Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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.

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.

A Raisin in, the sun deals with the trials and tribulations of the Younger family. Facing the struggle of culture identity crisis , racial integration, death and societal barriers. All of these and more are presented to the family in order to test their will and their drive for a better life then they live now.

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

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.

Is money really important to the society? Well let me tell you about the play A Raisin in the Sun, starts off with a family, the Younger family, who lived on the South Side of Chicago in the late 1950’s. They struggle with lack of money, however, they all have a difference in the way they think of solving their situation. Walter Lee, being the protagonist of the play, wants to invest his father’s insurance money in a new liquor store venture, in which his father had passed away. Throughout the play, Walter shows that he is only concerned about money and has no morality, because he wants to become rich fast, quits his cab driving job, and putting his family to the side.

Lorraine Hansberry in “A Raisin in the Sun” utilizes Walter Lee Younger to personify one’s desire to lead a life of poise and dignity, through his disapproval of indebted servitude. When Mama attempts to subside Walter’s thoughts of unappreciation, following his expression of frustration, Walter assertively debates, illustrating his yearning for a dignifying lifestyle.

In Lorraine Hansberry’s “ A Raisin in the sun” a constant theme of money, morality and hoping for a better and a new life kept coming into play. To demonstrate this theme is best shown through Ruth. Ruth Younger is wife of Walter Lee Younger a lady that works as a maidher family's poor financial situation, she has to double as a housewife and a working mother... She finds hope when the family decides to move into a better home in a white neighborhood, and decides to keep her child. In the play Ruth shows she will do anything to make her family. We came across some example in the play that show it. Ruth loves her family and shows she doesn't care about money and just cares about family. Showing she has morals, because she wants to get a house

Inequality and racism are issues that have plagued our society since its beginning. From that point forward there has been discrimination and animosity towards a whole race of people. The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry explores the consequences of this systematic oppression on the family dynamic. Reading the novel was an edifying experience due to its well-developed plot, compelling characters, and relatability.

The setting of this play is on the South side of the city of Chicago back in the late 1950 early 1960. This period of time is what we call today as the pre-civil rights movement. The main characters are Walter, Mama, Beneatha, Ruth, and Travis. The plot of this play can be summarized as a family that is trying to achieve their dreams together. However, each one of its members has a different way to achieve it. The family is waiting for an insurance check of an amount of ten thousand dollars. Not everybody’s dreams will be accomplished from this check. Eventually this turns into a clash of dreams. Walter is the man of the house. He is a father, a husband, a son, and a brother. This implies that he has an enormous amount of pressure on his shoulders. His dream is to become an investor in a liquor store which will eventually help his family financially. Mama is the oldest person in the house. Her main dream is to buy a house of her own so she can live a better life with her family. Beneatha is a college girl whose dream is to attend the medical school and become a doctor. Ruth is Walter’s wife and her dream is to live in a house, which her family can be happy in. And finally, Travis is the son of Walter, he is around ten years old, and he wants to live in a house so he can play in its

The oppression of races and classes is a commonly occurring theme of American Literature and Drama. As an American classic, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, as stated on the back cover, is a “radically new representation of black life,” and sheds a light on the struggle of a typical lower class black family in an oppressive society. In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry has left a positive legacy on American literature and drama through the use of symbolism, characterizations, and themes, and expresses the resistance of the persecution of lower class African American families. The author uses the houseplant as a strong symbol to represent the struggles of the Younger family.

The struggles and conflict that the Young family faced in “A Raisin in the Sun” due to their class were very prominent throughout the entire piece. First, the apartment that they are living in shows how much they are struggling. This has a lot to do with what class they are in because if they had more money or better jobs they would be able to live in a bigger house for the family. Ruth’s Mother at the beginning of the movie was working as a maid for a white family. Her being a maid shows that she is struggling because she must be a very hard-working woman, even at her old age. This would be completely different if she had been in a higher class, she would not nearly have to work as hard if at all. Class conflict can also be seen when the

“A Raisin in the sun” by Lorraine Hansberry is a story about a poor inner city family living in high pressure circumstances. There are five of them, living in a roach-laden apartment. They are in the South Side of Chicago and have struggled financially as a family nearly their entire lives. So, when they receive a check for $10,000, which was a considerable amount of money back then, emotions run high. Everyone has a different idea about how to invest the money and how to profit off it over time.