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

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.

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

Out of all the characters in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, there are two main ones that influence the plot. Mama and Walter impact the plot the most because both characters have different perspectives and their actions significantly shape the plot.

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

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.

Lena Younger became the head of the household upon the death of her husband. She moved from the south to the north to better herself and her life. Lena dreams and aspirations are link to those of her family. She does not aspire to be more than what she is, but she wants more for her family. Lena is struggling to understand how money as became such a big part of her family. She cannot comprehend the way her children are acting, when they were brought up better than that. Beneatha rejecting God by saying it is just man who does all the work and does not get the praise. She is just expressing the family situation in way that maybe Lena would have been able to understand. Lena wants Walter Lee to stand up and become the man he can be; she wants him to feel he is a man, so she decided to give the chance to be the head of the family by giving him the rest of the insurance money to put in an account to manage.

Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun is a monumental play in the theatrical world. Produced in 1959, it became the first play written by an African-American woman to hit the stage and was later nominated for several Tony Awards. The play touched many controversial themes of the time including racial discrimination and poverty. The design of Raisin in the Sun, including scenic, costume, lighting, and sound elements, were crucial to developing the plot and emphasizing these themes. All of the elements are vital to the message and audience interpretation of the production, and overall, the Playmakers Repertory Company executed them well.

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the son’s of former slaves and the sons of former slave owner’s will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” This speech was made by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963. In this speech he means that in the near future, everyone will be equal and everyone will be respected. These days, King’s dream have somewhat come true. Society is named a free society due to all the equality that is within it.

In conclusion, the play A Raisin in the Sun by. Lorraine Hansberry shows how hard it was for a poor black family in the 50’s. Through all the discrimination and segregation made it nearly impossible for an African American family to progress in life. The two most important characters Walter and Mama made the play what it

According to a 2017 publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter, black men in America earn 80% of what white men earn (Daley, Bart, Joseph). This illuminates the wage disparity and the notion that America is racially biased in terms of compensation. Power is often determined by the amount of money one has. How power is determined by race and skin color is a central theme in both A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It is also exemplified in US history, as shown in the documentary, American Dilemma. These sources show that the power of colored people is extremely diminished by their lack of access to good jobs and therefore money.

In the novel, A Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry , shows the reader how society was viewed back then in the 1950s .It was tough for african american lives. An African american family living on the southside of Chicago in the 1950s. The play opens from receiving a 10,000 thousand dollar insurance check to do whatever they want with it. Living with five people in a tiny- one bedroom apartment puts the environment pressures high. The book portrays the idea of a dream within all the African american characters shown differently and the different struggles they have to live with in a world of racism, social standards/higher expectations, and regret fullness. Walter Lee Younger, the man of the house, truly encapsulates the American

Lorraine Hansberry publish A Raisin in the Sun in the 1950’s, it is about race relations in the south during this time. In order to fully understand this story I have to know about the race relations before the civil war.

Lorrain Hansberry play “A Raisin in the Sun” is about a family living in 1959 in a broken down apartment in Chicago. Hansberry’s play shows the ambitions of a family who has just received 10,000 dollars in life insurance money. People of all background have come to America to achieve the American Dream, and the Younger family is no exception. The American Dream is depicted throughout “A Raisin in the Sun”, and Lorraine Hansberry shows just how much a family or anybody will sacrifice just to achieve their dream. The constitution of the United States deems that every United States citizen is entitled to the pursuit of happiness, and the Younger family is no exception. Each family member weather it’s Walter, Mama, or Ruth each have very different

A Raisin in the Sun is written by a famous African- American play write, Lorraine Hansberry, in 1959. It was a first play written by a black woman and directed by a black man, Lloyd Richards, on Broadway in New York. The story of A Raisin in the Sun is based on Lorraine Hansberry’s own early life experiences, from which she and her whole family had to suffer, in Chicago. Hansberry’s father, Carol Hansberry, also fought a legal battle against a racial restrictive covenant that attempted to stop African- American families from moving in to white neighborhoods. He also made the history by moving his family to the white section of Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood in 1938. The struggle of Lorraine Hansberry’s family inspired her to write the