In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, "A Raisin in the Sun,” she uses the youngers family as individuals to portray different aspects of black culture, social dynamics and the importance of community.
Essentially one could say that this is the story of Walter Lee Younger a man desperate, impoverished but living with a powerful dream. A dream quintessential to the black power movement in the era. Margaret B Wilkersons author of "A Raisin in the Sun": Anniversary of an American Classic writes. "Black Militancy born out of anger, frustration, and deffered dreams was captured in the explosive and desperate Walter Lee".(444) This deep frustration within the black community can be seen through the explosive nature of Walter Lee, he constantly surges in
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the pursuit of his dream one shackled by the chains of oppression which had a long history in South Side Chicago. Black men and women where essentially in ghettos where they had no hopes of escaping from. Michelle Gordon writer of "Somewhat like War": The Aesthetics of Segregation, Black Liberation, and "A Raisin in the Sun" states "."While a white family could rent a five-room apartment for $60 a month in Cicero, for example, a black South Side family of four could pay $56 per month to live in one half of a two-room flat,infested with rats and roaches, without electricity or hot water" (125) This exemplifies the dynamics of segregation and poverty that plagued black communities not just Walter Lee Younger and his family but all of them across America. Walter Lee like many black Americans had their dreams deffered, and this wrought new levels of desperation to the community as can be seen in Walter when he loses what is left of the inheritance on a scam. Walter desperate to live the American dream long sought and fought by the black community. This is why George Murchison calls Walter Lee Prometheus Halliwell, Martin. Writer of "Adapting Lorraine Hansherry’s sociological imagination: race, housing, and health in A Raisin in the Sun." asserts that, "The is a sense that Walter may be a Prometheus figure – as he is called" (135). This comparison between the Greek mythological Prometheus and Walter is paralleled as Prometheus was chained after he brought fire to man, Walter a man with a fire in his heart and an unnerving dream is chained by the color of his skin. This parity between Walter and Prometheus can also be derived from their liver in Walter he drinks it away and with Prometheus it's eaten away by an eagle. It is important to make this comparison between Prometheus and Walter as they share a powerful dream the betterment of man The Youngers family sense of community are held by its strong-willed matriarch Lena Younger also known as Mama, a model to what it meant to be an African-American woman of her generation.
Wilkerson affirms this Matriarchal archetype of Lena Younger by assessing the image of Mama. Wilkerson states "The Black matriarch incarnate:The bulwark of the Negro family since slavery; the embodiment of the Negro will to transcendence" (447) This matriarchal part of Lena Younger can be seen when is addressing Walter Lee. "Son – you – you understand what I done, don’t you? (The purchase of the house)I – I just seen my family falling apart today . . . just falling to pieces in front of my eyes . . . We couldn’t of gone on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forwards – talking ‘bout killing babies and wishing each other was dead" Lena was more than just the bulwark for the family she was the vanguard. In the midst of her family torn asunder she took it upon herself to guide and direct the family down a better path as she iterates shortly after addressing Walter Lee. "When it gets like that in life – you just got to do something different, push on out and do something bigger" Wilkerson also assesses that Lena Younger was framed by Hansberry to act against political issues affecting African-Americans in her time stating that. "It is she who, while seeming to cling to traditional restraints, drives the young on into the fire hoses and one day simply refuses to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery" (447) Despite mamas portrayal as the arch-typical traditionalist character who clings to the old ways. She shows that she is socially aware of the plights of African-American community. This is shown with her short interaction with Mrs. Johnson. Despite the evident threat of being 'bombed' as Mrs. Johnson puts it. Lena Younger does not seem phased by the looming threat to her family. ((Insert conclusion
sentence)) The philosophy of the modern African-American and their cultural awakening can be seen in the Beneatha Youngers portrayal. Though Beneathas cultural awakening is not apparent at the start of the story, she develops it as a character with her interactions with the idealistic Joseph Asagai. She at first comes off as egocentric and privileged as a lot of the families extra-money goes into her education. However, there is a paradigm shift in how the character is portrayed when she loses the insurance money that was meant to be put away for her schooling giving her time to become retrospective. Beneathas relationship with Joseph is strange as she seems to mock his idealism stating. "Independence and then what? What about all the crooks and thieves and just plain idiots who will come into power and steal and plunder the same as before – only now they will be black and do it in the name of the new Independence – WHAT ABOUT THEM?!" ((Find more sources for this character))
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.
A Raisin In the Sun is a drama play that takes place “sometime between World War II and the present.” The family lived in Chicago’s Southside. The town was very “dusky” and as each day passed the nights got colder. The Younger family lived in a small old apartment with only two small rooms. The little one had to sleep on the couch every night. The house needed a great amount of fixing up; everyone was ready to move out.
A dream deferred is a dream put off to another time, much like this essay. But unlike dreams sometimes, this essay will get fulfilled and done with. Each character from A Raisin in the Sun had a deferred dream, even little Travis although his dream was not directly stated.
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.
