Gender Segregation And Gender Roles

Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird portray prejudicial parameters that properly represent the social issues of the early twentieth century. Both authors use issues of race, gender roles, and social status to connect their work to the nonfictional events occurring in their own lives. The characters in both novels experience personal judgement, as well as the ability to witness its effect on those around them. Racial inequality is presented throughout history by rulings of the court. Gender roles also negatively presented society with the problem of the inability of some to aspire to their greatest potential. Social status presents as another problem in the time period of the novel, being that those of the lower class were forced to adapt to a new lifestyle. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, prejudice sets figurative lines that imprison some of the characters due to race, sex, and social status which reign true in the time period surrounding the settings of the novels.

In A Raisin in the Sun, Beneatha is an African American woman in the 1950’s who is determined to put her education first and one day become a doctor. Ruth tries to convince Beneatha to marry George because he is a rich man; however, Beneatha responds that “[she’s] going to be a doctor. [She’s] not worried about who [she’s] going to marry yet-if [she] ever gets married” (Hansberry, 1959, p. 936). After this discussion, Beneatha’s discipline and mindset is revealed. Beneatha clearly shows that she is more committed to her education than any other aspect of her life.

    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

Lorraine Hansberry, the author of “A Raisin in The Sun”, was born in Chicago, Illinois. Hansberry was the youngest of four children. Her father Carl Augustus Hansberry was a prominent real estate broker and her mother Louise Perry was a stay home mother. She grew up on the south side of Chicago in the Woodlawn neighborhood. Later the family moved into an all-white neighborhood, where they experienced racial discrimination. Hansberry attended a predominantly white public school while her parents fought against segregation. In 1940 Hansberry’s father engaged in a Supreme Court case of Hansberry v. Lee which was a legal battle against a racially restrictive covenant that attempted to prohibit African-American families from buying homes in the area. As a result in Supreme Court case of Hansberry v. Lee it made the family subject to the hellishly hostile in their predominantly white neighborhood.

In different countries gender roles can vary on how much they are utilized. Some countries do not think a woman is supposed to have a certain place in the world. In other countries gender roles can be a problem, meaning women are only supposed to have a certain job, a certain pay, and they are supposed to be married. In A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, It is based on a African American family The Youngers who go through challenges with money, family, and the death of a loved one. Lorraine Hansberry challenges traditional gender roles through the characterization of Beneatha. Beneatha does the complete opposite of what an average woman in the 1940’s/1950’s is supposed to do with their life and school.

In the Younger family, there is one member that stands out from the rest and that is Beneatha Younger. Beneatha is a twenty year-old college student who dreams of attending medical school one day and eventually becoming a female doctor. As this seems common for a female individual during the present day, that is severely not the case in the 1950’s. A black woman coming from a poor neighborhood on the Southside of Chicago was thought as never being able to achieve this role as it was impossible. In a family comprised of a mother, brother, and sister-in-law whose main focus is daily survival, Beneatha's dream appeals as unfathomable. Nevertheless, the family makes many different financial sacrifices to ensure that Beneatha is able to receive

Lorraine Hansberry, famous playwright and social activist, had many experiences from her childhood to draw on when writing her works, many of which are especially present in A Raisin in the Sun. An example of this would be the Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee in 1940. Lorraine Hansberry’s family moved to a white neighborhood in Chicago and was evicted because the community had previously attempted to create a racially restrictive covenant preventing African Americans from moving into the neighborhood. Though the case was eventually brought before the Supreme Court and decided in favor of Hansberry’s family, it was not because the neighborhood community was discriminating against African Americans. The case was eventually decided in favor of Hansberry because the required number of people had not signed the covenant so it could not legally be in effect (Hansberry v. Lee). Though this event was decided in the family's favor, it can be argued that it was for the wrong reasons, even if it allowed the family to keep their house. This event was affected Lorraine Hansberry's writing in the future and was so impactful that she wrote a similar event into her play, A Raisin in the Sun.

