A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by an African-American, Lorraine Hansberry. The play debuted on Broadway in 1959. Set in South side Chicago, Hansberry portrays an African-American family, the Youngers: Lena Younger (Mama), Ruth Younger (daughter), Walter Lee Younger (son), his wife Beneatha Younger and their son Travis Younger. The family suddenly gains $10,000 due to the life insurance money from the father’s death. Each character has their own dream of a better life and how to use the money to pursue that dream. The play is not all about the life of an African-American, but specifically on how they live in a society full of racism while trying to achieve the American Dream. A Raisin in the Sun emphasizes the American Dream versus the …show more content…
Mama only dreams for a decent and a bit bigger house for her family. “Mama 's American dream for peace in the North is compromised by the rampant segregation that her family faces in being compelled not to buy a house from the white neighborhood of the Clybourne Park” (M’Baye). Mama considers having a new house with a garden and yard so her family can unite. Shortly after, a person named Karl Linder, a white spokesperson, tries to talk them out of the neighborhood. There has never been any blacks living in the subdivision and therefore Linder warns the family that if they stay there, there might be rebels in the area to throw them out of the neighborhood. This shows one of the consequences and obstacles that prevents the Younger family to achieve the American Dream. Linder also makes a deal with the Younger family to move by paying them with money. Although, by not taking the money does not mean, in Mama’s viewpoint, “…we wasn 't fit to walk the earth” (Hansberry 143). Linder’s purpose of paying them money makes him low-key. He thinks that the Younger family will take the money because of their social status. Seemingly, the quote shows that the Younger family are satisfied in a middle class life. This shows even more, how difficult it is for the African-American to achieve their ambitions or dreams. Thus, a dream deferred as well as struggles in life. In the end, Mama does achieve owning a house in a White community. Mama has been denied many things in life and she feels like the house is something she can pass on to later generations and thinks that “…God didn 't see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams - but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worthwhile” (Hansberry, Pg. 46). The quote suggests that Mama buys the house believing it is a chance toward an ideal dream for her children and future generations. She also believes that her own dream could lead other
Elsie was not like the other “housewives” in 1950’s who always agree with their husbands even if they wanted to voice an opinion they wouldn’t. She tries to change her life and her son’s life to be better by supporting her kids. Even though her husband couldn’t give her the life she wanted, she stepped up and saved money to buy a house at Myrtle Beach which was far away from
She begins to notice positive aspects about Maggie and learns to enjoy her company. She does not pine over Dee because she knows that she did not really care for her family so it is not Mama’s loss but Dee’s. Connie however, when faced with a threatening man thinks, “I’m not going to see my mother again… I’m not going to sleep in my bed again” (Oates 463). Here is when she realizes that her mother is important to her because she is the first person she thought of when in this dangerous
She wants what she did not have: big house, better neighborhood, and all the riches that she can buy. However, her father tells her to not think like that because that is not the reason that makes her, her, but instead it is her background and her family. This was something that I found quite fascinating because this was how I perceived my life when I was in high school. Sophia’s perseverance and dedication to moving forward is impeccable. “I wish we lived on the other side of town.”
At 21 year old, I identify as a Black African-American female in the lower income tier of Gainesville Florida. Due to my beliefs in a divine God and Jesus Christ, I am a Christian. All my life, I have been told by many to be proud of the skin that I was in because my ancestors and people like us were brave and courageous people who fought for what we as Black African Americans have now such as freedom. To understand how deep my lesson of wearing my skin proud, I have to make it known that I am Haitian, and as a little girl, I knew of Haiti’s history, of my ancestors’ fight for freedom, of the pride I should take in knowing that such people were part of our past. Than coming to the U.S, it was a different set of people that fought for freedom,
The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry debuted on Broadway in 1959, and the movie was made in 2008. “A Raisin in the Sun” is about the Younger family, the fifth generation of lower-class African-Americans living in Chicago’s Southside. They are faced with problems such as racial discrimination, poverty, and conflicting dreams. As the family decides on how to spend the insurance check of $10,000 from Walter’s father’s death, these problems cause many conflicts to rise. Reading the 1959 play and the 2008 movie, I have realized certain similarities and differences in how the story plays out.
