Lorraine Hansberry 's A Raisin

Many people go through different moralities in there life some that they believe can change their life for the better but don’t know the consequences. This ties in with issues involving money. Many people believe that money is the way to happiness and do what they can to get money even if it means to hurt your loved ones. In the play “Raisin in the Sun” Walter Lee Younger is man that lives in South Side Chicago and at point in life that he’s in, he wants to do something in his life and make a difference for colored people. The way he believes he can accomplish that is by opening a bar to make money for his family while believing money is the only source of happiness. Walters ideal morality was to make sure he got his hands on the insurance money so he could open up the bar even if it meant his family would suffer when things went wrong.

They are a family of 5 squeezed in a two-bedroom apartment, they are restricted socially and financially with Walter (the father) working as a chauffeur for a white was the only bread winner for the family, he dreams of opening a liquor store and his sister Beneatha his sister studies to become a doctor despite the strain it puts on the family. The Youngers get a new chance when ten thousand dollars comes in the mail and Lena (Walter’s mother) decides what to do with it. She decides to buy a house for the family in a white neighborhood, gives the rest to Walter who lost it all in a Liquor store scam. Dreams of buying a new house, going to school and opening a business are shared by many Americans but for the Youngers those dreams were harder to achieve than most families. Being African American and poor in the 50’s meant they had to deal with racism, unequal opportunities, financial restraints and even housing segregation when trying to improve their living conditions.

Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun features an African American family in the late 1950’s as they look forward to achieving their individual dreams in the era where racism and economic hardship among African Americans was the norm. While Hansberry doesn’t directly mention well-known events in the civil rights movement, she illustrates the realistic struggles an African American family would have faced during this time. In the introduction of the play, Robert Nemiroff illustrates several themes and issues that are addressed throughout Hansberry’s play. One of the subjects Nemiroff mentions is the “value systems of the black family”(Nemiroff, “Introduction,” 5-6). A main value that Hansberry illustrates throughout the play is the

What is being attempted in the play is simply the Youngers as an African American family trying to make it day by day. The dreams are real, but the

The first character Hansberry uses to show what happens when you put off your dream is Walter. Walter Lee Younger Jr. is the son of Momma (Lena) and Walter Younger Sr., he also has a son named Travis. Walter’s dream was to own a liquor store and use the life insurance money to pay for it. As Walter said in act one “You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost… ‘bout thirty thousand, see. That be ten thousand each.”(Hansberry, 33). This quote shows that Walter only cares about his business affairs and thinks what he’s doing is helping his family, even though his own family doesn’t agree with him. His dream doesn’t work out because Willy, one of Walter’s partners, steals all the money for the liquor store and Walter is now broke. This is a clear connection to Hughes’ poem Harlem, in the lines “Or fester like a sore-/ And then run?” (Hughes, 4-5). This quote means that the consequences affects more than just the person whose dream was deferred, this relates with Walter because when he lost the money it affected the entire family and not just him. Since he lost the money, he had to set his dream aside and the family suffered from it.

Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, is a great example of the struggles faced by an impoverished black family; who strive to deal with the realities of life on the ghetto side of South Chicago. Written in the 1958, this play illustrates the destructive consequences of impecuniousness and repression on African American families. Throughout the play, Hansberry (who is he, describe) shows the day-to-day struggles of a black family and explains the different perspectives on the American Dream. Each character in the play have their own hopes and dreams, however, these end up clashing with one another. Hansberry uses the Younger family to show that despite oppression and subjugation; a dream to live a better life is achievable with family unity and support.

Has your family ever had a really bad arguments? Well in the Younger’s family that’s nothing new in the play A Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry. Walter Lee the so called man of the house is an very selfish/arrogant person. Walter Lee is an husband, father, brother ,and someone car driver. In my onion I think Walter Lee only cares about his dreams and not other people’s dreams.

"A Rasin In The Sun" is written by Lorraine Hansberry. Most of Hansberry's work is about the struggle of African American's during 1950's. Hanberry was the first African-American women to have her play played on Broadway. "Seems like God don't see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worthwhile" as said by Lorraine. A Raisin in the sun is about a family who is facing economic hardship and racial prejudice. The theme of the play is Dream; American dream for the colored family.

