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. 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. The preface of... ... middle of paper ... ...//www.jstor.org/stable/41155530>. Phillips, Elizabeth C. “Command of Human Destiny as Exemplified in Two Plays: Lillian Hellman’s ‘The Little Foxes’ and Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘A Raisin in the Sun.’” Scriptorium Press 4.1 (1972): 29-39. JSTOR. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. . Turner, Darwin T. “Visions of Love and Manliness in a Blackening World: Dramas of Black Life since 1953.” Paradigm Publishers 25.2 (1995): 2-12. JSTOR. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. . Washington, J. Charles. “’A Raisin in the Sun’ Revisited.” St. Louis University 22.1 (1988): 109-24. JSTOR. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. . Wilkerson, Margaret B. “’A Raisin in the Sun’: Anniversary of an American Classic.” Johns Hopkins University Press 38.4 (1986): 441-52. JSTOR. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. .
Before seeing how class differences play an important role in “A Raisin in the Sun,” one must examine the location in which the play takes place. Hansberry defines the play’s setting as “Chicago’s Southside, sometime between World War II and the present.” (Hansberry 22) The play was written in 1959, prior to the civil rights movement in America. Even so, this post-war timeframe “exemplified a new wave of black suburbanization” (Wiese 100). As more African Americans made the transition fro...
Mays, Kelly. “The Historical Significance of a Raisin in the Sun.” The Norton Introduction to
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Signet, 1988. Liukkonen, Petri. "Lorraine Hansberry." Lorraine Hansberry. Web. 11 May 2012. .
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a dramatic play written in 1959. The play is about an African American family that lives in the Chicago South Side in the 1950’s. Hansberry shows the struggles and difficulties that the family encounters due to discrimination. Inspired by her personal experience with discrimination, she uses the characters of the play, A Raisin In The Sun, to show how this issue affects families.
A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. The primary focus of the play is the American Dream. The American Dream is one’s conception of a better life. Each of the main characters in the play has their own idea of what they consider to be a better life. A Raisin in the Sun emphasizes the importance of dreams regardless of the various oppressive struggles of life.
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.
“Raisin in the Sun” is a play set in the 1950s written by Lorraine Hansberry about a struggling African American family living in Chicago. Following the death of of a person who held a key role in their family, they try to determine what to do with the notable insurance money left to them upon their loved one’s death. Beneatha, a daughter and sister in the family, aspires to be a doctor. Hansberry calls attention to the struggles African Americans and women had to face during these times. The prejudice working against Beneatha caused many obstacles to be placed in her path. Beneatha has risen above this prejudice encircling her gender by tearing down the negative stigma that surrounds it.
The claim that A Raisin in the Sun expresses the idea of black assimilation can be somewhat justified. Walter Lee Younger and George Murchison openly and consciously admit that desire for the white lifestyle. George has willingly denounced his race rather than uplifted it and is the epitome of a black man that has fully assimilated into the White mainstream. Walter, on the other hand,...
Hansberry, Lorraine. "A Raisin in the Sun." Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2013. 1471-1534. Print.
Wilkerson, Margaret B. "'A Raisin in the Sun': Anniversary of an American Classic." Theatre Journal 38.4 (1986): 441-52. Print.
Wilkerson, Margaret B. "'A Raisin in the Sun': Anniversary of an American Classic." Theatre Journal 38.4 (1986): 441-52. Print.
Lorraine Hansberry in her play, “Raisin in the Sun”, attempted to explain the feelings of the average African American Male in the 1940s. This persona, which is portrayed in the character Walter, had experienced a severe feeling of depression and hopelessness. In order to understand this source of grievance, one must relate back to the Great Migration and the dreams it promised and the reasons why many African Americans sought to move to the North. A desire to achieve freedom from racial injustices and poverty was the prime factor that encouraged Blacks to abandon the south. However, these dreams where soon crushed as African American noticed that Northern whites had still maintained unequal segregation and where as stumbling block to Black advancement. The consequences of a “dream deferred”, as Langston Hughes called it, was dependency on others, alcohol addiction, as well as dysfunctional families.
A Raisin in the Sun is drama, a play, and is a book that can change the value or purpose of a dream, the right to fight for what is right. This can also change the way you think about the importance of the people who are close to you. Some people believe that dreams can come true and some people believe. This play shows how a small family sticks together though the hard times of the 1950’s. Even though they have difficulties, they manage to stick together and help each other.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2011. 950-1023. Print.
Weales, Gerald. "Thoughts on A Raisin in the Sun." Commentary 27.6 (June 1959): 527-530. Rpt. in Drama for Students. Ed. David M. Galens and Lynn M. Spampinato. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.