Argumentative Essay On A Raisin In The Sun

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

Another theme and issue that arrives from the play A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, is racism. During the 1950’s blacks and whites were segregated. The house the Younger’s purchased was in the Clybourne Park neighborhood, an all white neighborhood. When Lena told the family they were moving to Clybourne Park they stood with amazement. “Mama, there ain’t no colored people in Clybourne Park” (p.734). The family heard of other colored families’ houses being set on fire in this neighborhood, they were concerned that the same thing would happen to them.

The play ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ by ‘Lorraine Hansberry’ is about a matriarchy, Lena Younger or known as “Mama” to her family the Youngers who are poverty stricken family. She is about to receive insurance money from her husband’s life insurance policy, which is rightfully hers. However each member of the Youngers family we come into contact with have a plan to use the money for themselves, each individual’s through-line plays a vital role in their dreams, thoughts and choices in the end. Throughout the play the family have experiences that money can’t buy happiness and the effects of racial prejudice emerge.

During the 1900s many black families barely had enough money to pay for the basic necessities needed to live. At times some families would receive a significant sum of money, something they were not used to getting. Deciding on how to spend this money is what caused problems among some families. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, she argues that there are times when in a state of financial instability and where money is a necessity to completing one’s dream that some family members choose to put their dreams over others when suddenly given the opportunity. After Mama’s husband died she was bound to receive an insurance check that would be used by the Younger family. Before even receiving the

“What happens to a dream deferred?” (Hughes l. 1) Langston Hughes asks in his 1959 poem “Dream Deferred.” He suggests that it might “dry up like a raisin in the sun” (Hughes ll. 2-3) or “stink like rotten meat” (Hughes l. 6); however, at the end of the poem, Hughes offers another alternative by asking, “Or does it explode?” (Hughes l. 11) This is the view Lorraine Hansberry supports in her 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun, in witch she examines an African-American’s family’s struggle to break out of the poverty that is preventing them from achieving some sort of financial stability, or the American Dream. It focuses on Walter’s attempt in “making it,” or “being somebody.” She also analyzes how race, prejudice, and economic insecurity

(page 45-46)” In the first act alone, the audience is shown the great disparities between the American dream for a white man and the American dream for people of color. However, now with this insurance money from Big Walter’s death, there is a chance of someone their dream, the problem that the Younger’s face is which someone should get to use the money. Beneatha needs it for college to become a doctor, Walter needs it to invest in a liquor store so he can finally “be somebody.” But Mama wants to use that money to buy a house. She wants to leave their current rented apartment and she wants a nice house in the suburbs where she could have a garden and “with a yard where Travis could play in the summer. (page 44)” Mama believes that a change of scenery is what the family needs and that it will bring them back together. These three characters have the most conflicting wants for the

The play A Raisin in the Sun illustrates the social and economic pressure that is placed on the Younger family, especially Beneatha who aspires to become a doctor at the time where not many women could even imagine such aspirations. The Younger family's daughter Beneatha is an outspoken intelligent member who raises the argument for the other side of the spectrum at all times. Beneatha is aspiring to become a doctor and has some hope that some of the money from her father's social insurance cheque would help go to her medical school. The pressure of being lower middle class severely affects the relationships of the Younger family as Walter, Beneatha's older brother shows no regard for his sister as he sees her as the only one in the house not

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.

It was a common fear among the African-Americans. The Younger Family knew that the discrimination would hold them back from their dreams and goals, but because they believe in prosperity and pride, that was the last thing on their mind. The “want” in their spirits, is what sets them at place of tranquility and hope. “In fact, here’s another fifty cents… buy yourself some fruit today - or take a taxicab to school or something! (1.1.1840) Walter is letting his son know that there is no problem when it comes to their economic status. One of the difficulties that the adults faced was their self-righteousness. The discrimination was really enabled when it came to anything in their life. Whether it be buying certain houses, jobs, or even sitting in a restaurant, it was something so common; they learned that it is far more important for their child to know how to live with no fear and worrisome in life. When it came to Walter, he knew that keeping the innocence in Travis’ life was the right thing to do, where for Ruth she was far more upright. The self-doubt they displayed was becoming a burden in their lives, but that transformation and growth is what helped them come to a better understanding of themselves. The Younger Family’s moral development would be their sense of pride, and Mama’s destiny was to continue that pride. Mama’s development within herself had grown to great measures, but when it came to her

