Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

In his 1931 book, The Epic of America, James Truslow Adams defined the American dream as, “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” (Adams). Throughout the 1950s, the American Dream was a major philosophy believed by many. Much of society felt no matter what race, gender, or nationality they are, they are capable of achieving success. Within the play, A Raisin in the Sun, the characters are faced with many difficult challenges and obstacles that they strive to overcome. Each of them focus on a better life for themselves and the Younger Family. In A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor because in her perspective becoming an

In Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” (1959), she reveals the life of the Youngers family. In doing so, there surfaces a detrimental ideology that destroys the family financially and in their overall happiness. In Act II Scene I, Walter, the father figure of the family, says, “Why? You want to know why? 'Cause we all tied up in a race of people that don 't know how to do nothing but moan, pray and have babies!” (Hansberry 532). By way of explanation, the family and much of the African-American community for the 1960’s, is built upon a loose ideology that is a brutal cycle that infects the lives of those who inhabit the area; tired of all the commotion from the Caucasians who, to them, miraculously achieve a life of ruling and

The struggles of being African American have been very evident throughout history. To present day many African Americans (commonly referred to as "black") endure injustice and inequality. As many racial protests and movies have been made to depict such hardships, so have books. The controversial topics of racism and gender roles are spread throughout A Raisin in the Sun. Lorraine Hansberry lived through such a time where racial and gender discrimination was at its highest point; which she portrays in her book. As the Younger family eventually developed into a family so do the gender issues. My goal in this paper is to identify gender injustice as it has been dominantly illustrated, whether that be where the women stand or what the men should be doing as opposed to the women having higher power.

There is no doubt that Lorraine Hansberry uses her play, A Raisin in the Sun, as a platform to give her opinions and observations on the black community and of the racism they faced in the mid-1900s. Her play is filled with commentary

Broadway in 1959. A character named Walter Lee invisions to buy a liquor store in his poverty.

A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, this play also comes in a series of movies. In the movie version of A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Leon Kenny, there are many similarities and differences from the play. In the play, for example, a difference is that Mama talks about the check with Walter in their apartment, but in the movie they talk in a diner after Mama finds Walter in a bar. Another difference is that Travis was in the play a lot, but in the movie he was hardly included. A similarity, however, is that Mama gives her same speech about how loving someone when they are down is the best thing you can do for them. The movie version was set in the time period of the Civil Rights Movement, and the play was not set in that time period. While both versions of A Raisin in the Sun address the similarities and differences, the differences exceed the similarities, hence a teacher must show the movie and the play so the students can understand the significance of both.

Dreams can sometimes be very to accomplish but as long as you follow them with much support from your friends and family you’ll be perfectly fine. The Raisin in the Sun is a wonderful, touching story by Lorraine Hansberry. The theme I chose was “the importance of family.” Importance of family is extremely important because it’s what makes you yourself. At the beginning of the story the family was struggling to get things done, they were desperate for relief and guidance. As the story got deeper the family were waiting for a check of 10,000 dollars they were receiving from the death of Mama’s husband. Towards the end of the story things got a bit bumpy due to all the racial discrimination and irresponsibility but they still figured a way.

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry portrays the life of the Youngers, a lower economic class, African American family living in a 2 bed no bath apartment in the 1950s. Hansberry reveals the emotional turbulence of African Americans in this era revolved around dried up dreams and lack of money. The Younger family consists of Mama, the head of the house, Walter Lee, Ruth, Beneatha, and Travis. The American play starts with a tired family in a tired apartment and ends with a revived family in a lively house; between the two, the journey, is an emotional roller coaster of leadership decisions, money, one’s maturing, morality, priorities, and most of all dreams dependent on an insurance check left from Walter Lee Sr. Langston Hughes’ poem,

Walter is good at what he does. He thinks of all the different ways people can commit insurance fraud so when those cases do come to him he can catch them. When he met Phyllis he went in hopes of renewing the policy not knowing the wife with her killer looks would be the one he’d meet. Phyllis began to talk to Walter asking how she could be of help and than saying the husband has been thinking of going with the competitor. Being the good at his business, Walter knew there was more to it than just the normal insurance conversation. Wanting to gain power within each other has both characters testing the waters within each other. Not only did Walter notice the conversation was going elsewhere but also the body of Phyllis that he says can “make

A Raisin in the Sun, which was inspired by these four lines of Langston Hughes’s, “Harlem,” has not only impacted my views on literature, but has also helped me truly realize the importance of dreams and family. In life, everyone will have an experience that makes them realize the true meaning of family and dreams. This experience came to me when I first read Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. A Raisin in the Sun taught me the true importance of dreams and family in a person’s life. Dreams and the deferring of dreams are important aspects of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in

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.

Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930. She attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison and eventually transferred from majoring art to writing and then dropped out to pursue her writing career. This play’s purpose was about a struggling black family who was going to receive an insurance check and mama was controlling who got the money and how much to manage what the best decision was to having everyone's dream accomplished. In the Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry develops the development of Mama’s character by giving money to Walter, buying a house, and helping her children accomplish their dreams to show that people sometimes try to help others to positively impact their life but it doesn't always go how they want.

The play, “A Raisin in the Sun” written by Lorraine Hansberry, showcases the struggles of an African American family in 1959. One of the major themes throughout the play is money, but the women’s role throughout the play make a huge statement on their suffrage back then. The women in the story are portrayed differently through each character. These women constantly fight to keep their dreams alive, but it becomes difficult because of their social status. Lena, Ruth, and Beneatha are three generations of Younger black women. Each woman dreams of a better future but have different ways of going about it. They each want to future the image of black women each in their own way. The Youngers live in a broke down apartment in Chicago, and cram[ped with five people living

Hansberry’s play clearly steeped up in Chicago history, where most productions and criticism of the play fail to paint the full picture of racial violence. The 1959 Broadway play "A Raisin in the Sun," by Lorraine Hansberry, focusing on its expression of African American culture in the face of threats of White racist violence. The author describes the work as an exile narrative. An overview of giving criticizing the power of integrationist. The play expense more subversive critical reading in which it speaks against the social structures of Chicago, Illinois during the Jim Crow era.

In the play A Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry, a story about an African American family living in Chicago. The book illustrates what the daily problems of an average black family had to deal with while living in America in the 1950s and their struggle of overcoming obstacles to reach their “dream”. Hansberry use this novel to address topics such as racism, racial inequality, and racial discrimination. In 1954, many people during that time supported segregation. People perceived whites and blacks completely different and people wanted them to be separate. Everywhere in the south had “whites only” or “colored”, and many wanted to keep it that way. History will always repeat itself and people are not