Lorraine Hansberry’s play, “A Raisin in the Sun”, centers on an African American family in the late 1950’s. Her work focuses on the struggles African Americans face during this time. Racism was and still is, a major issue in the United States during the 1950’s. Racism is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a different race based on the belief that person’s own race is superior. Throughout this play, Hansberry discusses many racial obstacles that the Younger Family experiences.
Walter Lee Younger is the protagonist of the play. He aspires to become rich; when the family receives the $10,000 check from the insurance company, his first thought is to open a liquor store. He believes money will solve all of the family's problems, but is not
…show more content…
very successful with making money. Beneatha Younger is the sister of Walter. She is a 20 year old college student who is the most educated person in the family with great ambition. Her dream is to someday become a doctor and discover her own identity, which she spends a good time searching for throughout the play. Lena Younger, or Mama is the mother of Walter and Beneatha. She is very religious and focuses more on dreams, rather than material wealth. She uses her husband's insurance money to put a down payment on a home to fulfil her hope of someday living the “American Dream”. Lastly, Ruth Younger who is Walter Lee’s wife. She constantly tries to fight poverty and the troubles of being an African American woman. Racism is a major theme throughout Hansberry’s play. When Mama receives the $10,000 insurance check from her husband’s death, everyone in the family has different thoughts on what it should be used for. Walter Lee wants to use the money to invest in a liquor store with a friend. He thinks this will bring in more money for the family. Beneatha wants to use the money to attend medical school and become a doctor, Ruth really doesn’t have much of an opinion and Mama of course wants to use it for the down payment on a house, she thinks that is the best decision for her and her family. The house they had put a down payment on did not settle well.
It was in an all white, working class neighborhood and they did not want any blacks living in the area. Mr. Lindner, from the parks improvement association, was contacted by the neighborhood when they found out about the Youngers moving in. “I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn’t enter into it. It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities.”(II.iii) He offers the family a settlement to not move into that specific neighborhood. The family was sick of being disrespected for their race and decided that the house was worth the fight, they did not want to give up. After all, this was their chance at success and obtaining that “American dream” that Mama always desired. The American dream consists of a steady job, a house, family, lots of happiness, a vehicle for mobility, hope and opportunity to grow in the future, a good education and wealth. Although the family didn’t have all of that, they did have hope, happiness, each other, all they needed was a newer
home. The most prominent theme of “A Raisin in the Sun” is dreams deferred. The main characters struggle with circumstances that are created to bring them down. The title of the play ties in with dreams that are not achieved; as if they dry up like “a raisin in the sun”. Every member of the Younger family has a dream. Beneatha wants to become a doctor, Walter Lee wants to open the liquor store to make money so he can afford things. Mama wants to make a better life for her and her family and she believes that a new house will be one step towards that. The Youngers struggle to fulfill these dreams throughout the play, thus causing most of their depression. Mamas dreams were first deferred when she moved into the small apartment. She could not fulfill her dreams because, she did not have the money to do so. Her dreams were even more shattered when her husband died, but when his insurance check came in the mail, they were brought to light again. Beneatha’s believes that her dreams were deferred when she was born a colored female. Although she tries to fight the negativity, it becomes more difficult when Walter loses the money that she was going to use for medical school. After the loss, the family realizes that a house is the most important dream they could have because, it unites them. Throughout the play, “A Raisin in the Sun”, the theme of racism and deferring the American dream are the most prominent. The Younger’s had many hopes and dreams that were immediately postponed. The first hope the family had at a happily ever after was when they received their deceased father’s insurance check. After a struggle to get where they wanted to be, the family came to terms with the fact that the most important thing was a new house to unite the fami
One of the first ideas mentioned in this play, A Raisin In the Sun, is about money. The Younger's end up with no money because of Walter's obsession with it. When Walter decides not to take the extra money he is offered it helps prove Hansberry's theme. Her theme is that money can't buy happiness. This can be seen in Walter's actions throughout the play.
