Gender Expectations In Raisin In The Sun

Mandy Hale, author of The Single Woman: Love, Life, and a Dash of Sass, once said, “Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well-beaten path.” This shows that fearing to do what others would not. When a woman goes their own path and things start to grow tough, will she turn the other way? In Lorraine Hansberry’s, A Raisin in the Sun, she portrays a misunderstood character who, at times can be disrespected by her family. Beneatha Younger, a well-educated, ambitious, and childlike young woman, aspires to “find herself” while maintaining her dreams of being a doctor. Ultimately, breaking the stereotypes of women in the 1950’s.

In the book, “A Raisin in the Sun”, the family is faced with many challenges. Between gender, discrimination, family, social classes, and the very unique American dream, conflictions surfaced and began to become bigger problems. At the end of the book, the Youngers moved out of their apartment. But, we did not know what the future held for this family. If the Youngers stayed in the old apartment they were living in, they would revert back to their old habits. “Who’s fighting you? Who even cares about you?” (Pg.32). In this quote, Walter talks about his wife’s importance. He shows how vulnerable he was and took out all his anger on her. This quote relates to reverting back to their old habits because Walter and Ruth would continue to complain about how they see no change coming for them to work for.

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

Beneatha is intrigued by Asagai’s culture and his firm belief in his Nigerian heritage, and she somewhat longs to find this dedication and interest in her own ancestors and native culture. Asagai comes over to the house to give Beneatha authentic Nigerian robes, and the two continue to talk. Asagai helps her put on the robes and then comments saying, “You wear it well… very well… mutilated hair and all” (Lansberry 61). Beneatha is quite shocked when he says this, and responds asking, “My hair- what’s wrong with my hair?” Asagai alludes to the fact that Beneatha straightens her hair, instead of letting it be curly and crinkly as a black woman’s hair should naturally be. Beneatha’s tendency to straighten her hair elaborates on the fact that she is struggling to find her identity and camouflages any indications of her

Walter Younger is the other big influencer in A Raisin in the Sun. Walter is conceited and is hot-headed. He doesn’t think about anyone besides himself, “I’m trying to talk to you about myself.”. Walter feels as if nobody ever listens to him or supports any decision he makes. “WILL SOMEONE PLEASE LISTEN TO ME TODAY!” Walter constantly nags about the same issues. Ruth says, “Honey, you never say nothing new. I listen to you every day, every night and every morning, and you never say nothing new.” Everyone is getting tired of the things Walter is saying. Walter’s constant complaining and him repeating his words constantly is a reason that he’s influential, Walter always complains about

“ A Raisin in the Sun” is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry about the life of an African American family during the era of segregation. The play starts off with the Younger family receiving a 10,000 dollar check from Mr. Younger’s insurance policy. The family argues over what they are going to do with it. Mama wants to buy a house with it, Walter wants to invest in a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to use the money to go to medical school. The contrast of the characters’ personalities fuels the conflict and drives the story forward. Beneatha is a young college student and the sister of Walter. She has a dream of becoming a doctor. Beneatha is a dynamic character who is easily influenced by her family and the people

When doing a simple Google search online for “manliest things to do” results come up that include “being physically and mentally strong”, “defending people” and even “wrestling a bear”. Throughout time the expectations of strong, powerful and brave have surrounded the idea of a man. These stereotypes have influenced the role of the man in everything from social life to entertainment. Within the pieces of literature, Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, General Munro and Walter Lee Younger show an opposing side to this stereotype due to the character’s tendency to quit when situations get hard, the character’s naïve outlook when making deals, and the character’s

There are many hidden and sub-surface meanings in life. Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises is no exception to that fact. As the title of the novel suggests, the novel is about the rise of a new generation that breaks away from the societal conventions of the previous generation. Though The Sun Also Rises seems to be simply about the rise of a new generation, a closer look at the relationship between Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley suggests a queer relationship produced out of gender role nonconformity. Their relationship enables one to see the blurring of the lines that divide the conventional gender roles.

