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What is Modern Drama

The drama which had suffered steep decline during the Victorian Age was revived with great force at the
beginning of the 20th century and the course of six decades has witnessed many trends and currents in the 20th-
century drama.
The drama of Modernist Movement in England was much less innovative in technique than it was
its poetry and novel.
History of Modern Drama in English Literature
English Drama during the Modernist Period (1845-1945) A.D. falls into three categories:

1. The first and the earliest phase of modernism in English Drama is marked by the plays of G.B. Shaw
(read Summary of Candida) and John Galsworthy, which constitute the category of social drama modeled on
the plays of Ibsen and.
2. The 2nd and the middle phase of Modernist English drama comprise the plays of Irish movement contributed
by some elites like Yeats. In this phase, the drama contained the spirit of nationalism.
3. The 3rd and the final phase of the Modernist English Drama comprise plays of T.S. Eliot and Christopher Fry.
This phase saw the composition of poetic dramas inspired by the earlier Elizabethanand Jacobean tradition.
The three categories reflect the three different phases as well as the three different facets of the Modern English
Drama.

Modern Drama Characteristics


 Realism
Realism is the most significant and outstanding quality of the Modern English Drama. The dramatists of the
earlier years of the 20th century were interested in naturalism and it was their endeavor (try) to deal with real
problems of life in a realistic technique to their plays.
It was Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian dramatist who popularised realism in Modern Drama. He dealt with the
problems of real life in a realistic manner of his play. His example was followed by Robertson Arthur Jones,
Galsworthy and G. B. Shaw in their plays.

Modern drama has developed the Problem Play and there are many Modern Dramatists who have written a
number of problem plays in our times. They dealt with the problems of marriage, justice, law, administration, and
strife between capital and labor in their dramas.

They used theatre as a means for bringing about reforms in the conditions of society prevailing in their
days. Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House is a good example of problem play. The problem play was a new
experiment in the form and technique and dispensed with the conventional devices and expedients of theatre.
 Play of Ideas
Modern Drama is essentially a drama of ideas rather than action. The stage is used by dramatists to give
expression to certain ideas which they want to spread in the society.

The Modern Drama dealing with the problems of life has become far more intelligent than ever it was in the
history of drama before the present age. With the treatment of actual life, the drama became more and more a
drama of ideas, sometimes veiled in the main action, sometimes didactically act forth.

 Romanticism
The earlier dramatists of the 20th century were Realists at the core, but the passage of time brought in, a new trend
in Modern Drama. Romanticism, which had been very dear to Elizabethan Dramatists found its way in Modern
Drama and it was mainly due to Sir J.M. Barrie’s efforts that the new wave of Romanticism swept over Modern
Drama for some years of the 20th century. Barrie kept aloof from realities of life and made excursions into the
world of Romance.
 Poetic Plays
T.S. Eliot was the main dramatist who gave importance to poetic plays and was the realistic prose drama of the
modern drama. Stephen Phillips, John Drink Water, Yeats etc were from those who wrote poetic plays.

 History and Biographical Plays


Another trend, visible in the Modern English drama is in the direction of using history and biography for
dramatic technique. There are many beautiful historical and biographical plays in modern dramatic literature.
Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra are historical plays of great importance. John Drink Water’s Abraham
Lincoln and Mary Stuart are also historical plays.
 Irish Movement
A new trend in the Modern English Drama was introduced by the Irish dramatists who brought about the Celtic
Revival in the literature.

In the hands of the Irish dramatists like Yeats, J.M. Synge, T.C. Murrey etc. drama ceased to be realistic in
character and became an expression of the hopes and aspirations of the Irish people from aspirations of the Irish
people from remote ways to their own times.

 Comedy of Manners
There is a revival of Comedy of Manners in modern dramatic literature. Oscar Wild, Maugham, N. Coward etc.
have done much to revive the comedy of wit in our days.
The drama after the second has not exhibited a love for comedy and the social conditions of the period after the
war is not very favorable for the development of the artificial comedy of the Restoration Age.
 Impressionism
It is a movement that shows that effects of things and events on the mind of the artist and the attempt of the artist
to express his expressions. Impressionism constitutes another important feature of modern drama.

In the impressionistic plays of W.B. Yeats, the main effort is in the direction of recreating the experience of the
artist and his impressions about reality rather than in presenting reality as it is.

The impressionistic drama of the modern age seeks to suggest the impressions on the artist rather than making an
explicit statement about the objective characteristics of things or objects.

 Expressionism
It is a movement that tries to express the feelings and emotions of the people rather than objects and events.
Expressionism is another important feature of modern drama. It marks an extreme reaction against the
naturalism.

The movement which had started early in Germany made its way in England drama and several modern
dramatists like J.B. Priestly, Sean O’ Casey, C.K. Munro, Elmer Rice have made experiments in the
expressionistic tendency in modern drama.

A Raisin in the Sun


contribution to American drama. The three-act play is a classic example of American realist
drama and captures the spirit of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
and experiences. Although she was born into a wealthy African American family, her parents
instilled in her a love of African-American tradition and a sense of solidarity with black
working people. Much of her writings is a reflection of her view that art is social and
consequently must portray the concerns of society, especially those sections that are
vulnerable to the excesses of capitalism.
The play dramatizes the hopes, aspirations, complexes and fears of a multigenerational
African-American working-class family in the late fifties. Its principal themes include social
and economic progress, intergenerational friction, racism, feminist issues, personal racial
identity, and human worth. The play’s dramatis personae consists of Mama Lena Younger,
Joseph Asagai and George Murchison, friends of Benetha; and Travis, Walter’s young son.
The location of all the action within the family’s living room places A Raisin in the
Sun within the sub-category of the so-called “kitchen sink dramas,” which may be defined as
dramatic pieces in which important social issues are examined within a narrowly domestic
setting. However, it is within this restricted framework that Hansberry is able to treat some of
the most fundamental ideas that shape the nature of U.S. society. The play’s plot turns upon
how the family will spend the insurance money, but the real dramatic interest is centered upon
how the prospect of imminent prosperity reveals the inner nature of a family blighted by
poverty and racial oppression. Every member of the family sees the money as offering a better
life, but their differing opinions over how it is to be spent bring out the difficulties and
frustrations of African American life. This is especially true of Walter, who is the play’s
clearest expression of the belief in the power of money as a redemptive force. As he
obsessively recounts his dreams and plans, it is seen that his restricted circumstances have
engendered a sharp frustration which only the money can ameliorate. For the other characters,
the money is regarded as a great benefit, but they are also aware that is not a solution to all of
loses its conventional significance as a measure of wealth and ultimately becomes the
yardstick by which the characters are able to assess their human worth and potential in a
society that has made life so difficult for them.

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry | Analysis


“To be young, gifted and black” (Lorraine Hansberry) is a phrase which is commonly associated with Lorraine
Hansberry, which comes from the collection of autobiographical pieces which were put together by her ex-
husband in her honor when she died. Throughout the years, individuals from all walks of life have come to
America with dreams of a better life, in many different areas such as social, educational, and economical
opportunities as well as political and religious freedoms. With these wishes and dreams, the phrase “life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness” (Mitchell), which to many Americans embodies the American dream, can become a
reality or just a harsh reminder of what the American dream stands for because for some it comes true but for
many, they are never able to reach their dream. She wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun to show people that
supporting friends and family members is important through the hard and trying time. If you are able to work
hard and truly believe in yourself, dreams can come true in one form or another. The American dream to each
individual, no matter age, race or gender has a different meaning. A Raisin in the Sun is important because it
crosses over the continued debate of racial and gender issues which arose during the time this play was written,
and even during the present day and age.

Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago in 1930. Through her earlier years, Hansberry’s parents sent her to public
school rather than private schools in a protest against the segregation laws. In 1938, the Hansberry family was
one of the first African American families to move into an all white neighborhood. After moving in, the neighbors
threatened them with violence and legal action, but the Hansberry’s would not put up with any of it and
Hansberry’s father would later bring his case all the way to the Supreme Court. When she finally went to college,
she ended up studying at multiple schools including, the “University of Chicago; at the Art Institute of Chicago; at
the New School of Social Research in New York; in Guadalajara, Mexico; and at the University of
Wisconsin”(Encyclodpedia of World Biography on Lorraine Vivian Hansberry). While attending college, she saw a
school performance of a play by the playwright Sean O’Casey and decided to become a writer. In 1950, she
ended up dropping out of college and moved to New York. While in New York, she decided to take classes in
writing at the New School for Social Research and ended up working as an associate editor of Paul Robeson’s
newspaper/magazine Freedom. During this period of her life, she met many leading African-American
intellectuals, activists and famous writers, such as one famous writer, Langston Hughes. In 1953 Hansberry ended
up marrying Robert Nemiroff, who was white, also a graduate student in Jewish literature, a songwriter, and took
part in participating in the political events of the time at the protesting discrimination at New York University.
Nemiroff gained his huge success with his hit song, ‘Cindy, Oh Cindy’, and after Nemiroff’s success, and
Hansberry’s many part time jobs, she was able to settle down and devote herself entirely to writing. While
writing, it eventually took its form in a play, which came from a poem by Langston Hughes, called “Harlem”. The
success of the play, A Raisin in the Sun, ended up winning the award for best play of the year, which made
Lorraine Hansberry the first African American and the youngest American to win the New York Drama Critics
Circle Award. “She used her new fame to help bring attention to the American civil rights movement as well as
African struggles for independence from colonialism”(A Raisin in the Sun). After many years, Hansberry had
marital problems with Nemiroff and they decided to divorce in 1964. Hansberry was only able to live long
enough to see one other play, besides A Raisin in the Sun, be produced. On January 12, 1965, Hansberry died of
pancreatic cancer at the young age of thirty-four. She ended up being one of the first playwrights to portray real
African American characters and their struggles in day to day activities of African American life. This was shown
in her play by the inspiration of her own family’s struggles against the legal battles in segregated housing laws
during her childhood.

The working title of A Raisin in the Sun was originally ‘The Crystal Stair’ after a line in an earlier poem by
Langston Hughes, who was another African American playwright, poet, novelist, and short story writer. Hansberry
ended up changing the title of her play again, after another one of Langston Hughes’ later poems, which asked:

“What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore-and then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over-like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode” (Hughes)?

Produced and finished in 1957, the play A Raisin in the Sun, was the first drama by a black woman to be
produced on Broadway. It took two years after it was finished, on March 1959, for the play to be revealed on
Broadway at the Ethyl Barrymore Theater. From there, the Broadway production moved to the Belasco theatre
and ran for 530 performances, where it started earning many awards. This play is unique in many aspects and
covers many important issues. The play was unique because it was the first play to be produced on Broadway,
written and directed by an African American and the first to have an all-black cast. The play gained huge success
even though the producer, Phil Rose, had never produced a play, and large investors were initially not interested
in it. In all the places the play was shown, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, the audiences absolutely loved it and
shortly thereafter it became a huge success. With its huge success and fame, it ended up having a long run in
theater and was later turned into a movie and after that, was later turned into a Broadway musical.

