A Raisin In The Sun Analysis

In A Raisin In the Sun Lorraine Hansberry uses everyday objects-a plant, money, and a home to symbolize a family's struggle to deal with racism and oppression in their everyday lives, as well as to exemplify their dreams. She begins with a vivid description of the family's weary, small, and dark apartment in Chicago's ghetto Southside during the 1950s. The Youngers are an indigent African-American family who has few choices in their white society. Each individual of the Younger family has a separate dream-Beneatha wants to become a doctor, Walter wants to open a liquor store, and Ruth and Mama want a new and better home. The Youngers struggle to accomplish these dreams throughout the play, and a major aspect of their happiness and

Welcome to the Windham High school drama club revival of A Raisin in the Sun!

“Money is not the key to happiness,” no big pay amount would make much of a difference. As people in America everybody thinks you cannot afford to avoid the unhappiness of having to  life,  having plenty of cash does not make your any more enjoyable then what it is in the present. Happiness depends on how you feel towards your loved ones which in Lorraine Hansberry's Play, “A Raisin In the Sun” Walter's obsession with money often caused him to act unkindly to his loved ones. In the book Raisin in the Sun a family from the Southside of Chicago they lived in a small apartment trying to find a way out of the community they have lived in. The Younger family was dealing with living in a white dominant society dealing with poverty and prejudice acts. The Youngers’ try to ignore the obstacles and stay on their feet throughout the 1950s.

The story of this play is simple and the majority of African-Americans faced such issues in the 1950’s, living on the south side of Chicago, struggles with poverty, dignity and dreams of a better life. Wanting better for your children and trying to fit in, while maintaining family values. A Raisin in the Sun is an excellent example of the relationship between family values and conflict. In this play it portrays: values and purpose of dreams, the need to fight for racial discrimination and the importance of family.

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, there are a number of symbols that represent various concepts that can all be traced back to issues on race. Many symbols in The Raisin in the Sun, for example, capture the restricted opportunity given to the Younger family and African Americans as a whole; these symbols show the true magnitude of the issue of race at the time the drama was written. Nonetheless, among the strongest hidden meanings in A Raisin in the Sun, is not a symbol but a character. Travis Younger is a living, breathing motif that firmly represents the young hope for the African American community.

Lorraine Hansberry was a young African- American playwright, activist and writer. She was born in Chicago, IL during the 1930’s. Hansberry’s father was a successful real estate broker and her mother was a school age teacher. Both of her parents were wealthy successful members of the NAACP and Urban League and contribute large amount of money to help the associations fight for the equality of African American families during the civil rights movement. Both parents were well respected and known by their peers. Lorraine Hansberry was able to attend college and discover a career as a writer. One of her most famous piece of work and till this day still is, is the playwright A Raising in the Sun which it’s title is a reference to the famous poem of Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem” also known as “A Dreamed Deferred”. “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore- and the 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 1951). The playwright A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the different dreams and aspirations of the Younger’s family members. Living in a restricted society during the 1950’s in Southside Chicago was not every families dream. Through each character in the play we see the hunger and hope for a better future where they each could have something to live for. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play “A Raisin in the Sun” she uses the

Many authors love to leave parts of their artwork up to the reader's imagination and let them interpret their own meanings and endings behind certain choices made in their piece. That is exactly what Lorraine Hansberry is doing by deciding to end A Raisin in the Sun on a cliffhanger. A Raisin in the Sun is ending with the Younger family beginning to move out of their old house and packing up to move to their newly bought house. The Youngers are moving to Clybourne Park, an all white neighborhood, and are trying to do better for themselves. However, previous to this event a representative from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association comes to their house and tries to stop them from moving there by attempting to pay them off. This encounter causes some readers to believe that the Youngers deciding to move to the neighborhood hints at a sad ending. Even though Hansberry leaves it on a cliffhanger, one can interpret it as a happy ending more so than a sad ending.

Many African American come with a dream but instead they have to fight for it. Which took an African American individual to end the inequality to change the view of the world . In, “A Raisin in the Sun” it talks about how Beneatha is embracing in her african culture. In “I too sing America” it is about African Americans and how people in the world are treating them like they do not belong. ’Both want to be free about their lives without anyone being judge by anyone but they do go in different ways.

