Identity In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

This character is a static and a round character. She is the mother of Walter and Beneatha. All she’s ever wanted was a new home to pass down to Travis one day and a garden. Mama has the most responsibility, she struggles to do the right thing for each of the five members of the family. With this much pressure she wants to support the idea that Walter Lee has of investing in a liquor store, but it’s a selfish act because it wouldn’t be for the family and also considering the fact that they aren’t business people. Throughout this play Mama stays strong and that’s what makes her a static character. What makes her a round character was the moment she told Ruth that her children frighten her, this is contradicting because she dedicates her life to her children and she also struggles to instill her values to them.

In the play A Raisin in the Sun, three generations of women are represented. Lena is the default head of household after her husband passes away. She believes, like most women of her time, that men should make the important decisions. Ruth is somewhere in between the two, is usually outspoken, and vocalizes her frustrations, yet aims to please her husband. She is willing to do whatever it takes to better the life her family. Beneatha is a young feminist college student who is not at all tolerant of society's unequal treatment and expectations of women. This play demonstrates the importance of how women's ideas have changed over time through the eyes of three generations.

In Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun a number of social issues are both explicitly and subtly exemplified through out the characters experiences and relationships. Living in a cramped Chicago apartment, the Youngers’ display both influential goals and conflicting restraints. Beneatha Youngers is a controversial character; she complicates society’s typical gender roles, introduces the wrestle between assimilation and ancestry of African-Americans, but specifically serves as a paradigm for her generation in the play.

Not only is she black but she’s a woman so in the 1950s the whole world was against her. “I know―because that’s what it says in all the novels that men write. But it isn’t. Go ahead and laugh―but I’m not interested in being someone’s little episode in America[...] (page 64)” Beneatha is a feminist and a resilient character but every male figure in her life treats her dream like a joke and a phase. She is belittled by her own brother who tells her to just be a nurse. She is belittled by George Murchinson her boyfriend who tells her that she’s too pretty for thoughts and that her dream is just a girlish fantasy. Even Asagai treats her as lower to himself. But Beneatha has dreams. After seeing a child named Rufus get his face split open and thinking he’d never be put back together, she saw him later all fixed up by doctors. This was a life changing moment. From then on Beneatha wanted to be a doctor and she is working as hard as she can to get there. This money is crucial for Beneatha. In order to become a doctor she needs to go to medical school but in order to go to medical school she needs money. Half of the insurance money was supposed to go towards her college education but instead her brother lost it

Stories and stereotypes make many people want to change themselves negatively and assimilate just to fit in with society. As time passes, society’s stereotypes for how people of each race should be, which race is more dominant than others, and which race you should be, all play a role in impacting someone’s self-esteem and their insecurities. This is portrayed through Jin Wang, a main character in Gene Luen Yang’s “American Born Chinese” when Jin Wang thinks his crush, Amelia, he instantly becomes happy. But then he thinks about Greg and Amelia together and gets mad. He finally zooms into Greg’s blond hair. The next day he goes to school with the same hairstyle. The hair symbolizes Greg’s all American identity because the stereotypical American is portrayed with blond hair and blue eyes. To Jin Wang, this hair symbolizes what he wants to be, so he changed his hair to an “American” hairstyle to get Amelia to like him. Due to stereotypes about how Americans are suppose to look like, Jin Wang feels insecure about himself and wants to change his identity and himself as well to assimilate into American culture and stereotypes. These stereotypes and the Anti-Asian stereotypes impact Jin Wang greatly and make him hate himself as well as his background and where he came from because he believes that in order to be AMerica, you have to be white. Another way that this is portrayed is from a personal experience I had as a kid. Growing up as an Asian kid in America, I didn’t really know