The play, A Raisin in the Sun, is important in many different aspects of everyday life. With Lorraine Hansberry
growing up how she did, in the neighborhood and time, she knew all about disappointment, false hope and
despair. Hansberry’s ancestors also knew about the hard times with exploitations, despair, frustrations and their
dreams turning into dreadful nightmares as they came north to hopefully find a better life. Hansberry records the
history of her ancestor’s nightmares in a Raisin in the Sun, by portraying a classic story of the Younger family,
struggling to realize their dreams by escaping ghetto life. Hansberry’s screenplay shows the story of the Younger
family, but it actually reveals the plight of all families and individuals who have at one point experienced or those
who are living right now, in despair, have lost hope in their life and have failed dreams and goals. Her immense
dedication to this play, gives it its power for all people who read it and for those who end up dealing with it in
everyday life. This play is an excellent choice for many different types of classes such as, literature, drama, history
and film classes. The play will keep the attention of many different types of people based off of the play’s action,
dialogue, and cast of dynamic characters which captivate many different types of audiences from high school
students through college students up to the adult readers. Young people endure many different frustrations with
their lifestyle and rebel against parents which can bring little gratification at times. However, the adolescent who
wants to truly believe that dreams do come true and are not made up, comes from the adolescent who is hiding
beneath the cynical surface, making the heart beat of the true idealist.

“Through Hansberry’s careful craftsmanship, the universal themes of the importance of dreams and the
frustration of dreams deferred, the strength of family, the importance of not selling out, the problems of
conflicting expectations, the belief that love and trust will win over deceit and selfishness, and the dangers of
prejudice and stereotyping are as powerful today as they were nearly four decades ago when she wrote the play”
(TeacherVision).
Adolescents come from many different families, with different types of problems and family structures, so they
need exposure to the values which are shown within a traditional family, and this play delivers that without
lecturing or preaching. Another reason A Raisin in the Sun is important is because of its historical value. The play
shows the challenges and conflicts by reflecting the provocative natures through the racial attitudes through
time, starting around the 1950s making its way to the present. Prejudice is seen in many forms, and the
characters in Hansberry’s play along with the screenplay’s visuals bring this theme to life like nothing ever could.

             This play represents life in the racial or ethnic community in many different and
unique ways. The play is considered a turning place in American art because it addresses so many important
issues and conflicts when this play was produced during the 1950s. The 1950s brought along the stereotypical
age of the happy housewives and portrayed the African Americans as being comfortable with their inferior
status. These stereotypes resulted in the social resentment that would eventually find public voice in the civil
rights movement and importance in later movements such as the feminist movements of the 1960s. The play was
also a revolutionary work for its time and can be shown by the way Hansberry created the African American
Younger family, by portraying one of the first real and honest depictions of a black family on an American
stage. Usually in a play, groups or individual African-Americans were always portrayed in the typical ethnic
stereotypical roles and were displayed as small and comedic but this play overall portrays a united black family in
a realistic light, which ends up being far from the comedic style which most people may think of. Hansberry uses
black dialect throughout the play and introduces important issues, questions and concerns which many other
families during this time and even during the present day and time run into, such as poverty, discrimination, and
the creation of African-American racial identity. This play looks at the racial tensions between the black and white
communities in addition to exploring the tensions within the black community itself. This can be shown when the
family tries to reach their goals despite the challenges of poverty and racism all around them, by putting a down
payment on a house in an all-white suburb neighborhood and shortly after this, the family is hit with racism in an
unusual form from the white community. Throughout the play, Hansberry asks difficult and thought provoking
questions about assimilation and figuring out ones true identity. One way this is shown, is through revealing
Beneatha to a trend of celebrating African heritage, through the character of Asagai (her boyfriend and maybe
future husband). Another important issue this play represents is how it addresses feminist questions about
another important issue, marriage. The topic of marriage comes up for Beneatha in this play towards the end,
which Hansberry portrays as not being necessary for all women and that every women should have ambitious
career goals instead of giving up on their dreams before they have a chance to fight for their own personal
dreams. Hansberry also approaches an abortion debate, which is touched on during a time when abortion was
not allowed and is still causing concern and a lot of controversial talk today. Having this play written during the
time period and being produced when it was, was such a huge success for someone with her status as being
young, black and a woman growing up in the 1950s. This showed how much she overcame as a woman, how
much people were starting to accept change and how people started understanding important topics which
needed to be addressed during this time. No matter the age, race or gender of a person, it shows just how
important the idealism of a single person’s, race and gender is in the pursuit of dreams and just how crucial
dreams are in an individual’s life. As the play focuses primarily on dreams and what happens to the dreams in
driving and motivating the main character’s actions, emotions and feelings throughout the play, it also reveals
what happens to people out in the real world. Any negative dreams that happen in an individual’s life, no matter
the age, gender or race of a person, seem to stem from the fact that people are placing stress and importance
on objects rather than on family pride and happiness. Like the main point of this play says, if everyone attempts
to support and encourage their family, and not only focusing on themselves and being selfless, they can lift each
other up and support each other through the toughest of times. This can happen if you never give up hope on
each other and never give up on your own dreams.

             This play focuses on major issues such as racism between white and black
communities, abortion, marriage, assimilation and finding one’s true identity but in the end the play boils down
to a timeless point; dreams are what make each person, white or black, push on in life in order to live each day
like it was their last. A Raisin in the Sun is central, in the continued debate over racial and gender concerns,
making this play a critical cultural document in an essential period of American history.
How Money Changes People English Literature Essay
A Raisin in the Sun is a three act play written by Lorraine Hansberry. It is about the dreams that each of the
integrands of an African-American family wants to accomplish when they receive an insurance check. The
happiness and depression of each character is related to the failure of achieving each of the dreams that
everyone has with the money. At the end of the play, the family decides to move to a house because they believe
that if they are united, they will live a better life confronting all the problems together. The money takes an
important role in the play that makes each of the main characters change their mind about the importance of
money.

The main character is Walter Lee, who is always behind money, and his dream is to buy a liquor store and be the
man of the house, who has the monetary power of the family. Since the beginning of the play, he demonstrates
his desire for the monetary power when his son asks his mother for fifty cents for school matters, which his
mother denies it. Walter comes out of the bathroom and gives not only fifty cents but a dollar to his son. He is
always thinking of money, but his family does not support him, especially his wife, when he talks about a
business that he is planning to do with Harris, Ruth, his wife, says: “Willy Harris is good-for-nothing loudmouth”
(1. 1. 1132). He responds back saying, “Charlie Atkins was just a good-for-nothing loudmouth too, wasn’t he!
When he wanted me to go in the dry-cleaning business with him. And now he’s grossing a hundred thousand a
year”(1. 1. 1132). He means that one who earns a hundred thousand a year could be him and that his family
should trust him. Now because of what happens to Charlie, he is more involved and anxious with the business
with Harris, which is the liquor store. Walter starts fighting with his sister even before they receive the check
because he only cares to achieve his dream and not the one of his sister becoming a doctor. He says to his sister,
“Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor?” (1. 1. 1135). Although he knows that Beneatha does not care
about the money, he tries to convince her not to study because he knows that his mother will pay for her career
using the check without Beneatha having to request it. He is always arguing that nobody in the house
understands him. Then, when he confront his mother to convince her about buying a liquor store, she denies it
and says, “Mama, sometimes when I’m down-town 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” (1. 2. 1150). He means he is thirty five years old being is
nothing, and he will still being nothing all his life. There are younger people who already have a great future,
futures that he wants to have but needs the money to accomplish. Walter wants to be a good father who gives
his child everything he wants. Mama, then, asks him, “Son-how come you talk so much ’bout money?” and he
answers “Because it is life, Mama!” (1. 2. 1150) making clear that he only cares about money and is the most
important thing for him to live, the rest is secondary (Arslan 21-36).

In contrast, after having lost the money, he feels depressed and changes his mind about money. Walter notices
how bad the world is and regrets not having listened to his mother when she tell him that the outside world is
dangerous. He does not have another choice of regaining some of the money other than selling the house to
Linder. His decision at the end of not selling the house and keeping the family together clearly makes a big
change in his mind of being selfish at the beginning with his dream and then changes himself to a real man who
fights for the best of his family (Gradesaver 57-65). He values each of the members of his family and believes that
if they live together in a better house without the misery that they have now, they will fight together for the
dream of each of the members of the family. He comprehends that the happiness of the family is more
important than the money.

On the other hand, Beneatha gives less importance to the money than Walter. She argues with him saying, “That
money belongs to Mama, Walter and it’s for her to decide how she wants to use it. I don’t care if she wants to
buy a house or a rocket ship or just nail it up somewhere and look at it. It’s hers. Not ours-hers” (1. 1. 1134). She
means she does not care about the check and that Walter has nothing to do with it because the money belongs
to their mother, and she is the one to decide what to do with it. Also, Beneatha demonstrates her lack of interest
in the money when she says that George is too “shallow” to have a relationship with him, and Ruth answers by
saying, “Shallow-what do you mean he’s shallow? He’s rich! … Well-what other qualities a man got to have to
satisfy you, little girl?”(1. 1. 1140). This means that she thinks differently than the other members of the family
towards money. She does not want to be with a man just for his money. She just wants a good man that gives
love and makes her happy. She also wants to be a doctor and earn money by her work and effort not by
pretending to love a rich man and lives without happiness (123HelpMe 10-14).

However, when Beneatha realizes that Walter loses the money of the family, her importance towards money
changes drastically. She gives more value to the money now that she knows that her career is gone along with
the money that Walter lost. She does not only blame his brother, but also her mother, who give him the control
of the money. She is so angry and at the same time depressed because her own brother has ruined her future,
and now she won’t be anything in her life. It is clear the change of the importance that she gives to the money
now that it is lost because nobody knows what ones has until it is gone.

In addition, Mama is in the middle of her son and daughter. She does not believe that money is the most
essential for life as Walter does, but she values the money more than Beneatha because the check is the memory
of her husband. Mama is a religious woman who only wants the money for good matters, such as the happiness
and needs of her family. She demonstrates it when Ruth tells her to use the money to enjoy it traveling like the
rich white woman does, but she denies it because she thinks that a house is what her family needs to accomplish
their happiness by helping each other together. At the beginning, she does not want to accomplish the dream of
her son because she does not want to put the memory of her husband into a liquor store. When Walter confront
her, trying to explain her why he wants to buy a liquor store, she denies it saying, “I’m sorry ’bout your liquor
store, son. It just wasn’t the thing for us to do. That’s what I want to tell you about” (1. 2. 1149). Mama means she
believes that the liquor store is not the best thing to invest the money; it will not make the family happy. She
advises him that it is dangerous to invest all the money in something like that to expect that something good
comes out of it. Then, when Walter says that “money is life”, she get angry and says, “Oh-So now it’s life. Money
is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life-now it’s money. I guess the world really do change…” (1. 2.
1150). She means she has always believes a man fights for freedom and to be alive to find his happiness, and
that the real life is to be with the people who one belongs to, which is the family. Money just brings fight and
unhappiness, and she tries to make him see that this is what he has in his mind.

Nevertheless, after Mama buys the house with thirty five hundred dollars and trusts the rest to Walter, she
changes negatively her way of thinking towards her son when he betrays the purpose of the money that she
commended, and he loses it. She trusts in him and wants him to be the head of the family, and because of that
she gives him the other part of the money but to use it in business matters. However, when Mama realizes that
Walter loses the money in the business, she says, “I seen him night after night come in and look at that rug and
then look at me the red showing in his eyes the veins moving in his head I see him grow thin and old before he
was forty working and working and working like somebody’s old horse killing himself and you- you give it all
away in one day” (2. 3. 1171). She now feels defrauded by her son for having trust the memory of his father on
him. That money means everything his father has worked for in life, making himself die of work every day and
that his son give it away for nothing. She gets mad to his son , but at the very end, she feels happy about him
because he takes a decision just as his father would do of taking his family together to a house; a house that her
husband fights for all his life and cannot be change for money.

