Comparing Mulatto And A Raisin In The Sun

Every black male's plight in America can be regarded as a provider for his family. However, society does not afford black males the benefit of feeling secure about providing for their families. It can be easy for anyone to criticize society and place the blame on America for not affording Walter the opportunities of his white counterparts. Walter does not have control over his own responsibilities. Therefore, if he was given all the resources needed to provide his family his poor judgement and lack of business sense would create further stress on the family. Ruth, Mama, and his sister Beanetha attack him from every angle about his doubtful ideals. Ironically, those ideals are what Walter needs to shape and justify his manhood. Without ideals and proper resources to obtain them, a man's existence can be regarded as insignificannot

Walter has long dreamed of making his family’s condition better, of giving them wealth that his low-paying job is unable to do. Nature appears to be against Walter and his family, for they are living in a poorly maintained tenement apartment while surrounded with racism. Walter understands this

This only further infuriates Walter. Not only does his mother make a complete power-grab by buying the house; she bought it in a cracker neighborhood! Walter storms out and is almost ready to kill someone over it. He feels he has lost his only shot at power. Walter comes back home screaming at his whole family, they don’t support him, especially his mother. He accuses her of not supporting his dream.

In the play, Mama, makes the decision to move into a new house, with this choice Mama puts her family in a tough situation. This benefits the family in several ways such as boosting their moral, and allowing them to live in a more pleasant area. As Mama told Walter, “ Walter Lee- it makes a difference in a man when he can walk on floors that belong to him” (2.1.92). One huge factor of moving to a better area, if confidence. With this boost of a better house, it could make Walter and the rest of his family work harder, allowing them to make more money. However, there have been recent bombings on colored houses in white neighborhoods. As Johnson mentioned “you mean you ain’t read ‘bout them colored people that was bombed out of their place out there?”

Racism is an issue that blacks face, and have faced throughout history directly and indirectly. Ralph Ellison has done a great job in demonstrating the effects of racism on individual identity through a black narrator. Throughout the story, Ellison provides several examples of what the narrator faced in trying to make his-self visible and acceptable in the white culture. Ellison engages the reader so deeply in the occurrences through the narrator’s agony, confusion, and ambiguity. In order to understand the narrators plight, and to see things through his eyes, it is important to understand that main characters of the story which contributes to his plight as well as the era in which the story takes place.

In Hughes poem “Note on the commercial Theatre” he started off with an angry tone, upset that African American music was used by the whites, but the African Americans didn’t receive the credit for the artistic work: “You’ve taken my blues and gone you sing them on Broadway” (1043). Furthermore, at the end of the poem Hughes does expresses a powerful ending, our culture is beautiful, but you will never be me: “Black and beautiful and sing about me, and put on plays about me! I reckon it’ll be me myself” (1043)! Hughes poems focused on the urban cultures, while Zora Neale Hurston short story “How it feels to be Colored Me” focused on her as a woman who is discovering herself and her worth.

Wilson stated that ''The truth is that often where there are esthetic criteria of excellence, there are also sociological criteria that have traditionally excluded blacks.'' He then continued on to say ''... raise the standards and remove the sociological consideration of race as privilege, and we will meet you at the crossroads, in equal numbers, prepared to do the work of extending and developing the common ground of the American theater.'' Through these powerful words Wilson is saying that in order to reflect American culture in the theater, the history of African American’s must be reflected. There have always been systems in place that have excluded African Americans and white Americans will never understand the way that sense of oppression felt. White Americans will never understand how it feels to be enslaved, be powerless in protecting your family, and being sold off as property, as Eliza Harris from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and millions of other slaves felt. Photographing the “American Negro” by Shawn Michelle Smith presented the idea that white Americans have tried to take away the histories of other races in America. People have always turned against embracing the histories of the African Americans because they were seen as alien to their owners. Their different skin tone separated them from the white Americans who thought of them as uncivilized before they were brought to work for them. Ultimately Wilson calls for Black Theaters to prevent the culture of the

Walter instead of begging at the feet of Mr. Linder accepting the money too not move in the white neighborhood he, stands his ground on behalf of the family and states that they’ve worked hard their whole lives and are deserving of a spot in the white neighborhood, and despite discrimination are ready to live their lives in that neighborhood. At that point Walter got the respect from his sister who rarely admits her love towards him but, also the infatuation and justification from his wife, Ruth, who was very proud. When Mr. Linder tried to move onto Mrs. Younger (Mama-Lena) she state’s “I am afraid you don’t understand. My son said we was going to move and there ain’t nothing left for me to say.” (3.1.137) standing by her son and completely supporting him and his decision as the head of the household. Walter finally felt his manhood coming back, as Mr. Linder shut his briefcase and welcomed them too the neighborhood despite the problems they will face later on. The family celebrated and packed their stuff into the moving trucks immediately, and headed for the start of their new lives!

Walter redeems himself when he refuses to take the money from Mr. Lindner. Though he was completely willing to swallow his pride for the sake of his family. This shows that Walter would do what it takes for the overall well-being of his family.

Walter comes up with another plan to take money from Linder, president of the Clyburn home association. Earlier, he offered the family money not to move in their neighborhood but Walter declined. However, after his devastating loss, he called up Linder to make a deal to get more money. Walter Younger’s defining moment was when Mama told him he was not a man and his father would not be pleased with his decision. This seemed to cause something to rise in him to change his perspective on

August Wilson’s plays relate directly to his African heritage, and were and are a part of his success. His expression of the struggles of the blacks

the play are ―rich symbol[s]‖ that convey the barriers of a ―racist society‖ (Kenny par. 18). The

Toward the end of the play his spirit is broken, and he behaves almost like a madman, plotting to give in to Lindner and accept his offer; this action greatly worries his mother. The whole time, Walter wasn’t simply looking for a chance to follow through with his plans. He was seeking support from the system that he found himself subject to. This idea comes up in Gertrude Samuels’ Even More Crucial Than in the South. “…the real drive that is now rising ominously is a demand for personal dignity” (Samuels 1546). His personal dignity is at stake repeatedly throughout the story when he finds himself battling against a troubled family and a corrupt system.

Even though we may come from different cultures and backgrounds that doesn’t necessarily make us better or worse than anyone else. Our culture, background, and the things we go through that make us who we are today. The play The Migrant Farmworker’s Son by Silvia Gonzalez is based on the struggles of a Mexican family that migrated to the United States in search for a better life for their children. Their son has a hard time conforming to the Mexican lifestyle since he was raised in the United States. They struggle economically as well as a family to be happy since there is opposing forces that prevent them from being happy. The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is based on an African American family whose dreams are constantly deferred for one reason or

Amiri Baraka’s 1964 play, Dutchman, is a prime example of a work that has an allegorical meaning of the race relationships between African Americans and Caucasians during its time period. A major theme of this course is studying stories as narratives, in terms of understanding cultural diversity. Although Dutchman is a play, and not a novel or short story, the interaction between Lula and Clay assists the audience in conceptualizing black oppression after World War II through the system of language. This revolutionary work, a “product of the 1960s Black Power movement,” represents how the system affects Clay, whom symbolizes the African American population (Lecture 9/3/15). The interaction between Clay and Lula represents the system of language, in which its linguistic rivalry, through stereotyping, represents the race relationships of America during the 1960s.