     A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, tries to give readers an overall look of what it feels like to be given a chance to make a difference. The play includes Mama, the stronghold of the family, her son, Walter Lee, a dreamer, Beneatha, Walter’s sister, who wants to be a doctor, his wife, Ruth, a realist, and their son, Travis. The play setting is like that of The Glass Menagerie, and is set in post WWII and tells how Mama wants to make a difference for her family. A Raisin in the Sun, unlike The Glass Menagerie, tells how Mama wants something for her entire family to enjoy, unlike Amanda, who wants her family to provide for her own enjoyment. In A Raisin in the Sun, Mama inherits ten-thousand dollars, due to her husband death, and buys a nice house in a white neighborhood. She entrusts Walter Lee, with sixty-five hundred dollars of the ten-thousand dollars, to put into the bank. Mama tells Walter Lee to divide it between him and Beneatha. Instead of putting the money where Mama told him, Walter decides to invest it with friends, in which, he ends up getting scammed. In turn, this made it difficult for the family to decide whether to move into the house or not. Mama lets Walter Lee make the decision to move into the house or to give up. He realizes at the end of the play that this was for his family more

Though there was a heightened sense of tension over civil rights in the late 1950s when A Raisin in the Sun was written, racial inequality is still a problem today. It affects minorities of every age and dynamic, in more ways than one. Though nowadays it may go unnoticed, race in every aspect alters the way African-Americans think, behave, and react as human beings. This is shown in many ways in the play as we watch the characters interact. We see big ideas, failures, and family values through the eyes of a disadvantaged group during an unfortunate time in history. As Martin Luther King said, Blacks are “...harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what

In the playwright A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is about a poor African-American family named the Younger. This family live in a poor one bedroom apartment in the Southside of Chicago. In the play this family suffer and struggle a lot and they were always praying and wish to live in a very big house of their own. In the beginning of the play this family knows that they going to get Walter Lee Sr insurance worth 10,000 dollars that he left behind after his death for Lena ( mama). In the play this family was waiting on the check so that they share it to themselves. In the playwright Walter Lee wants to open his own type of business which is liquor store, in the other hand Lena ( mama) has always wanted to buy a big nice house with a backyard where her grandson Travis can been playing everyday. The three characters that are in the playwright are Walter Lee Younger Junior, Lena Younger (mama), and Ruth Younger this are three characters.

Walter is sitting at the table when his father asks him to pull down his pants. And now, all hope is gone. Dad asks him what’s wrong with him. And Walter says nothing. It was clear something was wrong that he didn’t want to expose himself. So finally dad commands him to pull down his pants, and it was absolutely horrible. He had dry blood, bruises, and massive swelling. I was so ready to give him a beating. So daddy does the job of asking what’s wrong. You will not believe this he says,”Momma beat me.” Then daddy starts getting extremely mad at me for something I didn’t even do! So I get up and take Walter to his room and ask him why did you say that I beat you. He never responded. So I hit him once, no response. Hit him twice, no response.

In the words of Jim Cocola and Ross Douthat, Hansberry wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun to mimic how she grew up in the 1930s. Her purpose was to tell how life was for a black family living during the pre-civil rights era when segregation was still legal (spark notes). Hansberry introduces us to the Youngers’, a black family living in Chicago’s Southside during the 1950s pre-civil rights movement. The Younger family consists of Mama, who is the head of the household, Walter and Beneatha, who are Mama’s children, Ruth, who is Walter’s wife, and Travis, who is Walter and Ruth’s son. Throughout the play the Youngers’ address poverty, discrimination, marital problems, and abortion. Mama is waiting on a check from the

"A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, it 's one of her realistic masterpieces. The play expresses an African American family stand out in their respective to chase the American dream by experiencing contradictions and conflicts. Although in the play, the American dream not ending perfectly, the dramatis personae in the play, particularly mother Lena Younger, did not show any improvement by moving into a white neighborhood. To have a better understanding of Lena, I am going to interpret her through exploring her physical, spiritual and social space, to understand the perplexities and helplessness of this seemingly strong mother.