In the play, it is clear how each of the main characters change their minds towards money. Walter, who believes
that money is life, changes his mind and believes that the unity of the family is more important. Beneatha, who
does not value the money, gives more importance when she sees that it is gone along with her career. Finally,
Mama, who trusts in Walter and believes that he would do the right thing, change his mind when she was
betrayed by him. All these changes make them more knowledgeable to what life is that the unity of the family is
what really counts to accomplish anything in life.

A Raisin In The Sun English Literature Essay


Who is Lorraine Vivian Hansberry? Lorraine was born In Chicago on May 19, 1930 She based most of her novels
on her life, she was 28 years old when she wrote her first play A Raisin in the Sun which won The Drama Critics
Award for best play of the year and made Hansberry the first black, youngest person, and fifth woman to win
that prize. She was the youngest of four children Carl, Jr., Perry, and Mammie. Her parents were well educated
successful black citizens who publicly fought discrimination against black people. Her father, Carl Augustus
Hansberry, Sr., was from Gloucester, Mississippi, he moved to Chicago after attending Alcorn College, and
became known as the “kitchenette king” after subdividing large homes that were vacated by whites who were
moving to the suburbs he then sold these small apartments or kitchenettes to African American migrants from
the South. Hansberry’s mother, Nannie Perry, a schoolteacher and, later, ward committeewoman, was from
Tennessee. At the time of Lorraine’s birth, she had become an influential society matron who hosted major
cultural and literary figures such as Paul Robeson, Langston Hughes, and Joe Louis. Lorraine and her siblings
enjoyed privileges unknown to their schoolmates; the parents filled their children with racial pride and civic
responsibility. They founded the Hansberry Foundation; an organization designed to inform African Americans of
their civil rights, they also encouraged their children to challenge the segregation policies of local restaurants
and stores. (Cliffnotes, James, Rosetta).

When Hansberry was a child she and her family lived in a black neighborhood on Chicago’s Southside. During
this time segregation enforced the separation of whites and blacks which was still legal and spreaded
throughout the South, Northern States. This was including Hansberry’s own Hometown Illinois. Carl and Nannie
Hansberry challenged defensive real estate agreements by moving into an all-white neighborhood. Hansberry’s
family became one of the first to move into an all white neighborhood but, a mob of whites gathered in front of
the house and threw a brick through the front window, narrowly missing eight-year-old Lorraine this forced the
family to move out. Her father won a narrow victory over restrictive agreements from the Supreme Court, but the
decision failed to set examples on their issue.

Hansberry still attended Betsy Ross Elementary and Englewood High School even though her family stayed in a
all white neighborhood it didn’t change her right to get a education with all the other white kids because of her
skin color she still had to attend a segregated public school for blacks .Lorraine Hansberry became interested in
theater in high school, and pursued this interest in college.

Her family’s move into a restricted white neighborhood in 1937 helped her battle with injustice; this filled her
with a sense of social activism. Their struggle would become the subject of her first major play. Departing from
the family tradition of attending black colleges, Hansberry enrolled at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, a
predominantly white university, to study journalism, but became equally attracted to the visual arts while she was
there.

She also attended the University of Wisconsin and the Art Institute of Chicago and studied in Guadalajara,
Mexico, from 1948 to 1950. She became more politically active after moving to New York City and writing for
freedom magazine. While participating in a demonstration at New York University, she met Robert Barron
Nemiroff, the son of progressive Russian Jewish immigrants, and after a short intimate relationship, she married
him on June 20, 1953. After having earned his master’s degree four months earlier at New York University, he
had begun writing a book on Theodore Dreiser, The young couple moved to Greenwich Village and Hansberry
began to write massively about the people and lifestyles that she observed around her. She was already an
experienced writer and editor, having published articles, essays, and poetry in Freedom, New Challenge
Magazine and other political magazines.(Shmoop, A raisin in the Sun).

After leaving Freedom in 1953 to concentrate on her writing, Hansberry worked various odd jobs including
tagger in the garment industry, typist, program director at Camp Unity (an interracial summer camp), recreation
leader for the physically disabled, and teacher at the Marxist-oriented Jefferson School for Social Science. When
her husband co-wrote ” Cindy Oh Cindy” (1956), a ballad that became an instant hit, the profits freed Hansberry
to devote her full energies to a play about a struggling, working-class black family, like the families who rented
her father’s properties on Chicago’s South Side A Raisin In the Sun . A Raisin In the Sun reflects the frustrations of
a black family whose dreams of economic progress have been let down in 1961, it was produced as a film with
most of the original cast and won a special award at the Cannes Film Festival. During this period, Hansberry was
much in demand as a public speaker. She expressed her belief that art is social and that black writers must
address all issues of humankind. As the civil rights movement climaxed, she helped to organize fund-raising
activities in support of organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), called for
the abolition of the House Un-American Activities Committee, and declared that President John E. Kennedy had
endangered world peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis.(Answers.com, A raisin in the Sun).
During the last four years of her life, Hansberry worked hard on several plays. The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s
Window was produced on Broadway in 1964, but critics were less open to this play that challenged the
Greenwich Village intellectuals. During its short run, Hansberry battled pancreatic cancer, diagnosed in 1963. She
died on 12 January 1965, the same night that her play closed.(Grade Saver, Sherrod, Cheryl.Berkow, Jordan).

Lorraine Hansberry left behind several plays some are listed below: (Answers.com, A raisin in the Sun).

Nonfiction the Movement: Documentary of a Struggle for Equality, Simon & Schuster, 1964.

To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words, introduction by James Baldwin, Prentice-
Hall, 1969.

Plays A Raisin in the Sun, opened in New Haven and Philadelphia, moved to Chicago, then produced on
Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, March 11, 1959; published by New American Library, 1961.

Les Blancs, single scene staged at Actors Studio Workshop, New York, 1963; two-act play produced at Long acre
Theater, New York City, 1970.

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window produced on Broadway, 1964; published by Random House, 1965.

Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” and “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window,” New American Library,
1966.

To Be Young, Gifted and Black, adapted for the stage by Robert Nemiroff, first produced at the Cherry Lane
Theater, January 2, 1969; acting edition published by Samuel French, 1971.

Les Blancs: The Collected Last Plays of Lorraine Hansberry, edited by Robert Nemiroff, introduction by Julius
Lester, Random House, 1972, reprinted, New American Library, 1983.

Lorraine Hansberry: The Collected Last Plays (Les Blancs, The Drinking Gourd, What Use Are Flowers?), edited by
Robert Nemiroff, New American Library, 1983.

Other (Answers.com, A raisin in the Sun).

A Raisin in the Sun: The Unfilmed Original Screenplay, edited by Robert Nemiroff, Plume, 1992.

All the Dark and Beautiful Warriors, an unfinished novel.

Author of about two dozen articles for Freedom, 1951-55, and over 25 essays for other publications, including
the Village Voice, New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Freedom ways, Mademoiselle, Ebony, Playbill,
Show, Theatre Arts, Black Scholar, Monthly Review, and Annals of Psychotherapy.

Books (Answers.com, A raisin in the Sun).

Abramson, Doris E., Negro Playwrights in the American Theatre, 1925-1959, Columbia University Press, 1969, pp.
165-266.

Black Literature Criticism, Gale, 1992.

Carter, Steven R., Hansberry’s Drama: Commitment amid Complexity, University of Illinois Press, 1991.

Cheney, Anne, Lorraine Hansberry, Twayne, 1984.

Davis, Arthur P., From the Dark Tower: Afro-American Writers, 1900-1960, Howard University Press, pp. 203-07.
Hansberry, Lorraine, To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words, introduction by
James Baldwin, Penguin Books, 1969.

Hansberry, Lorraine, A Raisin in the Sun: The Unfilmed Original Screenplay, edited by Robert Nemiroff, foreword
by Jewell Handy Gresham-Nemiroff, commentary by Spike Lee, Penguin Books USA, 1992.

Periodicals (Answers.com, A raisin in the Sun).

Black American Literature Forum, spring 1983, pp. 8-13.

Commentary, June 1959, pp. 527-30.

Freedom ways (special issue), 19:4, 1979.

New Yorker, May 9, 1959.

New York Times, January 13, 1965; October 5, 1983, p. C24.

New York Times Review of Books, March 31, 1991, p. 25.

Theatre Journal, December 1986, pp. 441-52.

Time, January 22, 1965.

Village Voice, August 12, 1959, pp. 7-8.

Washington Post, November 17, 1986, p. D1.

Hansberry wrote that she always felt the tendency to record her experiences her sense of history and the
confusing role of women in history are also shown in her work. She was named “most promising playwright.”
Raisin in the Sun ran for 530 performances from 1959 to 1965; A Raisin in the Sun was a play that Lorraine based
on her life while living n Chicago during segregation.(Sparknotes,A raisin in the Sun). It talked about the life of a
family called the Younger’s some other characters

Include:

Walter Lee Younger – The central character of the play. Walter is a dreamer. He wants to be rich and devises
plans to acquire wealth with his friends, particularly Willy Harris. When the play opens, he wants to invest his
father’s insurance money in a new liquor store venture. He spends the rest of the play endlessly preoccupied with
discovering a quick solution to his family’s various problems.

Beneatha Younger (“Bennie”) – Mama’s daughter and Walter’s sister. Beneatha is an intellectual. Twenty years
old, she attends college and is better educated than the rest of the Younger family. Some of her personal beliefs
and views have distanced her from conservative Mama. She dreams of being a doctor and struggles to
determine her identity as a well-educated black woman.

Lena Younger (“Mama”) – Walter and Beneatha’s mother. The head of the family, Mama is religious, moral, and
caring. She wants to use her husband’s insurance money as a down payment on a house with a backyard to fulfill
her dream for her family to move up in the world.

Ruth Younger – Walter’s wife and Travis’s mother. Ruth takes care of the Younger’s’ small apartment. Her
marriage to Walter has problems, but she hopes to rekindle their love. She is about thirty, but her weariness
makes her seem older. Constantly fighting poverty and domestic troubles, she continues to be an emotionally
strong woman. Her almost unenthusiastic sarcasm helps her to survive.
Travis Younger – Walter and Ruth’s sheltered young son. Travis earns some money by carrying grocery bags and
likes to play outside with other neighborhood children, but he has no bedroom and sleeps on the living-room
sofa.

Joseph Asagai – A Nigerian student in love with Beneatha. Asagai, as he is often called, is very proud of his
African heritage, and Beneatha hopes to learn about her African heritage from him. He eventually proposes
marriage to Beneatha and hopes she will return to Nigeria with him.

George Murchison – A wealthy, African-American man who courts Beneatha. The Younger’s approve of George,
but Beneatha dislikes his willingness to submit to white culture and forget his African heritage. He challenges the
thoughts and feelings of other black people through his arrogance and flair for intellectual competition.

Mr. Karl Lindner – The only white character in the play. Mr. Lindner arrives at the Younger’s’ apartment from the
Clybourne Park Improvement Association. He offers the Younger’s a deal to reconsider moving into his (all-
white) neighborhood.

Bobo – One of Walter’s partners in the liquor store plan. Bobo appears to be as mentally slow as his name
indicates.