Ruth was being prevented from having a baby because of money problems, Walter was bringing him self down by trying to make the liquor store idea work. Once Mama decided to buy the house with the money she had received, Walter figured that he should further go on with the liquor store idea. Then, when Walter lost the money, he lost his dignity and tried to get some money from the “welcome party” of Cylborne Park. Mama forced him to realize how far he went by making him show himself to his son how low he would go. But he showed that he wasn’t susceptible to the ways the racism created.
...have some money. The Younger’s were well aware that they were not wanted in the white neighborhood. At this point, there is a feeling of dislike towards Walter because he had blown off all the money. So what was expected was the he would continue worrying about money and sell their dream house. But instead he does an unexpected, honorable thing. He surprises the family by changing his mind and deciding to move into the house. I was also moved by what Mama said. “Son—I come from five generations of people who was slaves and sharecroppers—but ain’t nobody in my family never let nobody pay ‘em no money that was a way of telling us we wasn’t fit to walk the earth. We ain’t never been that poor. We ain’t never been that—dead inside.” Walter finally showed pride in his family and let go of his dream for the good of his family.
The Younger’s, an African American family living on the south-side of Chicago in the 1950s, live in an undersized apartment for their family of five. Lena Younger, the mother of the house, receives a check of ten thousand dollars and dreams of owning her own house in a white neighborhood. Beneatha’s brother, Walter, has high hopes of investing the money in a liquor store. Walter’s wife, Ruth does all she can to support his ideas while caring for their son, Travis. But, to become a doctor, Beneatha wants and needs the money to pay for her schooling. Walter and Beneatha’s wants for the money cause disputes throughout the house.
The civil rights movement brought enlightenment towards the abolishment of segregation laws. Although the laws are gone does segregation still exist in fact? “What happens to a dream deferred, does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?'; said, in a poem by Langston Huges. The story, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry showed segregation and its affects upon all races. This essay will show how Assimilationists and New Negroes fought for their own identity in the mid twentieth century. Whether they were being true to themselves or creating carbon copies of oppression was determined by one’s view upon society.
Racial discrimination is one of the reasons to believe that their life post moving to Clybourne would be a nightmare is due to the fact that they will not be respected as individuals. Nowrouzi, Faghfori, and Zohdi in “In Search of Equality: A Dream Deferred for African Americans in A Raisin in the Sun” writes, “The Youngers live in a segregated neighborhood in a city that has remained one of the most segregated areas in the United States. (2271). Mama Younger buys a house in an all-white community, which she believes has better living conditions and has lower cost. But traditionally, the family would pay more than a white family. The timelines of the Raisin in the Sun was “Equalled only by the captivating characters with whom white audiences were willing to identify and of whom Black audience could be proud” (445) states Wilkerson in “A Raisin in the Sun: Anniversary of an American
The setting of the story is Chicago’s South Side. This area of Chicago was known as the “capital of black America” (Manning), and according to Andrew Wiese, Chicago used to be known as “the most segregated city in America” (118). These seriously contradictory statements are true. Chicago’s South Side was home to William L. Dawson, who was the most powerful black politician at the time, and Joe Luis, who was a boxing champion and was known as the most popular black man in America (Manning). It was the most popular place for blacks to migrate to during the Great Migration, and the population grew from 278,000 blacks to 813,000 blacks. Most of the neighborhoods located in the South Side were poor and highly segregated from the rich white neighborhoods located just outside the South Side (Pacyga). The housing in these areas was very poor as well. Most of the African Americans at the time lived in a small apartment called a kitchenette. These were cramped with a small kitchen and small rooms (Plotkin). Lorraine Hansberry describes the Youngers house as a worn out, cramped, and very small apartment (23). She also talks about the small kitchen, living room, and bedrooms (24). These apartments were not ideal, but it was all that many African Americans could afford. If African Americans tried to move nicer neighborhoods, whites would perform violent acts on them (Choldin). This violence was recorded in a African American newspaper, known the Chicago Defender (Best).