Beneatha Younger, the younger sister of Walter Lee, was considered an assimilationist during Act one Scene two of, “A Raisin in the Sun.” Joseph Asagai, an African student from Nigeria that Beneatha fancied, had several thoughts on assimilation, including how Beneatha was an assimilationist. As said by Asagai, “You wear it well. . . very well. . . mutilated hair and all.” (Page 28) He is referring to her hairstyle with the robes a Nigerian woman would wear that he brought her. Asagai is saying to Beneatha that her hair looks destroyed and unnatural because it

A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, tells the story of a black family’s struggle to achieve their dreams. Beneatha’s dream is the take control of her life which would be accomplished through her feminism. In this play, she attempts to gain control by becoming a doctor which is very ambitious during this time. Bennie also changes her hair to more accurately reflect her independence. Bennie uses her feminism to take control of her life by getting an education and changing her hair to be more independent.

In the play “A Raisin in the Sun,” Lorraine Hansberry introduces various characters with different perspectives, values, and priorities. The Younger family consists of three main characters, which are Mama, Walter, and Beneatha. Mama is the mother of Walter and Beneatha. Mama is considered to be the main unifier; she is usually the one that has the most influence on the members of the family. Walter is the oldest son, who currently is one of the main providers of the family and married to Ruth, while Beneatha is the youngest daughter, who currently attends college, and has, as it’s primary goal to attend medical school. Throughout the play Walter, Beneatha, and Mama portray different values and priorities through most of their interactions

From the mid 1940s to the 1970s African American women were taught to accept the stereotypes of race and gender as well as cope with the realities of race and gender discrimination. For much of the history, the reality of African American women is that they have to go to “day work”, nurse the children, prepare the meals, and maintain their household while standing beside their male spouse. During these times, many women were furious with these stereotypes and because of this women chose to take their own route. This leads me to the next film, A Raisin in the Sun. A Raisin in the Sun portrays an African American family consisting of Mama, Walter Lee (Son and Brother), Ruth (Wife of Walter Lee), and finally Beneatha (Daughter and Sister). Mama husband died; who was also the childrens father. Mama and the children was expecting a insurance check from his death and each family member had their own specific plans as to what they were going to do with the money. Walter wanted to own a liquor store to support the family, mama wanted to move out and buy the family a new home and Beneatha wanted to go to school to become a doctor, but due to their economic status and the abundant racism of the time, they are forced to put aside these dreams. Beneatha dream stuck out to me because it showed that she was stepping outside of society limits. Beneatha's character represents a young, black woman's feminism and unique outlook on life in the 1950's. Throughout the movie, Beneath shows many

What makes a person make a good choice or a bad choice? What influences that person? Is it the people around that person? These are all questions to wonder about, and in the end of the script it is all answered. Walter in “A Raisin in The Sun,” by Lorraine Hansbery, is a character surrounded by women who do not understand him. Over the course of the story, Walter makes many choices that change their lives in the story, because of Ruth, Beneatha, and Mama.

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun challenges the 1950's stereotype of America as a nation full of housewives that are content. Mama, Ruth and Beneatha, the main females in the play, represent three generations of black women who never stop dreaming of a better tomorrow. Even though the intentions of these women differ in subject, they all involve the furthering their roles as women, varying from owning a house, to paying for a child's education to attending Medical School. Despite the fact that Robert Nemiroff concluded that one of the central concerns of "A Raisin In The Sun" consists of the wave of feminism that emerged in the U.S. in the wake of World War II, the story truly celebrates how the women held their own during the rough

Lorraine Hansberry depicts her character of Beneatha as being inferior to the rest of the human race through the use of the name “Beneatha”, depicting the hardships of African Americans. Hansberry accomplishes her depiction of the hardships through the use of discrimination, both stereotypical and racial, against the African American race and through the general inferiority of her character of Beneatha, in her play, A Raisin in the Sun. For instance, when Hansberry introduces the character of Beneatha, she illustrates that Beneatha is inferior to Ruth in physical appearance (35). Hansberry writes: "([Beneatha] is not as pretty as her sister-in-law)"(35). This passage illustrates the hardships of the African American race through the