Willy Harris – A friend of Walter and coordinator of the liquor store plan. Willy never appears onstage, which
helps keep the focus of the story on the dynamics of the Younger family.

Mrs. Johnson – The Younger’s’ neighbor. Mrs. Johnson takes advantage of the Younger’s’ hospitality and warns
them about moving into an all white neighborhood.

A Raisin In the Sun portrays a few weeks in the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living on the
South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. When the play opens, the Youngers are about to receive an insurance check
for $10,000. This money comes from the deceased Mr. Younger’s life insurance policy. Each of the adult members
of the family has an idea as to what he or she would like to do with this money. The head of the family, Mama,
wants to buy a house to fulfill a dream she shared with her husband. Mama’s son, Walter Lee, would rather use
the money to invest in a liquor store with his friends. He believes that the investment will solve the family’s
financial problems forever. Walter’s wife, Ruth, agrees with Mama, however, and hopes that she and Walter can
provide more space and opportunity for their son, Travis. Finally, Beneatha, Walter’s sister and Mama’s daughter,
wants to use the money for her medical school tuition. She also wishes that her family members were not so
interested in joining the white world. Beneatha instead tries to find her identity by looking back to the past and
to Africa.

As the play progresses, the Youngers clash over their competing dreams. Ruth discovers that she is pregnant but
fears that if she has the child, she will put more financial pressure on her family members. When Walter says
nothing to Ruth’s admission that she is considering abortion, Mama puts a down payment on a house for the
whole family. She believes that a bigger, house will benefit them all. The Youngers’ future neighbors find out that
they are moving to an all white neighborhood, and they send Mr. Lindner, from the Clybourne Park Improvement
Association, to offer the Youngers money in return for staying away. The Youngers refuse the deal, even after
Walter loses the rest of the money to his friend Willy Harris, who persuades Walter to invest in the liquor store
and then runs off with his cash.

In the meantime, Beneatha rejects George Murchison, who she believes to be shallow and blind to the problems
of race. She receives a marriage proposal from her Nigerian boyfriend, Joseph Asagai, who wants Beneatha to
get a medical degree and move to Africa with him. The Youngers eventually move out of the apartment, fulfilling
the family’s long-held dream. Their future seems uncertain and slightly dangerous, but they are determined to
live a better life. They believe that they can succeed if they stick together as a family and resolve to defer their
dreams no longer.

During Act 1 Scene 1 of the play which is entitled Friday Morning it is morning at the Youngers’ apartment. Their
small home on the South Side of Chicago has two bedrooms one for Mama and Beneatha, and one for Ruth and
Walter Lee. Travis sleeps on the couch in the living room. The only window is in their small kitchen, and they
share a bathroom in the hall with their neighbors. Ruth is the first one in the house to wake up so she starts to
cook breakfast and this awakes Walter and Travis while Travis is getting ready Walter and Ruth talk in the kitchen
they do not seem happy as they engage in some slight humor they keep mentioning a check Walter scans the
front page of the newspaper and reads that another bomb was set off, and Ruth responds with anger. Travis asks
them for money he is supposed to bring fifty cents to school and Ruth says that they do not have it. His constant
nagging quickly irritates her. Walter, however, gives Travis an entire dollar while staring at Ruth. Travis then
leaves for school, and Walter tells Ruth that he wants to use the check to invest in a liquor store with a few of his
friends. Walter and Ruth continue to argue about their unhappy lives.(Bookrags, A raisin in the Sun).

Act 1 Scene 2 The Following Morning The next day, Saturday, the Youngers are cleaning their apartment and
waiting for the insurance check to arrive. Walter receives a phone call from his friend Willy Harris, who is
coordinating the potential liquor store investment. It appears that their plan is moving smoothly. The insurance
check is all Walter needs to pursue his liquor store. He promises to bring the money to Willy when he receives it.
Meanwhile, Beneatha is spraying the apartment with insecticide in an attempt to get rid of cockroaches.
Beneatha and Travis start fighting, and Beneatha threatens him with the spray gun. The phone rings, and
Beneatha answers. She invites the person on the phone over to the still-dirty apartment, without concerning
Mama. After hanging up, Beneatha explains to Mama that the man she has spoken to on the phone is Joseph
Asagai, an African intellectual whom Beneatha has met at school. She and Mama discuss Beneatha’s worries
about her family’s ignorance about Africa and African people. Ruth returns from seeing a doctor, who has told
her that she is two months pregnant. She reveals this information to Mama and Beneatha. Walter returns home
and wants to talk about his liquor store plans. Ruth wants to discuss her pregnancy with him and becomes upset
when he will not listen.(Cummings study guide, A raisin in the Sun).

Act 2 Scene 1 Later that same day Later on the same Saturday, Beneatha comes out from her room dressed in
the Nigerian clothes that Asagai has brought her. She dances around the apartment, claiming to be performing a
tribal dance while shouting “OCOMOGOSIAY” and singing. Mama comes home and announces that she has put
a down payment on a house with some of the insurance money. Ruth is happy to hear this news because she too
dreams of moving out of their current apartment and into a more spacious home. Meanwhile, Walter is
noticeably upset because he wants to put all the money into the liquor store. They all become worried when they
hear that the house is in Clybourne Park, an entirely white neighborhood. Mama asks for their understanding it
was the only house that they could afford. She feels she needs to buy the house to hold the family together.
Ruth regains her pleasure and rejoices, but Walter feels betrayed, his dream swept under the table. Walter makes
Mama feel guilty, saying that she has crushed his dream. He goes quickly to his bedroom, and Mama remains
sitting and worrying.(enotes, Marie Rose Naiper Kowski).

Act 2 Scene 2 Friday Night a few weeks later On a Friday night a few weeks later, Beneatha and George return
from a date. The Youngers’ apartment is full of moving boxes. George wants to kiss Beneatha, but she does not
want to kiss. She wants to engage George in a conversation about the life of African-Americans. It seems that
George wants to marry a “nice, simple, sophisticated girl.” Mama comes in as Beneatha kicks him out Mrs.
Johnson the Youngers’ neighbor visits. Mama and Ruth offer her food and drink, and she gladly accepts. She has
come to visit to tell them about a black family who has been bombed out of their home in a white
neighborhood. Walter’s boss calls, telling Ruth that Walter has not been to work in three days. Walter explains
that he has been wandering all day (often way into the country) and drinking all night (at a bar with a jazz duo
that he loves). He says that he feels depressed, and useless as the man of the family(Sparknotes,A raisin in the
Sun).

Act 2 Scene 3 Saturday moving day, one week later On Saturday, a week later, it is moving day. Ruth shows
Beneatha the curtains she has bought for the new house and tells her that the first thing she is going to do in
their new house is take a long bath in their very own bathroom. Ruth comments on the changed mood around
the household, noting that she and Walter even went out to the movies and held hands the previous evening.
Walter comes in and dances with Ruth. Beneatha teases them about acting in a stereotypical fashion but does
not really mean any harm. A middle-aged white man named Karl Lindner appears at the door. He is a
representative from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, and he tells the Youngers that problems arise
when different kinds of people do not sit down and talk to each other. The Youngers agree, until he reveals that
he and the neighborhood coalition believe that the Youngers’ presence in Clybourne Park would destroy the
community there. When Mama comes home, Walter, Ruth, and Beneatha tell her about Mr. Lindner’s visit. It
shocks and worries her, but she supports their decision to refuse the buyout offer. Then, as she is making sure
that her plant is well packed for the trip, the rest of the family surprises her with gifts of gardening tools and a
huge gardening hat. Mama has never received presents other than at Christmas, and she is touched by her
family’s generosity. Just as the whole family begins to celebrate, Bobo, one of Walter’s friends, arrives. After some
stumbling, he announces that Willy Harris has run off with all of the money that Walter invested in the liquor
store deal. It turns out that Walter had invested not only his $3,500 but also the $3,000 intended for Beneatha’s
education. Mama is angry and begins to beat Walter in the face. Beneatha breaks them up. Weakness overcomes
Mama, and she thinks about the hard labor her husband endured in order to earn the money for them. She prays
heavily for strength.(123 help me, A raisin in the Sun).

Act 3 An hour later One hour later on moving day, everyone is still unhappy. Walter sits alone and thinks. Asagai
comes to help them pack and finds Beneatha questioning her choice of becoming a doctor. She no longer
believes that she can help people. Mama enters and announces that they are not going to move. Ruth protests.
Walter returns, having called Mr. Lindner and invited him back to the apartment he intends to take his offer of
money in exchange for not moving to Clybourne Park. Everyone objects to this plan, arguing that they have too
much pride to accept not being able to live somewhere because of their race. Walter, very agitated, puts on an
act, imitating the stereotype of a black male servant. When he finally exits, Mama declares that he has died
inside. Beneatha decides that he is no longer her brother, but Mama reminds her to love him, especially when he
feels hopeless.(Pink Monkey, Sauder,Dianne).

The movers and Mr. Lindner arrive. Mama tells Walter to deal with Mr. Lindner, who is laying out contracts for
Walter to sign. Walter starts hesitantly, but soon we see that he has changed his mind about taking Mr. Lindner’s
money. His speech builds in power. He tells Mr. Lindner that the Youngers are proud and hardworking and
intend to move into their new house. Mr. Lindner appeals to Mama, who defers to Walter’s statement. Ultimately,
Mr. Lindner leaves with his papers unsigned. Everyone finishes packing up as the movers come to take the
furniture. Mama tells Ruth that she thinks Walter has finally become a man by standing up to Mr. Lindner. Ruth
agrees and is noticeably proud of her husband. Mama, who is the last to leave, looks for a moment at the empty
apartment. Then she leaves, bringing her plant with her.(Cliffnotes, James Rosetta).

While reading a raisin in the sun I came to a conclusion that it is essentially about dreams, as the main characters
struggle to deal with the depressive circumstances that rule their lives. The title of the play refers to a line that
Langston Hughes famously said in a poem he wrote about dreams that were forgotten or put off. He wonders
whether those dreams shrivel up “like A raisin in the Sun.” Every member of the Younger family has a separate,
individual dream Beneatha wants to become a doctor, for example, and Walter wants to have money so that he
can afford things for his family. The Youngers struggle to attain these dreams throughout the play, and much of
their happiness and depression is directly related to their achievement of, or failure to attain, these dreams. As
the play progressed The Youngers eventually move out of the apartment, fulfilling the family’s long-held dream.
Their future seems uncertain and slightly dangerous, but they are determined to live a better life. They believe
that they can succeed if they stick together as a family. By the end of the play, they learn that the dream of a
house is the most important dream because it unites the family, And so did I.

A Raisin in the Sun & the American Dream


Abstract
The American is defined by reaching the top no matter who you are or where you come from. In the ‘50s this
dream revolved around materialistic values. This play focuses on a family with each member having a different
dream and their journey as an African Americans. Walter, Mama’s son learns the meaning of pride and keeping
what his father has earned is more important than money. The play focuses on supporting each other through
rough times and learning to love. In the end, they achieve their American dream despite the color of their skin.
A Raisin in the sun & The American Dream
The American dream in the ’50s was close to materialism. The ownership of consumer goods was believed to
bring joy into a family’s life. This stereotypical view governs the dream of one of the main characters in Lorraine
Hansberry’s play. The title of the play is based on “Harlem” by Langston Hughes, a poem that raises a question
about a dream that is deferred. “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? … Or does it explode?” (Rampersad, 1995,
pg. 426) There are three main characters and all three of them of have dreams that have been prolonged for too
long. A Raisin in the Sun is about the rocky journey they go through to acquire their dreams.

