obtain the world riches and still maintaining human dignity. When Hansberry wrote “A Raisin in the Sun”, many critics questioned the motive behind her play because it showed the America the world wants to grow oblivious to. This presents the reality of racial discrimination and heroism for the black man among
It is acknowledged by many readers that there are many different social classes in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ written by Harper Lee and published in 1960. One of the most obvious social class distinctions is between skin colors, which can be seen through this novel. Since most readers’ focal point of this novel is on the distinctions between skin colors, they are unlikely to pay attention to the difference in social class within the white community. Lee wants to illustrate a contrast in white society and how characters behave differently through the uses of character foil, characterization, and the theme of society inequality in order to emphasize the differences in social classes.
One huge social issues explored by the play “A Raisin in the Sun” would be racism. The Young family individuals all hold jobs, but none pay like the jobs of whites. Their pay was justified by their skin color and education level. Some African Americans were limited on their education level, some had no history of it. Although African Americans were seen to not having high paying jobs and especially women, the character Beneatha strives to go
Racial discrimination is defined as the act of treating a person/group differently than another, solely based on their racial background. The play as its self-received racial discrimination, because its author made history, and because of what she did she was talking about it. An historical significance about A Raisin in the Sun, is that Lorraine Hansberry earned the New York Drama Critics Circle Award as the year’s best play. “A Raisin in the sun brought African Americans into the theater and onto the stage.” The word is that “the reason was that never before, in the entire history of the American theater, had so much truth been seen on stage.
Why do people always criticize one another? You hardly hear people compliment each other, or congratulate another. Instead we bring others down daily and do not even think twice about what that negative comment can do to that person. In the autobiography Black Boy by Richard Wright and the film A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, both of the main characters are two good examples of people bringing people down because of their differences. They are also good examples of people who did not let racial discrimination stop them from achieving their dreams. Both Richard Wright and Walter Lee Younger have many similarities and differences of traits between them.