Sunlight and darkness are major factors in everyone’s lives. Humans enjoy the sunshine and rest in the darkness, but sometimes, like in Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, sunlight and darkness mean more than meets the eye. There are multiple different ways that can represent a sense of hope in one's life. Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, hopefulness has been expressed from numerous angles. Beneatha faces challenges that could potentially get in the way of her achieving her everlasting dream of becoming a doctor, which she is often ridiculed for since she is a black woman living in the 1950’s. Her dreams are not necessarily taken seriously as no one truly believes a woman can become a successful doctor. Yet, she never loses hope. Even her own brother, Walter, believes that her dreams are too far-fetched. Beneatha refused to let anyone mock her as she got on her knees and sarcastically begged, “Well – I do – all right? – thank everybody! And forgive me for ever wanting to be anything at all! FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME!” (1.1.123) Eventually, sunlight shines through her life as her mother inherits the money her father had worked his life away for; but as soon as it was in her hands, it was taken away when her brother made the decision to jeopardize it all. Although Bennie and her family feel as though the world is falling out from beneath them, …show more content…
No one could have predicted the twist of events that the Youngers would have been inflicted upon them. The symbol of sunlight and darkness could have been better portrayed if there was something bigger that would have happened to them; something that was more of a tragedy. They lost the rest of their money, but at the same time they still had a little glimmer of hope as they were the first black family to move into a rich white neighborhood without worrying about what would become of them if they
A Raisin in the Sun In the book “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, there were characters whose dreams were stated, some of which were shattered by greed and misfortune and others which would eventually come true. The first dream that came about was Walter’s dream of one day owning and maintaining a liquor store. He would do anything to attempt to get his dream to come true, but his mama wanted anything but that to happen. His mama had a dream of her own, though, she dreamed of one day owning her own house, where her whole family could stay comfortably.
“Is your glass haft empty or haft full?” This saying perfectly describes what optimism opposed to pessimism is. Some people always see their glass haft empty, others haft full. The majority of people see their glass haft full some days and on other days haft empty. Our outlook on life is intimately related to the situation we are in and whether or not we believe we can get through the hard times. In the play A raison in the sun certain characters are more optimistic than others. Some of them are always optimistic whereas others have their ups and downs. Sometimes they are optimistic and on other days they are not.
...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 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.
A Raisin in the Sun In A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry portrays obstacles that the Younger family and other African Americans had to face and over come during the post World War 2 era. Obstacles that had to be over come by the Youngers were economical, moral, social, and racist obstacles. Lorraine Hansberry, the author of the play had to face one of these as well growing up. Born in Chicago on the south side in an all black neighborhood, Lorraine Hansberry and her family had to deal with segregation.
	During the course of the play, conflicts between Beneath and her brother Walter are revealed. Walter thinks that his sister should be a mainstream woman and not have great dreams and ambitions for her life. "Who the hell told you you had 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 an be quiet" (38). This passage shows that Walter is clearly a chauvinist, and does not believe in his sister’s desire to be a doctor. Similarly, Beneatha does not believe in Walters aspirations of becoming a rich entrepreneur, and thinks he is rather...
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry is realistic fictional drama in which the play 's title and the character represent the play 's theme. The play focused on Black America 's Struggle to reach the American Dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness during the 1950s and the 1960s. The idea of everyone having the chance to achieve a better life should exist for all. Hansberry conceives her title using a line from Langston Hughes poem “A dream deferred”. The original poem was written in 1951 about Harlem. Hughes’ line from the poem state that when dreams are deferred “Does it dry up like a Raisin in the Sun”. This meant that they describe them as being small and already pretty withered. Hughes poem further suggested that when
During the 1960s, the African-American people were in racial situations due to their “lowered status”. They had no control over the strong beliefs in segregation, which “is characterized by a mixture of hope and despair.” (Nordholt) African-Americans, like normal people, had strived to achieve set goals. Unfortunately, their ethnicity was what inhibited them from accomplishing their dreams. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, the author conveys the theme of the seemingly trivial efforts of the African-American people in their individual pursuits for a satisfactory life lead each person down a road of self-discovery that reveals an indefinite amount of truths, which transform their promising hopes into unachievable fantasies. By using powerful characterization, Hansberry creates characters with contrasting personalities dividing their familial hopes into different dreams. With the use of symbolism, each character’s road is shown to inevitably end in a state where dreams are deferred.
“Weariness has, in fact, won in this room. Everything has been polished, washed, sat on, used, scrubbed too often. All pretenses but living itself have long since vanished from the very atmosphere of this room” (Hansberry 10). No, this is not the description of a small, worn-out room. This is the definition of the Youngers’ existence. The Youngers are a typical African-American family living in a Post-WWII era. The Youngers, unlike most African-American families, have been given a chance to move up in the world. With the death of Big Walter, the previous man of the house, the Youngers have a chance to make one family member’s dream come true. However, American Society has changed the Youngers. Instead of using the money to better the family, the family members, specifically Walter and Beneatha, now seek to use the money to finance their own dreams at the cost of others. When Asagai says “ How often I have looked at you and said, Ah-so this is what the New World hath finally wrought,” he sees the good that the New World caused in Beneatha (Hansberry 137). When Beneatha looks at Walter, she sees something different, she sees a pathetic man who has lost everything. They are both right in different ways. The New World hath wrought in Beneatha an all consuming desire for more, while it has caused Walter to become obsessed with money, and be frustrated with his lot in life.
Beneatha is not a dried up, festering, stinking, crusty dreamer. She’s dancing her dreams to sleep, boogying her way through her feelings and making up her own rhythm for her life.
In ‘A Raisin in the Sun’, Lorraine Hansberry describes each of the family’s dreams and how they are deferred. In the beginning of the play Lorraine Hansberry chose Langston Hughes’s poem to try describe what the play is about and how, in life, dreams can sometimes be deferred.
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.
Everybody has a dream in this play and they all wanted to achieve those dreams. Beneatha had a dream of becoming a doctor, but Walter had a different dream for her, “Who the hell told you to be a doctor?... Then go be a nurse like other women-or just get married and be quiet”(38). At that point, she had felt like giving up her dream, but then decided she wasn't going to let her brother tell her what she could or could not be. She had almost let go of her dream
In the story A Raisin in the Sun, the Youngers all have dreams, but during the story, their dreams fade away. Lorraine Hansberry must have chosen A Raisin in the Sun as the title of the play because of their dreams and how they are drying up like a raisin in the sun. Hansberry gained inspiration from Langston Hughes’ poem “A Dream Deferred” to title her play. The Youngers are unable to achieve their dreams because of their current situation. Walters's dream is to be a successful businessman and own a liquor store.
...p; Props such as the bed, the phone, the radio and the newspaper had bold meanings associated with them. The actions of the characters and the struggles they faced with issues of racial discrimination and gender differences symbolize the struggles of society as a whole. The time, the 1950's, the reference to the Ku Klux Klan, and the place Chicago, represent a period of great trials and tribulations for black people overcoming the slavery of their people in America. Throughout the entirety of the play, issues of gender and race play a recurring role. It isn't until Act 2, scene 2 of the novel when hope is sought for these issues. Through the revelation of this section, it is discovered that the Younger's are a family with a lot of pride who struggle and seek hope to better their position in the corruption around them.