The Younger’s family has just received a $10,000 dollar check for their dead father’s life insurance policy. They
live in a two bedroom apartment on the black side of town in Chicago. Racial prejudices against blacks in that
era and a low income are the root of conflict in the family. Mama, deceased Mr. Youngers widow wishes to buy a
house and fulfill the dream she once saw with her husband. Beneatha, Mama’s daughter, hopes to find her
identity through looking towards true African heritage. Walter, Mama’s son, wishes to one day become rich. He
wants to replenish his marriage and provide his son with all the opportunities he never had growing up.

Walter wants to invest money in the liquor business with a few of his friends. Although the idea appalls Mama at
first, she trusts and supports her son with his decision. The night before making the investment Walter tells his
son about the business transaction he about to make while tucking him into bed. He tells the little boy that their
lives will change soon and paints an elaborate and vivid picture of the future. He tells his son that when he’s
seventeen years old he’ll come home and park the Chrysler in the driveway. The gardener will greet him and
when he’s inside the house he’ll kiss his wife and come up to his sons room to see him browsing through
brochures of the best colleges in America. He then tells his son that he will give him whatever he wants.
Although Walter is somewhat materialistic in what he wants at the core he just wants a happy family and a son
who should have all the chances he never had. During this time Mama buys a house to fulfill the dream she saw
with her husband; the only one she can afford is in a white suburban neighborhood. Mr. Lindner a man from the
neighborhood comes to the Younger house trying to convince them to not destroy the white community. He
offers a lot of money in exchange for their acceptance. Meanwhile Walter looses all the money he has invested in
the liquor store because I friend has run away with it. When he looses the majority of their financial resources the
entire family falls into a deeper level of depression. At this time, Walter decides to take the money the white man
has to offer. The thought of selling away their right vexes Mama, Walter’s sister and his wife. They detest Walter
for dealing with his dead fathers money so easily and feel that he has lost his soul when he days we wants to be
bought out by the white Mr. Lindner.

Ultimately, loosing everything they have unites them because at the last moment Walter changes his mind about
taking money from Mr. Lindner. Walter tells him that they have moved into the house because their father
earned it for them. He continues by saying that they don’t want to disturb the neighborhood peace or protest for
bigger causes, and that they’d be nice neighbors. He tells Mr. Lindner that he doesn’t want the money. At this
moment the entire family’s spirits are lifted and they are proud of the decision Walter has made. This act of
standing by your family to achieve the American dream of succeeding no matter who you are and where you
come from unites them. They learn to support each other and put their families before their own. By owning a
house, having a high morale, and the support of their family, each of them is on their way to fulfill their American
dream.

Analysis Of A Raisin In The Sun English Literature Essay


Creativity of Hansberry played a crucial role in the development of Negro drama since the Second World War.
According to one of the researchers, the writer may be called the “mother of the modern drama of black, no less
than Eugene O’Neill is the father of the national drama. In this sense,” Raisin in the Sun “is a drama for the same
thing as” Native Son “by R. Wright – for a black novel (a “Huck Finn” by Mark Twain – for any American novel,
which appeared after it)”.

The driving spring of action is the desire to escape Younger family from the ghetto, which causes a fierce
resistance to their future white neighbors. Events do not unfold in the South, the citadel of racism and to the
north, with which tradition connects the idea of ​​tolerance in racial issue. The play has attracted not only
acute but also the deep character development. Of greatest interest are the image of Walter Lee, torn between
traditional values ​​of the black community – the ideals of love, unity, human dignity – and values ​​of
American society, obsessed with the idea of ​​material success, as well as the image of his mother,
embodying the best traits of African-American people.

“A Raisin in the Sun” is a play on Broadway telling the story of an African-American tragedy. The play is about
family of the Youngers. End of the 50s: The Younger family lives in the ghetto and is at a crossroads after his
father died. Mother Lena Younger and her grown up children Walter Lee and Beneatha share a cramped
apartment in a poor district of Chicago, in which she and Walter Lee’s wife Ruth and son Travis just fit together
inside.

Lena’s husband, the family’s father died and his life insurance brings the family $10,000. Everyone, especially the
children, are waiting for the payment of life insurance in the amount. Now the question is whether the money
should be invested in a medical school for the daughter, in a deal for the son or other dreams. There are conflicts
– especially between the siblings – in which it is a matter of who has more right to his dreams, who deserves his
dream sooner. Mama Lena is facing difficult decisions.

Making the right decision is hard for mother Lena because she wants to make it right for everyone and no one
wants to be hurt by a wrong decision. Incidentally, the play tells the story of a family which members diligently
pursue work to which in a black-time enemy is neither fulfilling nor bring in a lot of money. As the story of the
daughter of Lena, who is still looking after herself, and is, therefore, more volatile while the son of Walter Lee,
who soon abandons himself because he wants more from his life because he wants to be respected because he
wants to be the white man.

Lena’s son Walter Lee Jr. is working as a chauffeur, but wants more out of his life, although he has a respected
profession. “Walter believes wealth to be the answer to his feelings of desperation and hopelessness as a slum
resident and employee in a dead-end job” (Addell). His wife Ruth is working from day to night, until she breaks
down because she is pregnant again. She thinks of abortion, which is banned in the 50’s. Finally, there is Lena’s
daughter, Beneatha (desperately wants to be a doctor and her family is very far ahead. Younger than the family
believes she would have made the exit from the ghetto, but it must start again from scratch.

The story about the Youngers, you can basically understand only if one has lived at the time, but was told the
plot very accessible, so that the audience got a feel for this time. The characters could not be more different, but
what was very much frightening at first, because one noticed in the faith, was at this time you hold it together
more. In principle, the Younger family was doing well, but on the other side as they moved away from each
other, when it came to money, the life insurance of the deceased father.

“Lorraine Hansberry’s play confronts crucial issues that have faced African Americans: the fragmentation of the
family, the black male’s quest for manhood, and the problems of integration” (Tackach). This play is totally family
one. It tells about dreams and the way how people can struggle with difficult situations that occur on their way.
Actually, even the name of the play can be referred to lines in Langston Hugh’s (well-known African-American
writer) poems, where he makes parallels of a raisin in the sun and dying dreams. “A Raisin in the Sun is a rife with
conflicts: generational conflicts, gender conflicts, ideological conflicts, and perhaps most important, conflicts of
dreams, which are at the center of the play” (Washington).

As I have said before, each family member has his or her own dream and throughout the play we can see how
each member struggles to get this much desired aim. But the story, which shows how different family members
are and how selfish their actions, end with a uniting dream. The dream of house is the dream that unites each
member of the family. It is the most important dream. It is not for the good of a separate member, but for the
good of unity.

The family of Youngers faces social and economic troubles during the play but at the end they are united. The
only character who believes in unity of family and its strength is mother Lena. She tries to show how important
family is and which high and positive results can a family achieve functioning together and for the good of each
member. When she said that the son has to be the head of the family after father’s death, Walter surprisingly
asks: “You trust me like that, Mama?” (Hansberry 50). Unfortunately, the two children Walter and Beneatha will
realize this only at the end of the play.

Actually, this thought comes to them through rather sad circumstances. Only when the insurance money is stolen
from Walter and when he is rejected as a brother by Beneatha, the two characters realize that they were wrong.
Happiness comes to them only when they start working for the good of the family, for its uniting, when they turn
their individual dreams into common.

Home of the Youngers is the only dwelling place of the play and, actually, almost all the scenes take part there
which symbolizes unity of the family. It seems that this apartment is a living creature too. Its lightning changes as
mood of family members changes too. It is dark and small, as if symbolizing the family at that period. Actually,
the house is a crucial place for each member of the family (this point of view is also supported by Mama). And
the last scene when Lena happily leaves this dull place is also very symbolizing. This means that dark times for
the family are over and it enters the new life, bright and happy one.

Another important theme that is raised in the play is the theme of racial discrimination. “Yet racial segregation is
not the major theme of the play” (Brantingham). Mr. Lindner, an outer character, makes this topic extremely
bright and noticeable. This is clearly seen when the Youngers decided to move, but they could not because Mr.
Lindner wanted a bribe from them. This desire was dictated only by the skin color of the family. But the family
does not obey or respond this discrimination. They struggle it with dignity. Actually, the play shows that
discrimination is a terrible thing that can ever happen in society. And with the help of African-American family
fighting all the instances of discrimination with confidence and dignity, the plays shows how people should react
o such cases.

The story itself is very symbolic. There are a lot of things that are not very noticeable, but after considering them,
they turn out to be of great importance. One of such things is Mama’s plant. It is weak, but it fights for life. It
represents her desire for a new house which will make life of the family better and unite all its members. Mama
takes great care of her plant. In fact, the first thing she does after waking and getting up is taking care of her
favorite plant. This appears to symbolizes the care which she treats her family and family lawn.

Mama once says that this plant does not receive enough sunshine, but still it struggles for life. Suppose that this
is a bright parallel to family of the Youngers, where each member cares only about themselves and the family,
this fragile plant, does not receive enough sunshine or family love. At the end of the play, Mama takes this old
plant from their old apartment to the new house. It symbolizes that this plant is a symbol, uniting the family, or a
family itself. Her dream finally came true and plant’s dream will also come true.

“Hansberry’s play is realistic in setting, characterization, and dialogue. In addition to confronting universal African
American issues, it reflects the circumstances of African Americans in the 1950’s, at the beginning of the Civil
Rights movement. The doors of opportunity, if not wide open, had at least been unlocked for black Americans”
(Tackach).

Especially convincing “A Raisin in the Sun” but because ghettos and racism are still present today. This not only
African Americans dream for a better life, but whoever feels bad and even those who lack nothing. Dreams
should never abandon you, but the play clearly shows how difficult it is. The Story of Hansberry can in principle
identify anyone some more, some less, but not only African Americans. For many, this play left a timeless
message: Never give up your dreams. It is a beautiful play, because it establishes, the correct values, and those
values that will hopefully never go out of fashion. The focus is not only the discrimination of blacks in the 50’s
and later decades, it is also about dreams, money and family ties.

A Raisin In The Sun and Sonny’s Blues


A Raisin in the Sun, authored by Lorraine Hansberry and Sonny’s Blues, authored by James Baldwin are two
masterpieces that have an array of comparisons and contrasts. Lorraine Hansberry’s play is a depiction of an
African American family, the Youngers living in a racially segregated neighborhood. Although the family lives
together, conflicts arise on what to do with the $10000 insurance policy money paid after the death of the
Mama’s husband. Each member has different aspirations and the story focuses on how the family uses the
money and integrates their individual dreams to fit the family. On the other hand, Sonny’s Blues is a depiction of
the struggles two brothers face in segregated Harlem. It is about Sonny and his brother the narrator, both who
are living separate lives after the death of their parents. After the narrator loses his daughter to Polio, he
remembers the promise he made to his mother of taking care of Sonny and he decides to try to fulfill this
promise and try to get Sonny back to normal life after drugs nearly destroy him. Each story depicts the lives of
African American families in a time of racial injustice. Both families encounter obstacles during their quest to
move forward to find happiness.

