Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

The play A Raisin in the Sun was a fantastic book that had a lot of life lessons within. A Raisin in the Sun was written by Lorraine Hansberry. Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930, and grew up in Chicago’s south side just like the characters in the play. This play was first produced on Broadway in 1959, and its success made Hansberry the first African American playwright to win the Best Play of the Year Award from the New York Drama Critics. This play falls under the genre of a dramatic tragedy. The name of the play came from a line for the poem called Harlem or Dream Deferred, written by Langston Hughes. In the poem Hughes asks, “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”. The theme for this unit is The Realization and Disillusionment of the American Dream. Rafael Cruz stated, “ Only in America can someone start with nothing and achieve the American Dream. That is the greatness of this country”. In the play the Youngers became disillusioned with the American Dream.

Lorraine Hansberry's  play, A Raisin in the Sun,  revolves around the positive and negative effects of achieving the American Dream. Hansberry expresses different points of views on the American Dream through the characters and she portrays the daily struggles of African American family going throughout  A Raisin in the Sun. In this play, she can effectively show true life experiences that can have a big impact on a family. Hansberry shows the many different attachments that come with the fulfillment of this American Dream. “What happens to a dream deferred” (Lorraine Hansberry). Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, each family member has their own pursuit of happiness which involves the American Dream. Today, we have similar issues related to back then because we tend to emphasize the importance of dreams. But, we still have struggles of poverty and racism in order to reach success.

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

In Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun,” she uses the Younger family to show that as characters strive to reach their dreams they often disdain the determinations of others but they may eventually learn to care one another in effort to better their lives. 'A Raisin in the Sun' by Lorraine Hansberry is a play about a family in the late 1940s that struggles through lack and discrimination to find the American Dream. American Dream the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. This message explores their hopes and dreams. As it shown in the book that everybody wanted to pursue their own dreams and goals. They weren’t thinking about anybody else but their self. The absence of the American Dream does infiltrate much of the play. Each main character in the play seeks to appropriate the "American Dream" in their own lives. The family consist of the Mama, the deeply Christian grandmother; her son Walter Lee, his wife Ruth and son Travis; and Beneatha, her daughter.

Throughout Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, we see the positive and negative effects of chasing the American Dream. Hansberry expresses her different views on the American Dream through the characters and she portrays the daily struggles of a 1950 black family throughout A Raisin in the Sun. In this play, she is able to effectively show the big impact that even small decisions can make on a family. Hansberry shows the many different attachments that come with the fulfillment of this American Dream. Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, each family member has their own pursuit of happiness, which is accompanied by their American Dream.

Throughout the play, many conflicts arise between the main characters; Mama, Walter, Ruth and Beneatha. An example of one conflict is poverty, which causes tension to escalate within the Younger family. Everyone in the play has different dreams, yet they have the same goal to overcome poverty. In the opening scene, Hansberry describes the living conditions of the Younger family, who live in Chicago 's South Side in a congested two-bedroom apartment with no bathroom of their own. This location is historic because during the 1950s, it was predominantly a poverty-stricken neighborhood largely populated by African Americans. As a result of “discriminatory real estate practices” and

Many can see the appeal of the play” A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry because it is telling how much the Younger family wants the American dream, the better life that each character wants are different from each other. The family wants the insurance money to start their dreams, the money that would not have been available if not for the death of the head of the family.

A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry is a dramatic play depicting economic and social prejudice during the Harlem Renaissance era in Chicago. The central theme of this written drama is centered upon a forgotten dream. In this same way, This theme could be applied to both Walter's dream of economic stability as well as Beneatha’s dream to be a doctor. Hansberry uses literary symbolism techniques to convey the theme of economic and struggle in society for minorities in America. This drama uses multiple examples of symbolism to contribute to the theme of class and wealth.

Walter Lee Younger is a man who does not comply with his promises to his family; additionally, he lets his desire to take precedent before everything and everyone in his life. This takes place in Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin In The Sun. Although some people have sympathy for him believing that he took decisions while being under pressure, Walter Lee Younger´s words, actions, and business venture make him selfish. Some people assume that due to segregation back in the late 1850´s, is to be blamed for Walter´s warped way of thinking.

There are four major characters in this story; Walter, Ruth, Mama, and Beneatha. Walters dream is to get rich by investing in his liquor store. Mama wants the family to move to a house with enough room for everyone and a garden in the backyard. Ruth has a similar dream like Mama, where his son, Travis has his own room. Beneatha's dream is to become a doctor. All of their dreams leads towards, a life without poverty and not having a financial problem. Much of the problems and internal fights in the family are because of their inability to complete their dream. Race

A poor African-American family living in an apartment shared among various people not by choice but by circumstance. The family is waiting for an insurance check, due to the passing of their father. Hansberry uses the hero of the story, Walter Younger, he is used for developing the theme of the American Dream. Walter’s desire to accomplish that dream will face obstacles of the rest of the family’s dreams.

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.

Acts I and II in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, mostly consisted of the Younger family discussing their problems of how they are not happy with the way they are living, along with what Lena should do with the insurance check she is receiving in the mail from the death of her husband. Walter, Lena’s son, believes Lena will give all the money to him so he can start business selling liquor with two of his friends. Walter says to his wife, Ruth, “You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be ‘bout thirty thousand, see. That be ten thousand each. ”(984).

Lorraine Hansberry, the author of the play A Raisin in the Sun, uses the characters’ dreams to expose the nightmares of racism.  Each character wants to escape the “ghetto life on the South Side of Chicago” (Brubaker).  The Youngers are an African-American family living in Chicago during the 1950’s.  The play focuses on their dreams for a better future.  The play begins with the family waiting on a $10,000 life insurance check, as Walter senior has recently died.  Walter senior’s wife, Lena (Mama), her two adult children, Walter and Beneatha, Walter’s wife Ruth, and their son, Travis, all live together in a two-bedroom apartment.  The main characters has different dreams of what success means to them and how best to use the inheritance money; they know that the money is the key to unlocking a better life.  Mama, Walter, and Beneatha each pursue their own vision of the “American Dream”, but they all meet the same challenge of racism in the 1950’s.

Hansberry includes one of the most significant juxtapositions concerning blacks and whites towards the end of the play when Mr. Linder goes to the Younger household. The mere presence Lindner creates a sense of racial prejudice, for he is there to convince the Youngers not to move to Clybourne Park. When talking to the Younger family, Lindner struggles with being straightforward. He tells the Youngers that he is a part of a welcoming committee, and that he is at their home to talk about “what the association calls-(He looks elsewhere)-uh-special community problems” (Hansberry 155). Hansberry’s use of dashes in Lindner’s dialogue shows how he is uncomfortable, and the fact that Lindner is avoiding eye contact with the Younger further emphasizes his incompetence. In addition, Lindner’s use of the word “problem” to describe black presence in a white neighborhood creates a derogatory tone. It connects to the idea many whites had back then, which was the blacks being an inferior race. Hansberry, however, intentionally includes a character like Lindner to prove her point that blacks assimilating towards American culture will only diminish their status even further. When critics read the play, they often wonder about its universality because they