An Analysis Of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

During the 1920s, a mass movement in the African-American culture occurred. It took place in Harlem, New York, in which there was a culture, social, and artistic outburst. This was the movement called the Harlem Renaissance. During this movement, many African-American artists rose up. This included Langston Hughes, a poet, and Lorraine Hansberry, a writer. When Hansberry moved to Harlem, she became very good friends with Langston Hughes. In 1951, when Langston Hughes published his Dream Deferred poem, Hansberry was inspired by it and wrote a play based on it called Raisin in the Sun. In her play, Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry uses Mama, Ruth, and Walter to show the negative consequences that occur when you put off tour dream.

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

Walter is a man just like many others; he has a job, a family, and he also has ambitions in life just like anybody else. Walter is not the only one in his family that has ambitions, almost everybody else in his family have ambitions as well. These ambitions created conflicts between family members after they all found out that Walter's mother (Lena) have been settled by an insurance company for the death of her husband, and she is about to obtain a large sum of money.

5.) Walter wants the check and then Beneatha is denying the check and tells him its up mom. “That money belongs to mama, Walter, and its for her to decide how she wants to use it.” (pg.497,Para. 4) she knows the money is not hers and is not wanting the money. Walter also knows that this money he could invest into his dream liquor business. He also throws out other ideas for the money to beneatha. “If mama got that money she can always take a few thousand and help you through school too” (Pg497,Para.5) he is trying to get her to imagine how much this money can do but she is not interested and doesn’t want any handouts. This shows that Walter is the most worried about money and beneatha doesn’t really think it’s all about money.

Where would we be without our family? In our everyday lives, we get so caught up, we sometimes take our families for granted each day. Mothers, Fathers, siblings, step children, step parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents or any other combination of those characters all build up to make the structure of family. No matter if it’s immediate or extended family, no one family is perfect, no matter how we would like to pretend our family to be. Apart of every family, there is the alcoholic, the gambler, the dreamer, the drug attic, the war veteran, the pretender, the criminal, the mentally challenged and so on that exist one form or another.

The play A Raisin In the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry is a classic, revolutionary play written in the times of segregation and discrimination of skin tones. Throughout the story, the Youngers display how they are just like an ordinary family; everybody has their own special personality. This caused many conflicts when it was time to decide what to do with the check coming in the mail for ten thousand dollars. Walter Lee Younger, the son and oldest child of mama, was very passionate about the idea of using the money to open his own liquor store. His different personality traits take over and create him into a bossy man of the house.

Lorraine Hansberry is an African American play writer who wrote the play “A Raisin in the Sun.” The Play highlights the lives of a lower-class Black American family in the 1950s living under racial segregation and oppression in Chicago. The title of the play was inspired from the poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes. The poem questions “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” (Hansberry, 2013, p. 976). The protagonist, Walter Lee Younger, struggles internally with dissatisfaction of obtaining his dream of becoming successful. The play transitions of the tone of the protagonist as being defiant, argumentative, inattentive, in which; he experiences an epiphany and has a brighter perception that the most

Over 5 decades ago Lorraine Hansberry wrote a play, Raisin in the Sun, about a family living in Chicago during the Civil Rights Era.  The play illustrates a realistic portrait of African-American life during the late 50’s early 60’s.  The family comes into some money as a result of the Patriarch of the family passing away.  This insurance check presents an opportunity for each member of the family to realize their dreams in order to escape the ghetto.  However, each family member/character deals with circumstances that dominate their lives forcing them to shelve their individual dreams in order to meet family needs and goals.  Lorraine Hansberry gave

Written in the 1900s, “A Raisin in the Sun,” is seen as a “historical achievement” due to its realistic and truthful depiction of the lives lived by many African Americans in the late 1950s. In many ways, Lorraine Hansberry’s childhood contributed to the creation of this work. While she was born into a middle-class family in Chicago, she witnessed the discriminations afflicting the American society firsthand. On the surface, the play is about an African American family trying to escape the slums of Chicago’s South Side. However, Lorraine Hansberry utilizes complex characters and themes to go beyond the primary plot of the play and explore the social issues of this time period.

Another reason why this play is considered historically accurate is because small details throughout the novel hint at possible Cold War references. Some argue that a few of the subtle phrases said in A Raisin in the Sun can be related to not only to the bombing of black families’ homes but to the rising fear of nuclear war during the 1950s and 1960s. Since nuclear testing began in the early 1950s and lasted until 1962, Hansberry’s novels, interview, and personal beliefs reflected Civil Rights activism and anti-nuclear policies (Foertsch). With this in mind, the chances of Hansberry commenting on the issues are pretty high; however, since the novel’s main focus revolves around racial discrimination and financial instability, the antinuclear commentary would act as minor details inside a story about an average black family in the 1950s.

In some works of literature, a character who appears briefly, or does not appear at all, is a significant presence. In this book one of these characters have a big impact on the story because the story takes place around the 1950’s. During the 1950’s there was still a lot of racism around and the main characters are african american while the character who appears briefly is a white man.

H. What happens to a dream deferred? The revered Langston Hughes pondered this question in a time when forces of inequality pulled the dreams of some down - namely those of blacks and women. B. Lorraine Hansberry was a paradigm for the person whose dreams were left largely ignored by society. Racism and sexism are two problems that plagued Hansberry for most of her life, but also two hurdles that she overcame. T. In her play A Raisin In The Sun, t Lorraine Hansberry expresses her voice through her characters, by having them serve as beacons against sexism and racism, leaving a positive legacy on society; although some may say

However, that is not to say that there is no considerable insinuations from his failed gamble on his dream—Beneatha's tuition money is also lost, and the entire family will have to work harder to be able to pay off the monthly mortgage payments (Welsch and Adams “A Raisin in the Sun (Theater, 1959”). Also, the lingering strain of a new addition to the family will mean an even tighter financial situation for the Youngers (Domina “An overview of A Raisin in the Sun”). While the family gains personal and familial triumphs in the course of the play, the conclusion is left a bit doubtful. Walter's seeming-selfishness is a representation of the African-American male's then-narrow corridor of socially acceptable doors, each career “inferior in some way” to a different-skinned counterpart's probable salary (Washington “A Raisin in the

The play depicts the feelings and thoughts of the people of their time. Their feelings are different then what we see today in our lives. The family had to deal with poverty and racism. Not having enough money and always being put down because of the color of their skin held them back from having a lot of self-respect and dignity. I think that Mama was the one who had the most pride and held the family together.

Maya Angelou once said. “there is a kind of strength that I almost frightening in black women. It’s as if a steel rod runs right through the head down to the feet. Lorrain Hansberry was a play writer and activist doing her time. She was not only a very know black play writer she was the youngest American to win a New York Critics Circle award. She named this play after the poem “Harlem” sometimes called “Dream Deferred” written by Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. The story is about a family in Chicago in the 1950’s. That is about to get 10,000 dollars from insurance. The family all want to use the money for their dreams and to get out of the financial burden that they are in. The end of the story the family see’s their future as uncertain and dangerous and they believe that they will be stronger if they stick together as a family and not have different dreams any longer.