In her journal, Lipari points out that the setting of A Raisin in the Sun, was at a time when the “fundamental
structures of political, social and economic oppression of African Amewricans were in the foreground of public
life” (Lipari, 97). This journal points out that during this period African American families’ encountered obstacle in
economic, social and political in trying to make it in life and finding happiness. Likewise, Martinez comment
regarding racism in Sonny’s Blues is a phenomenon having “festered and thrived in American unconscious
psyche while it has been and continues to be acted out in myriad forms of injustice in the society” (Martinez, 1).
This clearly illustrates that families in Harlem faced numerous challenges especially with the issue of racial
segregation and injustice. He points out that Baldwin “claims that the narrator’s and Sonny’s lives are
representative of the collective suffering of racism experienced by young black males growing up in the Harlem
of mid-twentieth-century America” (Martinez, 2).

In both stories, a common theme that stands out is that of racial segregation and injustices. In Hansberry’s story,
racial segregation reveals its ugly head when Mr. Linder attempts to persuade the Younger family from moving
to their new home, mostly inhabited by whites. He even attempts to pay them off to keep them from moving in
the mostly white neighborhood. This action is nearly successful since Walter is willing to accept the bribe but
Mama stands her ground and at last thy move to their new home. Likewise, in Sonny’s blues, racial issues and
injustices are prevalent in the community and the author effectively uses recurring images of darkness to bring
to light these themes. Sonny and his brother lived in a predominantly black neighborhood and even their father
gave up trying to move them away from Harlem, “Safe! My father grunted, whenever Mama suggested trying to
move to a neighborhood which might be safer for children” (Feinstein and Rife, 26). The narrator who is a teacher
also illustrates how racial issues and segregation were part of Harlem by describing the students he taught, “All
they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them and the
darkness of movies which had blinded them to that other darkness” (Feinstein and Rife, 26). Both stories
highlight the hopelessness that existed in these racially segregated neighborhoods in both stories where whites
had opportunities in contrast to blacks who had to endure difficult situations.

Unlike Sonny’s Blues, Loraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, is set in Chicago South Side slums in Younger
family’s apartment. It is a typical setting that depicts the lives of an ordinary setting of African-Americans in
somewhere between World War II and the mid nineteen-fifties. The context of the play was during a period in
which segregation along economic and racial lines was prevalent and widespread in the South. Chicago was a
prime example of a city notoriously divided along racial lines. James Baldwin Sonny’s Blues on the other hand
setting is in the mid-20th century somewhere in the 1950’s. However, just like Hansberry’s play, the story occurs
during a time when segregation was rife. It was just after the time when black artists enjoyed great prosperity but
after the Great Depression, their talents slumped and they became devastated. During this period, musicians
especially those performing jazz music faced a turbulent period and most of them turned to using drugs such as
Heroine to rid the boredom occasioned by lack of performance. Sonny just like other jazz musicians did not
escape the trap of engaging in drugs, which threatened to derail his passion and career.

After the death of their father, Walter automatically becomes the head of the family and as Mama says, “I’m
telling you to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be” and entrusted with some of the
insurance money (Hansberry, 107). However, his obsession of becoming rich in a short period undermined his
position as head of the family and if it was not for Mama, the insurance money paid would all have gone down
the drain. Walter’s lack of leadership is also evident when he contemplates taking the money given by Mr. Linder
in exchange for giving up the house they had invested in and dreamt for in a long time. However, Walter realizes
his shortcomings and decides to give up his dream for the prosperity of the family “We have decided to move
into our house because my father-my father-he earned it brick by brick”. In contrast to Baldwin’s story, after the
death of Sonny’s parent, he goes to live with his brother but after a short time, he joins the army and takes
responsibility of himself. Just like Walter, Sonny makes mistakes in his life but pays for them dearly. He ends up
engaging in drugs, and this leads him to prison. However, he realizes his shortcomings, after which he regains
control of his life and starts following his dream of becoming a jazz musician.

Loraine Hansberry actually takes the title of her play A Raisin in the Sun from a famous poet Langston Hughes in
his poem “Harlem: A Dream Deferred” (Hansberry, 3). The context of the poem was on a period when black
artists in Harlem enjoyed a rare period of renaissance and their artistry was recognized. However, after the Great
Depression the black community became devastated often left behind in deteriorating conditions. In her play
Walter, the protagonist in the story harbors dreams of prosperity and materialism. The self-centeredness comes
to haunt him, as he perceives the liquor store as a means to an end. He is bitter that at his age 35, he is still a low
chauffeur and no real opportunities seem to come his way unlike whites. However, his partners swindle him his
investments and his dream of becoming wealthy do not come to be. Likewise, in Sonny’s blues, Sonny is not
afraid to follow his dreams of becoming a famous jazz musician. The dream however overwhelms him and he
turns to using drugs, which threaten to derail him from accomplishing his dreams. In both stories, dreams play a
major role in advancing the stories. Both characters seem to have a misconception of the American Dream.
Walter perceives it to be all about wealth while Sonny perceives it to be all about fame. Although both have
dreams of prosperity, the means they take to achieve these dreams turn out to be their main undoing.

At the end of the two short stories, Walter gives up his materialistic dream in pursuit of other dreams that are
beneficial to the society, in contrast to Sonny who is on the verge of realizing his dream of becoming a famous
jazz musician. Walter’s dream was that of an obsession of becoming rich, which blinded him. He even used part
of the money put aside for Beneatha’s education to invest in a liquor business. His obsession in fulfilling his
dream leads him straight to Willy’s trap who cons him of his investment. Walter is even willing to accept Mr.
Linder’s money in return of them not moving to their new home and aims to use the money for advancing his
obsession. After some soul searching, he realizes his mistakes and aims to make up for his mistakes by giving up
his dream and following his family’s dream. Therefore, Walter’s initial dream is unsuccessful. As for Sonny, he
harbored the dream of becoming a jazz musician and his passion for the music, did not deter him from trying to
pursue his dreams. However, as he pursues his dreams Sonny is overwhelmed and he ends up engaging in drugs,
which threaten to shatter his dreams. However, in the end, he tends to get his footing right and as the story is
ending, the author seems to tell of a triumph in Sonny’s revival and accomplishment of his dream.

American Dream Analysis In Literature English Literature


Essay
Miller’s Death of a Salesman and A raisin in the Sun presents “the efforts and frustrations of a family in pursuit of
the American Dream” (Curtain 115). Dreams are the very different to each individual. Walter, the hero in A Raisin
in the Sun is another Willy who struggles to realize his version of American Dream. In their attempts to achieve
the Dream, Willy and Walter shows that they are common in some aspects. A social study by Alister Bull points
out “America may still think as the land of opportunity, but the chances of living a rags-to-riches life are a lot
lower than elsewhere in the world”(BBS). The American Dream is just illusion. It is illusions of chance for the
future.

Walter has high expectation of himself and he try out to succeed. Hansberry has stated that “… Walter Younger is
an American more than he is anything else,” he believes anyone can become anything he wants to be in the land
of promise. He wants to quit his boring job. He works as a chauffeur for white. He wants to be successful
businessman who runs his own business. As solid evidences of success, he wants to buy a Cadillac convertible
and “some real pearls” for Ruth, big house with a garden for his family and opportunity to go to well known
college in America for Travis(1537). For himself, he would like to drive a black Chrysler because “Rich people
don’t have to be flashy”(1538).
Other common backgrounds of their dreams is the idea of being “big”, which they are obsess with. The word
“big” is often used by Willy and his two sons: Willy tells around that ” … working on a very big deal”(1466). He
believes his sons will “end up big”(1469). That is why Biff complains he has to “be boss big shot in two weeks,” to
satisfy Willy’s dream.

The idea of being “big” also use as important in the life of the Younger family. Walter follows the idea of being
“big”: “Big. Invest big, gamble big, hell lose big if you have to, you know what I mean”(1525). When Walter finds
out his son want to be a bus driver, he responses, ” A what? Man, that ain’t nothing to want to be!…” “cause, man
– it ain’t big enough – you know what I mean”(1537). Waiter’s attitude echoes Willy’s emblematic motto:”Start
big and you’ll end big”(1452). Other members of Walter’s family also reflex his attitude. Lena is most realistic
character in the play, also has desire for something big, something high in her life:

“Lord, ever since I was a little girl, I always remembers people saying, “Lena Lena Eggleston, you aims too high all
the time.You needs to slow down and see life a little more like it is. Just slow down some “That’s what they
always used to say down home “Lord, that Lena Eggleston is a high-minded thing: She’ll get her due one
day”(1553).

Lena seems to fulfill at least a part of her dream because she buys a decent house: “I just seen my family falling
apart today…When it gets like that in life – you just got to do something different, push on out and do
something bigger…”(1530).The characters’ desire to be “big” reflects emptiness of their dreams. They are confuse
by the bright appearance of the American dream.

Walter and Willy are not qualified to be “big” as they imagine because they have many weaknesses. First, they fail
to understand the needs of education as the first major step to begin their search for the dream. Willy’s attitude
toward education is well demonstrate when he teaches his sons:

Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world,
y’understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him That’s why I thank Almighty God you’re both built like
Adonises. Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal
interest, is the man who gets ahead, Be liked and you will never want. (1435).

Willy believes that anyone can succeed by “being well-liked” or ” make an appearance” in the business world,
even without education. Walter also miss importance of education. He accuses George and Beneatha:

“I see you all the time – with the books tucked under your arms – going to your (British A a mimic) “clahsses.”
And for what! What the hell you learning over there? Filling up your heads -(Counting off on his fingers) – with
the sociology and the psychology – but they teaching you how to be a man? How to take over and run the
world? They teaching you how to run a rubber plantation or a steel mill? New – just to talk proper and read
books and wear white shoes.”(1525).

He reproaches colleges produce only good-for-nothings. When he cannot understand the importance of
education as meanings of dreams.

Walter and Willy both try to achieve American dreams without efforts, both of them are immoral. Willy once
encourages his son to steal materials to mend their stairs. Their crime is evidence of courage and spirit. He even
asks Bernard to help Biff cheat on examination. Walter is also corrupted by materialism. He only counts being
wealth and have power is important. It is somewhat meaningful for him to run liquor store, which Mama thinks
immoral. Walter doesn’t feel guilty when he decides to bribe the officials to get the license. They are immoral
and also often blind to needs. Willy tries to kick out the woman he slept with in front of Biff. He try to cover his
shameful situation. Willy tries to cut down Linda’s talking whenever she tries to open her mouth, while he keeps
interrupting Biff’s talking. Walter says to Beneatha, “go be a nurse like other women-or just get married and be
quiet…”(1501). He does not care about Beneatha’s dream being sacrifice to satisfy his own.

Willy and Walter share many weak points. Their dreams are closely related with their family, especially with their
son. Willy and Walter differ by their family backgrounds. For Willy, he did not have any parental love: “Dad left
when I was such a baby and never had a chance to talk to him and I still feel-kind of temporary about
myself”(1445). In contrast, Walter has received full attention and love from his parents. Mama describes her
husband as one who greatly love his children. One of the reasons Big Walter’s death was loss of his third child
few years ago. Walter received love from his parents during his childhood led him to develop “his strong sense
of self-esteem, enabling him fully to accept American values and giving him the confidence to pursue his
dream”(Washington 115).

Willy and Walter are in love for their children. Willy have commit his desire for parental love though pouring his
affection, and through making himself idolize to his sons. Linda points out, “Few men are idolized by their
children the way you are”(1437). He expects his sons to fulfill the dream. He knows he fails to achieve through
“being liked. Willy and Walter’s expectation for their sons can be combine by Mama’s speech, “Seem like God
didn’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams-but He did give us children to make them dreams seem
worth while”(1505).

