A Raisin in the Sun: An Analysis

In a carefully worded essay I will discuss the aspect of ‘race’ as a hindrance to the

Another form of symbolism is when Miss Maudie is compared to her azaleas. “Miss Maudie hated her house: time spent indoors was time wasted. She was a widow, a chameleon lady who worked in her flower

In the novel, flowers are directly used as symbolism; Ms. Dubose has Camellias, Mayella has Geraniums, and Miss. Maudie Atkinson has her Azaleas.

Similarly, Hansberry continues this idea in the opening scene of Act two. This scene opens with Beneatha dressed in traditional Nigerian robes, dancing to Nigerian melody, and singing along with the record. Walter soon joins her and the entire house becomes involved in Beneatha’s enjoyment. By opening the second act as such, Hansberry presents aspects of African culture in an uplifting and celebratory fashion, thus further connecting her characters with their African roots. She evens implies the awareness many young blacks have of their past through the character, George Murchison. The critic Anne Cheney points out: “even George Murchison…has an awareness of his African past” (Cheney 59). She continues to examine the comparisons Hansberry makes regarding Lena to the “earth mother.” Furthermore, Cheney argues that through Asagai, Hansberry refutes the stereotype of Africans with “a bone through his nose, or his ears.” Hansberry contradicts this stereotype by characterizing Asagai instead as a down-to-earth

Mama understands the past and the significance of a family heritage. Her heritage including her memories of her mother and grandma making quilts together by hands.

Seemingly, the flowers represent Elisa. She believes she is strong and tough and able to accomplish anything thrown her way; however, taken for granted as she is only a woman allowed to look and act accordingly. Surrounding the flowers is a wire fence set up to keep out predators and to separate the flowers from the rest of the farm. The wire fence is symbolic in the fact that it is identical to the world Elisa lives in. Elisa is contained within the farm, unable to explore or leave without the help of someone else. Elisa is stuck on the farm, isolated from the rest of the world so that she can be kept safe. Naive and unaware of how the world works, her husband keeps her on the farm to protect her from harm. When Elisa gives the chrysanthemum to the travelling merchant, she gives him a small piece of herself. Later, as her and her husband are driving to town, she sees the flower tossed aside as though it was nothing; as a result, she realizes she could never go off on and live the way the merchant had. The flowers embody her character still, and how out of her home without protection, the world can be harsh and cruel. In short, Elisa’s isolation leaves her ignorant, unable to understand how callous the world is, and comes to the bleak realization that she can’t live a life anywhere outside of her fence. Because of how women were treated, constantly pushed down and unable to pursue their interests, Elisa is left unable to learn what life has to offer. Learning

She is upset by the loss of the day even though her mother attempts to distract her with a garden of flowering violets, her father also attempts to comfort her. Finally, she returns to sleep after dinner. Her memory is a positive memory and the motif if the violets are used to link the past and present as it will help her get through her dark times. In the visual her memory is included, and he mother confronting her is one of the main images that she remembers from this. The image of her mother comforting her is a very important one, as it establishes the role and persona of a mother at the time and how women in that era were seen as to stay home look after children and the men went out and worked to support the

Hansberry has gone through many challenging milestones having to move to a white suburb neighborhood at age of eight. Hansberry and her family had faced with multiple attacks against them. In the source About the Playwright: Lorraine Hansberry wrote “Shortly afterwards, Hansberry herself was nearly killed by a brick hurled through a window by angry whites” Mobs of white people surround her home since her family is African American. In which connects to her play A Raisin in the sun when Johnson said “NERGROS INVADE CLYBROURNE PARK BOMBED”

Another character that is connected to a flower is Mrs. Maudie because just like the Azaleas she keeps positiveness even though she's surrounded by negativity. The author quotes, “Always wanted a smaller house, Jem

    Lorraine Hansberry faced many obstacles in her life which has made her  write this book A “Raisin in the Sun.” As said in Blooms Literature “She was the youngest of four children whose parents were well-educated, middle-class activists centrally engaged in the fight against racial discrimination. Early figures in the Civil Rights movement.” In the book “A Raisin in the Sun,” the first play written by an African American she made through experiences of  black people who live on Chicago’s South Side, Hansberry used members of her family as inspiration for her characters. Lorraine Hansberry life had comparisons in this book dealing with poverty

The setting of Alice Walkers short story” The Flowers” is important for us, the readers to obtain a perspective of how life was like growing up for a 10 year old African American girl by the name of Myop. The title of the story is “The Flowers.” When you think about flowers, you instantly compare them to being beautiful, pure, and innocent. The title of the “The Flowers” is a symbolism that correlates to Myop who is the protagonist of the story. Myop is just like a flower in the beginning of the story. She’s a pure and innocent child but that pure innocence changes when she discovers something that’ll change her life forever.

The racism-steeped social system negatively affects African-American males and females, causing deeply rooted issues. The three women in the story, Beneatha, Ruth, and Mama, represent the different views Black women took during these troublesome times. There were women like Beneatha, who didn’t want to live the typical life of a wife and mother, and openly disapproved the assimilation of Blacks into American culture as well: “Because I hate assimilationist Negroes!” (Hansberry 1500). She wanted to become highly educated, and to change the world somehow. She wanted to be something. Beneatha is a very strong-willed, hard-headed character. This could very well have been caused by the unfair rules of her time constantly being reiterated to her through several mediums. Over and over again she is told that she must

When her husband passed, the insurance money was the first time she could take action on her own dreams, as a result, the first task she did was to put a down payment on a big house with a garden she has always wanted. The house symbolizes the result of the journey Mama takes of providing for the family and the endless passion she gives towards her family, similar to how passionate she is to keep the plant alive. Mama strives to bring the family back together and after buying the house, the Younger family realizes her hard work and reciprocates the love back. When they were leaving to move into their dream house, in the last scene, Mama runs back into their old apartment to retrieve the plant, representing to never forget all the hard work it took to get herself to reach the American Dream of eventually gaining love from her family.

Some people also believe that the play is racial because of when it took place during the pre-civil rights era, when the white race still did not consider the blacks of equal value. When Mama suggests to Ruth to stay home and

The writer believes that it has 2 connotation on Mama conversation because she said about little old plant but the denotation of the ” little old plant” means a plant which already withered. On the other hand, the connotation of “little old plant” means herself because she describes herself with using the connotation of “little old plant”. She tries to convey that even though she already become old but she never lost her dreams. She believes on the magic if her children wanted to work so hard their life would be blessed.