In the play Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry takes place on the southside of Chicago where Walter and his family are racially profiled and show us how the survive throughout their struggles. The central struggles for the younger family in their search for the American dream is mostly poverty and being racially profiled against for their actions. Hansberry challenges the traditional gender roles and issues of dominance throughout the play when Mama gives Walter lee the rest of the money at the end of the play. He becomes all excited and was supposed to save some for himself and put the rest of the money to Beneatha 's education. Instead, he gave all that money to Willy another character in the play which later on that he stole from him.
The family is supposed to live on the south side of Chicago because although this is not a law, a lot of African Americans are still staying separate from whites. Mr. Lindner, a representative of the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, makes it very clear further along in the story that blacks don’t belong in white neighborhoods. As the laws are starting to become less limiting segregation is becoming a thing of the past.
In A Raisin in the Sun, a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, the audience was able to obtain a sense of the struggle for the American dream. We are introduced to the Youngerś a black family living in the Southside of Chicago around the 1950’s. Each member of this family has their own meaning to what is the American dream. A Raisin in the Sun teaches us that even though life might be full of conflicts, it is important to not give up on our dreams.
The reporter of this story attended Sean Combs 46th Birthday party in New York City. This story highlighted different aspects of the birthday party, but mainly it gives a glimpse of what Brandon Harris calls the “Black American Dream”. This article also serves as kind of an advertisement for Puff Daddy’s new album. Puff Daddy aka Sean Combs is an example of musical artists that grew up in poverty and made it into the one percent, the typical rags to riches story.
The 1950s were oppressive and degrading towards the culture and identity of African Americans. This principle is especially personified through the drama, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry. As a black female author in this time period, she was easily able to capture the racism and forced stereotypes poignant within the lives of the minorities. Beneatha, a fictional character in the play, represents the ambitious and suppressed black female intellectual who is stripped of her identity at every turn. The men in her life are as different as black and white, and in essence that is what they are.
The title of the play “A Raisin in the Sun” comes from the poem “Harlem” written by Langston Hughes. The poem is asking what happen to dreams that are not accomplished, What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up/ Like a raisin in the sun (Hughes) in the play many character have unaccomplished or deferred dreams. Mama dreams is moving her family out of their small apartment and into a house in a nice area with a yard for Travis and a garden for herself. She has had this dream for a long time but has never been able to accomplish it financially. After the death of her husband, the family receives a $10,000 life insurance check this money gives mama of the opportunity to buy the house she has always dreamed for her family.
A Raisin in the Sun is an inspirational book/play that tells the overcoming story of an African-American family Going through the terrible struggles of Chicago in the 1950’s. Greg Kincaid once said “No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. That's the only way to keep the roads clear.”. This explains Beneatha younger, a young woman who tries to find herself while dealing with others scrutinizing and being treated like a child in her family. In conclusion, Beneatha younger is an overpowering character that is shaping her life through independence, an education, and growing closer to her
A Raisin in the Sun is a play, which consists of three acts for a total of six scenes. From the very beginning, the plot line begins with the Younger family waking up, going about their morning as they normally do. The family living in the small apartment consists of Mama, Beneatha, her daughter, Walter, her son, Ruth, Walter’s wife, and Travis, Walter and Ruth’s son. The apartment that accommodates this family consists of a small kitchen, containing one small window, a living room, which also serves as Travis’ room, and two bedrooms, one for Walter and Ruth, the other shared by Mama and Beneatha. In the kitchen window lays a potted plant, second to only family in Mama’s most prized possessions.
A Raisin in the Sun addresses major social issues such as racism and feminism which were common in the twentieth century. The author, Lorraine Hansberry, was the first playwright to produce a play that portrayed problematic social issues. Racism and gender equality are heavily addressed throughout the play. Even though we still have these issues today, in the 1950’s and 60’s the issues had a greater part in society. Racism and gender have always been an issue in society, A Raisin in the Sun is an important piece of American history during that time period.
Reader Response: 3 “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, is a play about a black families experience in 1950s South Side Chicago. The story revolves around what happens to the family when Lena Younger, the matriarch of the family, receives a ten thousand dollar life insurance check upon the death of her husband. Everyone from the family has different plans for what they want to do with the money. Lena Younger serves as the head of the family. She is Walter and Beneatha’s caring mother so they and Ruth call her Mama.