The idea of family is a central theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry alludes to the Old Testament book of Ruth in her play to magnify “the value of having a home and family”(Ardolino 181). The Younger family faces hardships that in the moment seem to tear them apart from one another, but through everything, they stick together. The importance of family is amplified by the choices of Walter and Beneatha because they appear to initiate fatal cracks in the Younger family’s foundation, but Mama is the cement who encourages her family to pull together as one unit. The hardships of the family help develop a sense of unity for the Younger household.
In the play, Hansberry portrayed African American’s as having limited job options because of their race. Which is why, Walter worked as a chauffeur and Ruth was a maid. The set availability of career choices meant only having a limited amount of income. The five family members; grandma Lena, sister Berneatha, father Walter, mother Ruth and son Travis, all lived under one roof in a small apartment with confined living space. Three generations living together meant that they had to share a two bedroom apartment and also share the hall bathroom with the rest of the families in the complex (Domina 20). Walter reveals his feelings that he believes he is a failure by saying, “I got a boy who sleeps in the living room. . . and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people are” (Hansberry 950). In Teron McGrew’s article "The History of Residential Segregation in the United States and Title VIII” he says Marzenbaum, a creator of the zoning laws, thought that the single family home should be the main housing throughout the country and the owner could have a small garden with a space that is available to fresh air and sunlight (23). Hansberry must have read this statement in light of the fact that in the play when Lena looks for a house, she wanted the exact same features; she wants a normal house without her race interfering with her opportunities. The Younger’s dream of owning a standard home and being free from their rundown rental apartment came true but not without a fight from zoning, covenants, and racial steering
In the book of A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry the characters lived in a time where social and justice was prevalent and as a consequence the people have to really struggle to make their dreams come true. In the 1950’s Afro-American families have to overcome a lot of hardships in their social environment and within themselves to make their dreams come true. At the beginning of the story one can say that the century in were the Younger family lived has become old and faded and they very depressed including Momma . It is also important to realize that this story takes place in the 1950’s on the Southside of Chicago.
People have dreams and pursue them to give them a reason to give them a reason to go forward in their lives. In the play of A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, the main characters in the play are the Youngers’. Their environment was on the south side of Chicago and lived in a small apartment during the 1950’s. The apartment consisted of Lena Younger, but in the play she is mostly called Mama because she is the oldest in the family and everyone looks up to her. Walter Lee her son, Beneatha her daughter, Ruth her daughter in law, and Travis her grandson.
The residents of the white neighborhood where Lena bought the new house do not want them moving in. The family faces racial discrimination and must decide what to do. A representative from the new neighborhood offers the Younger family money to buy their home so they do not move in. Initially, Walter accepts the offer because he feels he will make up for losing the money in the liquor store scam.
Everyday people, feel the push and pull struggle of morality. However, it is up to the individual to decide what to do with it. In Arthur Miller’s The Death of a Salesman and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, two moral characters stand up for human dignity. Charley and Mama help guide many people to the right decisions, help people in need, and act as a moral compass to the characters and playgoers.
From this event, it is clear that Lena trusts her son more than her daughter by not giving them their own part of the money to fulfill their dreams. At the last moments of play, Mr. Lindner who is a white male character arrives at the Youngers' apartment from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association to offer them a deal, if they do not move into his white neighborhood; then Lena asks Walter to take decision and he decides to reject Mr. Linder eventually (353-354). This event represents Lena’s gender favoritism attitude again because she only asks Walter to make a final choice whether to reject or accept Mr. Linder’s deal. She does not think that Beneatha is also her daughter, who should have equal right to participate in this decision. This is how, Lena’s decisions become barrier unintentionally for her daughter’s dream, which naturally represents her gender partiality against Beneatha.
Walter dreams of being a successful business owner and believes that through his business idea, he will acquire all the money he will ever need. " Mama – sometimes when I’m downtown and I pass them cool-quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking ‘bout things…sitting there turning deals worth millions of dollars…sometimes I see guys don’t look much older than me" (41). Walter Lee is jealous of white men who can afford a high standard of living. He is tortured by the men who are the same age with him but have more chances.
I propose to read Lorraine Hansberry short story, “A Raisin in The Sun” with the intent of examining and exploring three womanist themes. The primary theme is gender wars/battle of the sexes. Beneatha, Ruth, and Lena (Mama) Younger are three generation of women with a different outlook on life. Mama and Ruth share traditional views on marriage, their role as women, and they even work in traditional roles as a domestic servant which is some of the jobs that were open to Black women at the time. Beneatha wants to become a doctor which at the time is a male-dominated profession and she tells Rutha and Mama that she is not concerned with marriage/ might not even get married. However, Walter Lee who is Beneatha brother repeatedly criticizes her
Lorraine Hansberry is a playwright through that movement. She is a playwright, author, and an activist. She is the first black playwright and the youngest American to win a New York Critics' Circle award. She wrote A Raisin in the Sun which is a real story that happened to her and her family. It is a significant play that shows the struggles the Blacks face in their lives.
Change is the only thing that is constant in people’s lives. Everyone must undergo transformation during his or her lifetime. Change is brought about by numerous factors, such as disappointments in life. The latter allow persons to have alternative perspectives about their lives. They begin to see things from multiple views, unlike in the past where their rigidity made it difficult for them to handle the things they faced from different viewpoints.