As a women of the 1950’s era, there was still the societal notion that a woman's place is in the kitchen, raising a family, and being an arm piece to her man. The idea of domesticity and women is an even stronger shackle for black women, who often did not see opportunities to be more than that in their lifetime. Beneatha serves as deviant and a defier of these societal racism and gender norm. In the novel she pursued to be what she wanted to be and experience what she desired to experience, despite being a black women being raised by a poor Chicago family. In a statement about the control she has over her own future she states, “Listen, I’m going to be a doctor.

In society it been repeated that a woman can’t do things men can, but in history they have proven them wrong. In the book A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Beneatha Younger can be compared to Hillary Clinton because they both want to stand up for their women’s rights, because over the years it is proven genders are not equal. In this passage hillary clinton and beneatha younger take a stand. Hillary Clinton is pragmatic. She been senate for eight years and secretary of state for four years for president Obama .

In the story, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1988), the main characters face many difficulties that pertain to their life in the 1950s. One issue the family faces is residential segregation. Another difficulty is pursuing education in a field that is predominantly male or female. A third challenge is dealing with money issues. Hansberry wrote the book to reflect the current events of the 1950s, but these events also relate to before the 1950s and the present, 2016.

First time the majority of the cast was African-American. The thing that makes this piece so special is the decade in which she wrote and this play. In the 1950s, it was portrayed as a good time for economy and blacks where content with their inferior status. This play was a revolutionary work for this time in the 1950s. Most plays didn’t depict what an actual black family goes through on American Stage. African-American roles before this play would be small, comedic roles and ethnic stereotypes. Hansberry shows a black family in the light of reality where it was comedic, it was real life struggles. There were issues throughout the play brought up such as poverty, discrimination, and the constitution of African-American racial identity. This play shows the real life tensions between the black and white societies. Not only is Hansberry talking about blacks in American but she has issues of Africans anticolonial struggles as well. Another risky topic Hansberry shared in the play was feminism. The character Beneatha showed that women could have ambitious dreams and goals as well. Women didn’t have to depend on marriage and just become a housewife, they could work hard for themselves. Even the topic of abortion was addressed even though it was illegal in this error. Hansberry main point of the play was to focus on dreams. Every main character in the play had their own dream. Materialistic dreams created problems in the family and happiness. Hansberry focus was to do what’s best for your family and continue to lift each other

Walter basically just expects the $10,000 to go to him to open a liquor store. When the check arrives, that is all he cares about. He doesn’t care to talk to his wife, even when Mama tells him he needs to talk to her. Walter ignores her and only has his eyes on the check until

Oppression and social injustice phased the African Americans living in the United States. Lorraine Hansberry and Dr.Martin Luther King Jr., exploited the reality of those issues in the 20th century through their literature. An African American family living in the 1950’s in Chicago face societal difficulties, oppression and racial injustice in Lorraine Hansberry’s, Raisin In The Sun. Dr. King Jr. acknowledges equivalent concerns in his well known speech, I Have A Dream, during the protest for civil and economic rights. Collating A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and I Have A Dream by Martin Luther King Jr., they acknowledge oppression against African Americans as well as dreamfullment in their literary work.

Showing his frustration to his mother, Walter does not feel like he will ever acquire his dream because he feels like he never got the chance or opportunity to. The inability of not able to provide a better life for his household is causing him to stress, act out of character and clouding his decision making. With nowhere else to turn he thought he could use his father’s life insurance money to invest into a liquor store which turned into a scam. Walter feeling trapped from making advancements in life, he makes a huge mistake and learns from this error. In the play Walter is talking to mother describing his anger,

     Beneatha is an intellectual. Twenty years old, she attends college and is better educated than the rest of the Younger family. Some of her personal beliefs and views have distanced her from conservative Mama. She dreams of being a doctor and struggles to determine her identity as a well-educated black woman. She realizes her brother, Walter, dislikes the idea of spending the insurance money on the college tuition but is determined to be successful in her life: “BENEATHA: What are you talking about Ruth? Listen, I’m going to be a doctor … first I’m going to be a doctor! (I.i pg. 50)” Beneatha builds her frustration upon the doubts of her brother. When Walter