After World War II, African Americans had unequal opportunities in many aspects of their lives. A Raisin in the Sun, a play by Lorraine Hansberry, mirrors the conflicts endured by African-Americans after World War II who were hoping to better their lives, but still held back by the racism and bigotry of earlier eras. Despite the legal barriers of segregation in the 1950s, black families were still being denied access to jobs, higher education, and particularly as it relates to the play, desirable neighborhoods in which to raise their families. At this time, black families like the Youngers, had planned living arrangements from zoning issues. They were blocked from the neighborhoods because of covenants and racial steering matters. The

In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry utilizes the insurance check to symbolize the American Dream as the check provides the members of Younger family with the opportunity to achieve their aspirations. The concept of the check reveals Walter’s and Mama’s perceptions of themselves and of their lifestyle, and their responses to the check reveals their contrasting approaches for escaping their impoverished world; therefore, Walter’s and Mama’s characteristics and reaction to the arrival of the check ultimately emphasize the racist nature of society that restricts opportunities for advancement for African Americans in the 1960’s. Hansberry illuminates Mama’s power within the household as she makes all of the decisions regarding the insurance check. Additionally, Hansberry highlights her dignity and pride in her African American heritage as she intends to escape poverty through providing structure and decent, secure living for her family, which she intends to achieve through buying a house. In contrast, with the arrival of the check, Walter exposes his weak identity through disappointment and hatred for his job and his lifestyle. His desire to invest the insurance money in a liquor store presents his desperation for financial success and control over his destiny. Ultimately, Hansberry utilizes the check as a symbol for the American Dream for the Younger family; thus, with its arrival, Mama and Walter reveal their opposing identities in the household and different intentions

In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, a common question is asked, to stay, or to go. The Younger Family is asked not to move into their new home, and in exchange will be paid for not moving into their home. They had already paid for the home, and were now going to be offered the money they paid, plus an excess of money. It is argued by an anonymous writer, that, the family should not take the owner’s association money. Furthermore, according to the anonymous writer, the family should not accept the owner’s association’s money as it is “demeaning and undermines their own pride and dignity as human beings.”

Family is the most important thing in the world. They are the people that no matter what happens they will always love, but they also are people that can cause quarrels and tension. Lorraine Hansberry, playwright of "A Raisin in the Sun", uses the character of Momma, or Lena, to express the theme of family, by supporting Ruth when she finds out the pregnancy, by giving up her dream of having a house with a garden, and by believing in Walter no matter what he does. The first example of how Mama displays the theme of family, is when she comforts and supports Ruth when she finds out about the pregnancy.

In the play A Raisin in the Sun, playwright Lorraine Hansberry’s characters Walter, Ruth, and Mama, are all attempting to correct the wrongs in their lives. They do not like the person they see in the mirror. Their struggles are reflected in the poem “Let America Be America” by Langston Hughes. The speakers in this poem are not satisfied with the America they are living in, much like how the characters are not satisfied with their own lives. Both are being held back by external and internal forces that prevent them from reaching their end goals.

Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun can be deliberated as a milestone in American art because it speaks on so many concerns vital during the 1950s in the United States. The 1950s are commonly ridiculed as an era of complacency and conformity, embodied by the growth of money-making culture and suburbia. Underneath the economic victory that followed America in the years after World War II brewed a rising racial tension. The stereotype of 1950s America as a land of black’s satisfied with their lesser status resulted in an upsurge of social anger that would find a voice in Hansberry’s masterpiece. However, the significance was somewhat lost and skewed by the White Americans as so thoroughly described in Robin Bernstein’s article. “Inventing the Fishbowl: White Supremacy and the Critical Reception of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun” is written by Bernstein who is a professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard. Bernstein wrote an exceptional article in which every piece of evidence brought forth, such as the mention of prejudiced views of the audience, constructing African American culture to a point of comprehension and lastly disregarding Hansberry’s opinions on class and politics reveals every bit of truth behind her argument. She states that White Americans fail to recognize that A Raisin in the Sun could have both general and specific applications because individuals of the majority need to produce a paradoxical illusion called the fishbowl.

A go getter, someone who will do anything to succeed in life. Even though people may judge unfairly and not believe in them especially, when it comes to a color women. During the 1950’s gender equality was an important issue especially when segregation was relevant. In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry shows a 1950s young colored woman fighting for what she wants. Beneatha Younger, an open minded and naive twenty year old daughter whose goal is to become a doctor and will go to extreme lengths to prove her family wrong. Her devotion to her education will lead her down a great path.