Their desire to fulfill dreams is basically for their sons. Their search for the dream is also influenced by their
marital situation. Linda deeply understand partner. She told her sons:

…I don’t say he’s great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He’s not
the finest character that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention
must be paid He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally
paid to such a person(1447). At this point, it seems natural for Willy to exclaim:”You’re my foundation and my
support, Linda”(1427).

A closer examination of Linda’s attitude toward Willy, she does not fully understand him. Willy returns from a
sales trip. He brags that he made more than twelve hundred on the trip and Linda starts to calculate how much
their net income will be. His brag is followed by the terrible confession that he made only two hundred gross on
the trip. Linda replies,”Well, it makes seventy dollars and some pennies. That’s very good.”(1436). Linda talks cold
rather than generosity to her husband’s problems. Willy finds out other people laugh at him and he talks too
much. When he admits the facts to Linda, he is revealing his true identity as a man of discouragement and
failure. Linda fails to help him accept the truth, “Oh don’t be foolish” “You don’t talk too much, you’re just lively”,
“Willy darling, you’re the handsomest man in the world”(1437). By sticking to illusion Willy try to implant. She
avoids the painful moment, so she lose chance to help to accept the reality. Therefore, one cannot deny that
“there is a clear connection between her refusal to challenge those illusions and death” (Bigsby, “In
Memoriam”12).

Ruth in A Raisin in the Sun understands the frustration of her husband, Walter. Unlike Willy he does not complain
of his careless wife, Walter openly complains:

“That’s it. There you are. Man say to his woman: got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs and go to work.
(passionately now) Man say: I got to change my life, I’m choking to death, baby! And his woman say-(In utter
anguish as he brings his fists down on his thighs)-Your egg is getting cold!”(1499).

Facing Walter’s fault, Ruth try to help him: “No. Mama, something is happening between Walter and me. I don’t
know what it is-but he needs something-something I can’t give him any more. He needs this chance,
Lena.”(1504). She understands what Walter really craves for successful business. This is why she give the
insurance money to Walter even though she knows she has nothing to do with the money. The relationship
between Walter and Ruth reflex to Mama and Big Walter. Mama remembers ” “Honey, Big Walter would come on
here some nights back then and slump down on that couch there and just look at the rug, and look at me and
look at the rug and then back at me and I’d know he was down then…really down”(1505). Unlike Linda who
keeps blind to her husband’s problems, Mama understands Big Walter’s situation. Her suffering acquire from
helplessness. She has to feel in front of her husband’s frustration. Lena shows patience, understanding,
selflessness and love toward her son as well as the husband.

Willy and Walter soon find out that their dreams are doomed to failure. Willy’s frustration of his own failure also
come from his son, Biff’s. He already know about his own failure. “I (Biff) never got anywhere because you
(Willy)`stand taking orders from anybody! That’s whose fault it is!”(1487). Biff has failed to get a stable and
profitable job. He still earns only a dollar an hour. He has been imprisoned several times for the crime of theft.

As a result of the failure, they are faced with painful awakening moment. When Willy realizes his dream
disappear, he clings to another new illusion: “He (Biff) will make it with their money.” He believes that Biff will
have a good chance to get ahead in the world, if he can leave life insurance money for Biff through suicide.
When Walter finds money gone with the imposter, he accept the guilty money collected by the white neighbors
of the new community to buy the Youngers off. At last moment, he changes his mind. Instead of receiving
money, he declares to Mr. Lindner, “We have decided to move into our house because my father-my father- he
earned it”(1558). Here, Walter achieves manhood, realizing that “dignity is a quality of men, not bank
accounts”(Weales 529).

In different reactions from each other, Willy and Walter still have something in common. Their desire “to hand
the world to his son” in earnest way. For Willy, suicide is more than simple expression of illusion, it is an positive
action to show dignity and meaning of his life. Walter’s spiritual growth is easily justified, considering his warm
and strong affection for Travis. By rejecting Lindner’s offer in Travis’s presence, he hands down not disgrace but
pride and dignity to Travis, keeping the dream alive. Because of their dreams “revealed, suspended, destroyed,
and renewed again” spring from the heroes’ concern for their families, both plays are domestic under the
seemingly social context.

Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin In The Sun English Literature


Essay
During a time when racial oppression was overwhelming, neither poverty nor richness was able to destroy the
strong love built within a domesticated family. The Younger’s: Mama, Beneatha, Ruth, Travis, and Walter Lee are
used as symbols of dreams, deferments, and conflicts. In Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun”, she uses the
class, gender, and race to create conflict with the characters to help them become closer to their dreams, and to
unite as a family.

Consequently, forty years prior to when Lorraine Hansberry wrote this play in1959, The Great Migration had
started, and ended up as a long-term movement (1916-1970). African-Americans moved from the Southern
states to the Northern urban cities, such as Chicago, with aspirations and goals to living the American Dream.
Industrial employers provided opportunities, as they needed new sources of hard-working laborers from the
South that were eager to accept a role in the industrial field (THE INTERNAL).

The dreams of an African-American family owning their own home only happened by encountering racism long
before fair-housing and equal-employment laws. A strong theme supports how racism was deep within the
housing industry, government offices, and how Americans supported the segregated housing environment of
Chicago. The Younger family is

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stunned that Mama purchased a house in a neighborhood full of whites, because living in a white neighborhood
could put all of their lives at risk.

Mama explained to them as to why she was unwilling to move into the segregated black community. She states,
“Them houses they put up for colored in them areas way out all seem to cost twice as much as other houses. I
did the best I could” (Charters, 1530). Throughout this play, Mama tells many differences of racism from her
generation to the present and about her own personal survival as she avoided lynching and hate crimes.

The setting of “A Raisin in the Sun” is located in the ghetto of Southside Chicago, where most blacks lived. The
ghetto districts consisted of overcrowded, overpriced, and poorly maintained apartments and homes. Most of
the African American’s whom lived in the ghetto had hopes and dreams of moving to suburban neighborhoods.
However, segregated housing had kept them sequestered in the ghetto life.

Furthermore, the Younger’s want to escape from an over-crowded apartment life which is roach-infested, and
where a normal chore consists of “spraying insecticide into the cracks in the walls” (Charters, 1510). Three
generations of family have occupied this space, and “that they have clearly had to accommodate the living of too
many people for too many years-and they are tired” (Charters,1494). The family also shares the bathroom, “which
is in an outside hall and which is shared by another family or families on the same floor” (Charters,1495). Ruth
attempted to encourage Mama “well, Lord knows, we’ve put enough rent into this here rat trap to pay for four
houses by now,” and she is not making a content statement considering the unreasonably high costs of the
ghetto housing (Charters,1505).

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The complexity of dreams that the Younger’s had, came from true living, and working hard for a better future of
a family. Interpretations and speculations throughout the play, teach a lesson in life of experiences in which every
person must be optimistic to the outcome of their dreams. On the contrary, the dreams that were fulfilled were
the most meaningful. The dreams deferred were also meaningful, but just not as much as the dreams that did
not bring unity within a family. Hansberry wisely incorporated the behaviors of the characters with the intent to
emulate strength within a family in order to reach a level of true understanding.

The matriarch of the family is Mama, and she thrives on a strong sense of pride, the right ethical decisions, and a
very strong faith in God. Mama is a pure example of how a mother always seems to be the backbone of African-
American families through all trials and tribulations. Mama never thinks of just herself, as she takes the money
from a $10,000 insurance check which represented a part of her deceased husband’s life, and does something
with it to form stability for the whole family.

Mama’s desires for her family clearly contrast with her son, Walter Lee’s dreams, of taking a high-risk investment
in a liquor store. He fears the failure of his manly pride to his mother’s religious value system all while he
struggles to support it. Walter Lee desires to become an entrepreneur, and believes that money will eventually
solve all of their problems. Therefore, Mama states, “it ain’t much, but it’s all I got in the world and I’m putting it
in your hands. I’m telling you to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be” (Charters,1537).
Ironically, this is the one wrong decision that Mama made, and it eventually lets Walter nearly destroy the family.

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As Mama’s only son, Walter serves as both an antagonist and a protagonist in this play. The plot does revolve
around the actions that he takes throughout the play, because most of his actions and conflicts seem to hurt the
family in some kind of way. Eventually he learns that he must pay attention to different concerns within his
family, in order to seek strength to unite with them. Walter Lee’s late growth of responsible manhood makes him
the ending hero of the play when he defends his family against the white man.

In reality, this also brings him closer to his sister, Beneatha (Bennie), whom is a beautiful, young, and
independent college student who demonstrates her great ambition to someday become a doctor. Earlier, Bennie
angers and confuses Mama with her views on religion, and as she searches for her identity through the dating of
two young men: Joseph Asagai, her Nigerian boyfriend, and George Murchison, her rich and smart African-
American boyfriend. Later in the play, she comes to reality that she has been far from independent-her dream
has been dependent upon the insurance money and the possibility of Walter Lee’s investment-to becoming a
future doctor. While earlier, Bennie had blamed Walter Lee for his shady investing and weakness towards money,
consequently, she gained a new perspective towards attaining her dreams on her own-a sign that she has
become able to appreciate life’s lessons.

In conclusion, from the exact beginning of this play, Lorraine Hansberry had created a setting for drama through
dreams, deferments, and conflicts. Family unity touches the human spirit, and conquers all-after dreams have
been deferred or destroyed for each character. Typically, responsibilities impact a family’s life, leaving Hansberry
to warn that destruction, in any era, is a warning for Americans to wake up and listen.

Portrayal of race in A Raisin in the Sun (1961)

According to the publisherʼs note on the book cover, Lorraine Hansberryʻs A Raisin in the Sun (1959) was considered
“a radically new representation of black life”. Moreover, “Hollywood did not produce black family films written by
African American writers until the late 1950s” (Reid, 81), and several “legal decisions, industrial changes and socio-
economic realities” (Reid, 83) were necessary to enable black writers and actors to present black life from their own
point of view. I therefore want to illuminate the representation of race in the film adaptation A Raisin in the Sun,
produced in 1961.

A Raisin in the Sun is mainly set in the Youngersʼ apartment, showing the distressing housing situation Afro-
Americans had to endure: five people share two bedrooms, with the son sleeping on the couch. The bathroom is
used together with other residents of the house, and the fact that Beneatha sprays insecticide gives a clear
impression of how inhuman their living conditions are.

Beneatha represents the most eradicative character in A Raisin in the Sun. Her way of life, her ambitions and dreams
are not only revolutionary for a young black woman but would also be considered radical if she was the member of a
white middle-class family. Moreover, she depicts a general struggle among Afro-Americans: should they be proud of
their differences and openly express and highlight these or should they assimilate to the predominantly white
American world? Beneatha is looking for her identity, and is therefore seeing Asagai, who was born in Nigeria, to
investigate her African ancestry. Although Beneatha rejects being an “assimilationist”, she has no knowledge about
African culture and customs either.