Where money is but an illusion and all it brings are nothing but dreams, one family struggles to discover that wealth can be found in other forms. In the play "A Raisin in the Sun," Lorraine Hansberry uses the indirect characterization of the Younger family through their acquaintances to reveal that money and materialism alone are worthless.
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!
The chasing of a mirage is a futile quest where an individual chases an imaginary image that he or she wants to capture. The goal of this impossible quest is in sight, but it is unattainable. Even with the knowledge that failure is inevitable, people still dream of catching a mirage. There is a fine line that separates those who are oblivious to this fact, and to those who are aware and accept this knowledge. The people who are oblivious represent those who are ignorant of the fact that their dream will be deferred. This denial is the core of the concept used in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. The perception of the American Dream is one that is highly subjective, but every individual dream ends in its own deferment.
Lorraine Hansberry herself clarified it when she spoke about the play. She states, “We cannot…very well succumb to monetary values and know the survival of certain aspects of man which must remain if we are loom larger than other creatures on the planet….Our people fight daily and magnificently for a more comfortable material base for their lives; they sacrifice for clean homes, decent foods, and personal and group dignity”. (Lester 417). Hansberry used Walter Lee to stand for that exact representation. Many African American men in the 1950’s and the 1960’s suffered pride and personal crisis issues because of the incapability to support and provide his family with the minimum of their basic needs. Walter Lee incriminated himself and his family for what he sees as his personal failure. (Lester 417). During the meeting with Mr. Linder the family, with the exclusion of Mama and Travis, stated that they was not interested in the offer of selling the house back to the welcoming committee of the neighborhood. This showed that the family stood firm for their moral values (dignity) that they share as a collective unit. Then something switch; Walter recklessly invested the family insurance money on a shaky liquor business startup. Feeling that all hope is lost and that his way of changing the family way of life is out of reach, he despairingly call Mr. Linder and
Hansberry conveyed the relatable struggles by using a black family “[sparing] us one of those well-scrubbed, light-skinned families who often appear in propaganda pieces about discrimination (Clurman 21). After Clurman identifies the benefit of Hansberry’s writing with vices and virtues he gives a quick summary of the play. The family is waiting for a ten thousand dollar check to arrive, and with that money Walter Lee, mammas son, wants to use the money to start a liquor store but momma, the head of the house, wants to use the money as a down payment for a house; the catch is that the house momma just bought is in a white neighborhood. At first, the idea is met with skepticism but then it is embraced when they decide to move. The money left over was meant to pay for Beneatha's school and help Walter start his liquor store, but that was all lost when Walter gave the money to a companion who takes the money and runs.
In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry there are many examples of the Younger family members repelled the blatant racism existing in their society. Throughout the play there have been incidents in which the Younger family has stood their ground as black people, especially the women of this play. The Younger family has experienced racism throughout the play, in the first act the character Ruth is sick and her mother-in-law tells her to call in sick with the ‘flu’ as it’s something white people can get. This remark from the character Mama really makes one understand that people of colour were seen to have abnormal diseases than white people and by Mama saying it in a mocking way, it shows an aspect of her resisting racism and making
Dreams. What do we do with them? Harlem by Langston Hughes asks, what happens to a dream deferred? Lorraine Hansberry opens up her book, The Raisin in the Sun, with this poem for a certain reason. We see that throughout the book each character suffers through many trials with their deferred dreams and different ways of handling them.
A Raisin in the Sun is a play written during the Civil Rights Movement by Lorraine Hansberry. The title of the play, A Raisin in the Sun is built on a poem by Langston Hughes, Harlem; specifically the line, “a dream deferred.” The play shines light on the struggles the Youngers go through with oppressive circumstances. The Youngers struggles are still relevant for all races about 60 years later, how depressing that history repeats in such ways. Like a Raisin in the Sun society still expresses racial discrimination, a strain of identity recognition, and economic struggles.