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

For instance, Jin is alienated due to the sole fact of his appearance, which happens to be different from the rest of the class. Moreover, Jin’s roots create assumptions, or stereotypes, rather. As stated earlier, his classmates thought he ate digs because he was Asian, resulting because of his appearance. When acting as Danny, he was not suspected for being Asian, because he looked like the typical American kid, but when Chin-Knee came he detailed Chinese stereotypes so humorously that Danny was made fun of because of his cousin, another form of racism. For example, Danny had to switch schools because he was made fun of so much, and he stated, “By the time he leaves, no one thinks of me as Danny anymore. I’m Chin-Knee’s cousin”(127). This statement shows how bad Chin-Knee has an effect on Danny and his social life. He is constantly degraded with guffaws about China and his cousin, and despite Danny’s American roots, he is faced with racism because of his cousin. Therefore, race really is the problem, for Danny is ostracized about Chinese culture, and Jin is ostracized because of his

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.

A world once filled with Asian friends and neighbors crashes harshly as Jin is left stranded in a white dominated school. Stereotypes and teasing are quickly placed on him from his racial background. Still new to the area, Jin presumes, “The only other Asian in my class was Suzy Nakamura. When the class finally figured out that we weren’t related, rumors began to circulate that Suzy and I were arranged to be married on her thirteenth birthday. We avoided each other as much as possible” (Yang 31). Embarrassment clouds Jin as he realizes that he’s not like the other kids in his class. With distinct features and his native tongue, Jin felt like a reject surrounded by his Caucasian classmates. He was entirely alone amongst his peers, and he didn’t like that one single bit. In this way, it’s clear how both Junior and Jin felt like outcasts in these two oceans of white students and teachers.

“ 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

The character in the book “A Raisin in the Sun” I sympathize is Beneatha. I sympathize Beneatha because most of her family does not agree with her choices. Her family thinks that she is focusing on the wrong things in her life at the moment. I also have sympathy for Beneatha because she is in medical school and would like to become a doctor. Her family believes that it is a waste of money, but I believe that this could help her family in the long run due to the amount of money made. I also sympathize Beneatha the most because Walter thinks that Beneatha wants Mama’s money to get her through college, but she states “I have never asked anyone around here to do anything for me.” Lastly, I have the most sympathy for Beneatha because her family

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a play about segregation, triumph, and coping with personal tragedy. Set in Southside Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the individual dreams of the Younger family and their personal achievement. The Younger's are an African American family besieged by poverty, personal desires, and the ultimate struggle against the hateful ugliness of racism. Lena Younger, Mama, is the protagonist of the story and the eldest Younger. She dreams of many freedoms, freedom to garden, freedom to raise a societal-viewed equal family, and freedom to live liberated of segregation. Next in succession is Beneatha Younger, Mama's daughter, assimilationist, and one who dreams of aiding people by breaking down

In the play “A Raisin in the Sun” written by Lorraine Hansberry, she is able to take us to place to see what it was like for an African American family to survive in the mid-twentieth century. The play details how the main characters are going through an evolving social and economic position, as well as the evolving gender roles. Hansberry uses the characterization of Beneatha, Ruth, and Walter in order to show the expectations and assigned gender roles for the characters in the story. In short, Beneatha is depicted as a woman who is challenging gender norms and expectations upheld by her family, whereas Ruth is seen as an example of a submissive housewife fulfilling her expected duties. Using “A Raisin in the Sun,” as well as “Marxists

“I mean it! I’m just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has He got to do with anything?” (Hansberry, page 33). A Raisin in the Sun, play written by Lorraine Hansberry, depicts a poor black family in the Southside of Chicago waiting on an insurance payment to better their lives. The family consists of Ruth, Walter, Travis, Beneatha, and Mama. Beneatha being the daughter of Mama. Throughout the play Beneatha struggles with her identity, and her role as a black woman in her society. She’s an optimist, she wants the best for herself and her family, her personality is outspoken and indecisive.

However, his family is not to keen on the idea of investing the money in a liquor store and Walter cannot fathom why. His frustration builds and he eventually releases it against his family: “Walter: Who the hell told you, you had to be a doctor. If you so crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people; then go be a nurse like other women; or just get married and be quiet (I.i pg. 38).”