George, on the other hand, thinks that adaption is the only way to have success in white America. When Walter
welcomes him with “Black brother” he responds “Black brother, hell!” and is shocked to see Beneatha in her
Nigerian outfit. He takes no stock in Beneathaʼs interest in her African roots, standing almost threatening behind her
when he expresses his disapproval. Moreover, George even seems to feel uncomfortable among the members of the
Younger family. When George addresses the bitterness that is so widespread among blacks, Walter almost loses
control of his temper. These scenes show that Afro-Americans do not only struggle with the white supremacy, but
that there are also interracial tensions and that ʻBlacksʼ are not a uniform body but do have different opinions and
values and are therefore just as diverse as ʻWhitesʼ are.

The most important scenes in A Raisin in the Sun referring to race and the racism blacks often encountered take
place during the visits of Mr Lindner of the Clybourne Park Improvement Association. When Mr Lindner hesitantly
explains the purpose of this organisation, the camera focuses on Beneatha for a few seconds, revealing her ominous
face and her hostile bearing. She already knows what Mr Lindner is about to tell them, which also shows the
audience in how far racism was part of AfroAmericansʼ everyday life. When she interrupts Mr Lindnerʼs remarks,
asking “Yes! And what do they do?” or ”Yes, and what are some of those [problems]?”, Beneatha is pushing Mr
Lindner to make his point, but simultaneously she is tired of all the obstacles put in Afro-Americansʼ lives. She is
extremely upset and sad about the helplessness Blacks are confronted with in the white American world.

Walter, however, appears unwilling to give in, and when Mr Lindner is submitting his ʻgenerousʼ offer, Walter gets
up from his chair, which brings him into the centre of the scene, angrily looking down to Mr Lindner. Moreover,
Walter will not let Mr Lindner room for any more ʻexplanationsʼ but throws him out of his apartment, the scene
focusing on the resolute Walter, whereas Mr Lindnerʼs back is turned to camera. Both Walterʼs central position as
well as his determined face and gesture contribute to convince the audience of his willpower to fight against the
communityʼs oppression.

Later in the film, the Youngers call Mr Lindner again, because Walter has lost a great deal of the money his mother
had given him and the family sees itself forced to accept Mr Lindnerʼs offer. When Walter explains his familyʼs
situation, his wife Ruth an his mother look away, being embarrassed, and also Walterʼs voice and facial expression
convey that he is ashamed of giving in to the oppression of white Americans. There position in the scene, however,
communicates their dignity, with Walter standing in the middle right in front of Mr Lindner. The audience therefore
feels that not the Youngers but Mr Lindner should be the one to be ashamed. And it is Walterʼs pride that makes him
eventually change his mind.

The two most important aspects of black life addressed in A Raisin in the Sun are hence interracial diversity and
“segregation struggles in Chicago [which serve] as a penultimate symbol of black oppression and resistance”
(Gordon, 121). Hansberryʼs play and the film adaptation are out “to generate public testimony about urban black life
[...] and to provide a prophetic framework for anti-racist, anti colonialist movements gaining force in the US and the
world” (Gordon,121). The depiction of both tensions among Afro-Americans and the fact that the Youngers do not
subject to the white oppression is in my opinion only due to the large number of Blacks involved in the production of
the film - and I would say they took their chance to convey their point of view.

Ruth in A Raisin in the Sun


In the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry describes the character Ruth Younger in a fascinating way. Ruth is
portrayed to be a willing individual of sincerity and humility. Throughout the play, Ruth is said to be helping and
encouraging her family, and with a willful attitude, she carries out the household duties. Although she is loving,
caring, and thoughtful, Ruth, like most of us humans, has a side of her that is temperamental. She shows bits of
anger, strictness, and confrontation, but has an overall composure of a well-engaged mother, wife, and sister.

“…the character of Ruth resembles the biblical Ruth in her devotion to her mother-in-law” (Ardolino). The Ruth in
the Bible is depicted as a widow who, with total willingness and submission, left the security of her family to go live
with her widowed and childless mother-inlaw. This selfless, willful act meant that “Ruth was willing to give up
remarriage to care for Naomi, her dead husband's mother…” (Capoccia) Ruth (in the Bible) was surely a character of
good heart. I can’t even imagine myself giving up my own life to go serve another person, with my attitude being
totally agreeable. In the drama, Ruth’s first sign of sacrifice is right in the beginning. It is the early morning, about
7:30, when Ruth comes out of her bedroom and into the kitchen. She tries to awaken her son who should be getting
ready for school. From the moment she starts to speak, I can tell that she isn’t having a good morning. There is
frustration in her voice when she talks to her son and husband, and later her sister-in-law and mother-in-law. She
doesn’t have time to get pretty or put on some nice clothes: “Ruth is about thirty. We can see that she was a pretty
girl, even exceptionally so, but now it is apparent that life has been little that she expected, and disappointment has
already begun to hang in her face” (Hansberry 1198). She awakens her husband in time to go to work, and prepares
breakfast. Her focus is not on herself, it’s on her family.

Although her attitude is generally calm, precise, sweet, and sophisticated, Ruth shows a bit of her humorous side a
couple of times throughout the play. The first occasion is towards the beginning of the play when she mocks her son:
“[mocking as she thinks he would say it]: Oh, Mama makes me so mad sometimes, I don’t know what to do! ...I
wouldn’t kiss that woman good-bye for nothing in this world this morning! ...” (Hansberry 1200) Her son then looks
at her with a little bit of embarrassment and says: “Aw gaalee-Mama…” Because she didn’t want her son to leave on
bad terms, Ruth had to have some fun with him, to show that she really did care. Another instance where she
expresses some humor would be when she is sarcastic with her husband who needs money for carfare: “[looks at
him, then warms; teasing, but tenderly]: Fifty cents? [She goes to her bag and gets money.] Here, take a taxi.”
(Hansberry 1204) The reader understands that this communication is cynical because at the beginning of the play,
Ruth disagrees to let her son do what he wants, due to the lack of money. She tries to save money and simply worry
about their necessities. However, Walter Lee, the father, comes into the scene and tells the son that he can do
whatever he wants; Walter hands him the money which happens to be fifty cents, just enough for a snack and a cab
ride. He gave his son the fifty cents, thinking he wouldn’t need it later on.

The other main characters in this play seem to be somewhat similar, perhaps because they’re related. For instance,
Beneatha and Walter Lee are constantly having disagreements, and seem to always have to question what others
have to say. In the start of the play, Walter and Beneatha get 3 in an argument about the goals that Beneatha
attains. Ruth, instead of having to choose a side, simply acts like the wall betwixt her husband and sister-in-law. She
gives a little bit of input, but doesn’t team up with either of them. She says things like: “Don’t be so nasty, Bennie.”
And “Walter Lee, why don’t you leave that girl alone and get out of here to work?” (Hansberry 1203) Then she’ll take
the role of a mother and add: “Bennie, why you always gotta be pickin’ on your brother? Can’t you be a little
sweeter sometimes?” (Hansberry 1204) She says it in the most thoughtful way, showing the differences between
herself and the other family members.

Ever since the beginning of time, it has been hard for one person to be kind to someone who is acting difficult and
cruel. Ruth, however, shows submission and gentleness to her husband, even though he is acting despicable towards
her. Walter Lee comes home drunk one night and is an enormous embarrassment for Ruth and Beneatha, since
Beneatha’s date is waiting in the living room. Walter comes in and immediately ridicules George. “Why all you
college boys wear them fairyish-looking white shoes? ...Well, they look crazy as hell--white shoes, cold as it is.”
(Hansberry 1222) Ruth is appalled at Walter, and she instantaneously apologizes to George for Walter’s
inappropriate behavior. Although she’s upset, Ruth shows respect and consideration towards her husband by not
harshly correcting and rebuking him. This is an excellent act of selfcontrol. After George and Beneatha leave, Walter
suddenly starts angrily conveying his feelings about Ruth. He states things that aren’t true about her; like that she
constantly nags him about everything, and that she complains frequently. Instead of arguing with him, she ignores it
and calmly, with compassion and with all kindness, offers him things to drink. He gets mad and scowls at her for no
apparent reason. At this time, it would be easy for Ruth to suddenly give up on him and leave, but she doesn’t; her
generosity overflows.

Along with being an excellent housekeeper, wife, and mother, Ruth acts like an older sister to Beneatha. Ruth
expresses her opinions about Beneatha freely: “I wish certain young women ‘round here who I could name would
tak inspiration about certain rugs in a certain apartment I could also mention.” She implies how Beneatha doesn’t
help clean the house and how she acts careless. Beneatha then gets angry, using foul language that her mother
doesn’t agree with. “Just listen to her-just listen!” says Ruth (Hansberry 1207). In addition, Ruth welcomes
Beneatha’s date when he comes to the house to pick her up. Instead of carelessly minding her own business, Ruth
greets the guest with enthusiasm and warmth. She kindly chats with George as any other polite person would be
expected to. Rather than keeping to herself and finishing the ironing that she felt obliged to do, she greeted George
and made him feel at ease. In this section of the play, Ruth stood out to me as one who isn’t afraid to reach out to
others, welcome them, while placing her tasks aside.

Ruth’s goals are never aimed towards herself, but towards her family. There is never a time when she states what
she wants done for herself and for her own life; she is constantly doing things for others. In the beginning it is
apparent that she is caring for her family, rather than herself. There is one day when Ruth is feeling very sick and
tired, but still feels obliged to go into work. Her mother-in-law tries to make her stay at home because she needs
rest. “I can’t stay home…I got to go in. We need the money.” (Hansberry 1206) Ruth is willing to go to work feeling
sick, just for the good of the family. Her willingness is definitely enhanced in this section of the play. Lena (her
mother-in-law) tries to tell Ruth that she has enough money for the whole family, but Ruth denies it saying: “Now
that’s your money. It ain’t got nothing to do with me.” She then tells Lena to take her money and go on a vacation:”
I’m serious. Just pack up and leave! Go on away and enjoy yourself some.” (Hansberry 1206) Instead of thankfully
accepting the money, she refuses to take it for herself. Ruth thinks wholly and carefully about Lena and what 5 she
could do to have fun with the money she’s earned. Her focus is entirely off of herself and on everyone else; it is a
sheer presentment of humility.
Even though Ruth’s kindness, generosity, humility and willingness should be recognized and applauded, the only
character who truly acknowledges these traits is her mother-in-law. On page 1206 she notices her illness and shows
concern for Ruth. She realizes the work that Ruth does and tells her to take a break. Then a little later she notices it
again:” [Worriedly hovering over Ruth]: Ruth, honey—what’s the matter with you—you sick? …Come on now, honey.
You need to lie down and rest awhile…then have some nice hot food.” (Hansberry 1213) As it moves on, I start to
realize how stubborn Ruth really is. She doesn’t want to lie down and eat food. She persistently does the housework,
not wanting her mother-in-law to have to do it. What the rest of the family does not realize is that Ruth is the one
holding them all together. She fixes the meals, cleans the house, and irons the linens.

The reality in this play gives a piece of the author’s perspective on things. Towards the end of the play, the Younger
family plans to buy a house which happens to be in a nice neighborhood, where no colored people reside. A man
comes to their door the day they plan to move and makes a proposition that he will pay them not to move into that
house because the people living there would feel uncomfortable, and because they fear for the safety of their
children amongst colored people. It was a shocking arrangement that he planned to make. They were appalled with
him since he had been so kind to them. The thoughts and perceptions of the white people in that neighborhood
were suddenly revealed. Their dream was unexpectedly crushed, or, to be more precise, it was probably dried up,
like a raisin in the sun. However, they kept their ground, moved into the house, and intended to stay there, showing
pride and dignity, upholding the honor of their father, Mr. Walter Younger.

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