In Lorraine Hansberry’s a Raisin In the Sun the character Ruth is talking about getting rid of her child and mama wants Walter to be like his father and tell her not to but he can’t bring himself to do it. In act one scene three there is a lot of tension and fighting so hansberry wants to break the tension with some humor. One example of humor is when beneatha comes out of her room in a Nigerian dress singing songs and confusing Mama (76). Another example of how there is humor after beneath a comes out with her dress Walter also comes in the scene drunk and dancing and chanting with beneatha (77-79). Hansberry made things calmer and broke the tension because a book or play is not good if it is serious scene after serious scene they have to have humor in their book or play.

Raisin in the Sun represent the different dreams of everyone in the Younger's family. Having the ten thousand dollars in their mind, they develop their own plan. Mama's plant and hat symbolizes her dreams of having some day her own house with a little garden in the back. It also represents' how Mama cares and keeps her family together as the head of the family. " Lord, if this little old plant don't get more sun than it's been getting, it ain't never going to see spring again" (Hansberry 1517). This shows mama's worries to her families. Walter’s liquor store, symbolizes Walter's fights against poverty and racial discrimination that he imagined to be free. Ruth's unborn child represents the family's moral issue regarding abortion since poverty

In the play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the author shows several different themes. The main theme in the play version of “A Raisin in the Sun” is the theme of dreams. Each of the members in the Younger family has dreams for what they would do with a $10,000 insurance check. The dreams are the same in the play version and the 1961 version of the film. Mama Younger would like to purchase her family a house, so that they do not have to share a rental house. Beneatha wants Mama to pay her way through medical school. Walter Lee wants his mother to hand over the money so he may buy a liquor store. Ruth wants Mama to use the money on herself and forget about her two selfish children. Travis would like to

However, Walter is forced to put his dreams on hold. Before Lena gave Walter the left over insurance money, she told him that she went and bought a house for the family. This made Walter extremely angry and he exploded, just like it’s described in the poem by Langston Hughes. The poem also shows how when a dream is deferred it can become a “heavy load.” This describes Walter perfectly because he constantly has the load of trying to be the head of the house hold and to provide for his family weighing him down. After Walter almost destroys the dream of the family by having their own house, he realizes the struggle behind the ownership of a house and refuses to sell it to Karl. At the beginning of the play Walter’s idea of a “man” is consumed by materialistic things. Walter wanted only to change the circumstances of the situation he was in and his attitude has a significant impact on his wife, mother, and sister as they struggle in their own ways. His transformation throughout the play is noble. It brings positive hope to the family, along with pride and unity. Walter has found that he has the ability to change himself regardless if he doesn't have the ability to change the circumstances. Walter ultimately becomes a better husband, son, brother, and father when he realizes that this is a victory despite the

In order to be successful, sacrifices must be made. This relates well to an African-American family, the Youngers, who lived in 1950s Southern Chicago, in the play, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry. The Youngers were in a poor economic condition; five people in a small, dingy two bedroom apartment, until the death of Lena’s husband.. The family was to receive a life insurance check of $10,000, which could improve the lives of everyone in the family. However conflict occurred once the check arrived due to the family member’s dreams conflicting. Ten thousand dollars was a lot of money back then, but it was not nearly enough to satisfy everyone, and thus,sacrifices were made. The decisions that Walter, Mama, and Ruth made prove that sacrifices are necessary for a family to function.

In the play, “Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, the story has a strong cultural feel. Throughout the play the author focuses a lot on the families Southern culture. The author tries to focus the play around events that happened in her own life. A black family struggling to meet ends meet living in a poor neighborhood comes across a chance to upgrade and move into a family home in the white neighborhood. The play takes place in the 1950’s, a time where black lives didn’t matter to many. The characters in the play go against many social norms that would have been set during this time such as blacks living in a white neighborhood. The 1950’s were a hard time for African American's, and women, neither of them had many rights and were constantly struggling to get by.

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the Youngers are a poverty-stricken african american family living in a small apartment in Chicago. They are receiving a life insurance check for ten thousand dollars, and what they will use this money for becomes a sensitive subject in the household. Each family member believes some of the money should go to their dreams or goal, but in the end agree it should go to a house first. They each want to be with ones with the money because it symbolizes power in the household. While power and money are sources of conflict in the Younger household, ultimately it brings them closer as a family.