Raisin In The Sun

In A Raisin In the Sun Lorraine Hansberry uses everyday objects-a plant, money, and a home to symbolize a family's struggle to deal with racism and oppression in their everyday lives, as well as to exemplify their dreams. She begins with a vivid description of the family's weary, small, and dark apartment in Chicago's ghetto Southside during the 1950s. The Youngers are an indigent African-American family who has few choices in their white society. Each individual of the Younger family has a separate dream-Beneatha wants to become a doctor, Walter wants to open a liquor store, and Ruth and Mama want a new and better home. The Youngers struggle to accomplish these dreams throughout the play, and a major aspect of their happiness and

In the playwright A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is about a poor African-American family named the Younger. This family live in a poor one bedroom apartment in the Southside of Chicago. In the play this family suffer and struggle a lot and they were always praying and wish to live in a very big house of their own. In the beginning of the play this family knows that they going to get Walter Lee Sr insurance worth 10,000 dollars that he left behind after his death for Lena ( mama). In the play this family was waiting on the check so that they share it to themselves. In the playwright Walter Lee wants to open his own type of business which is liquor store, in the other hand Lena ( mama) has always wanted to buy a big nice house with a backyard where her grandson Travis can been playing everyday. The three characters that are in the playwright are Walter Lee Younger Junior, Lena Younger (mama), and Ruth Younger this are three characters.

The story of this play is simple and the majority of African-Americans faced such issues in the 1950’s, living on the south side of Chicago, struggles with poverty, dignity and dreams of a better life. Wanting better for your children and trying to fit in, while maintaining family values. A Raisin in the Sun is an excellent example of the relationship between family values and conflict. In this play it portrays: values and purpose of dreams, the need to fight for racial discrimination and the importance of family.

From the mid 1940s to the 1970s African American women were taught to accept the stereotypes of race and gender as well as cope with the realities of race and gender discrimination. For much of the history, the reality of African American women is that they have to go to “day work”, nurse the children, prepare the meals, and maintain their household while standing beside their male spouse. During these times, many women were furious with these stereotypes and because of this women chose to take their own route. This leads me to the next film, A Raisin in the Sun. A Raisin in the Sun portrays an African American family consisting of Mama, Walter Lee (Son and Brother), Ruth (Wife of Walter Lee), and finally Beneatha (Daughter and Sister). Mama husband died; who was also the childrens father. Mama and the children was expecting a insurance check from his death and each family member had their own specific plans as to what they were going to do with the money. Walter wanted to own a liquor store to support the family, mama wanted to move out and buy the family a new home and Beneatha wanted to go to school to become a doctor, but due to their economic status and the abundant racism of the time, they are forced to put aside these dreams. Beneatha dream stuck out to me because it showed that she was stepping outside of society limits. Beneatha's character represents a young, black woman's feminism and unique outlook on life in the 1950's. Throughout the movie, Beneath shows many

Though there was a heightened sense of tension over civil rights in the late 1950s when A Raisin in the Sun was written, racial inequality is still a problem today. It affects minorities of every age and dynamic, in more ways than one. Though nowadays it may go unnoticed, race in every aspect alters the way African-Americans think, behave, and react as human beings. This is shown in many ways in the play as we watch the characters interact. We see big ideas, failures, and family values through the eyes of a disadvantaged group during an unfortunate time in history. As Martin Luther King said, Blacks are “...harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what

The play ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ by ‘Lorraine Hansberry’ is about a matriarchy, Lena Younger or known as “Mama” to her family the Youngers who are poverty stricken family. She is about to receive insurance money from her husband’s life insurance policy, which is rightfully hers. However each member of the Youngers family we come into contact with have a plan to use the money for themselves, each individual’s through-line plays a vital role in their dreams, thoughts and choices in the end. Throughout the play the family have experiences that money can’t buy happiness and the effects of racial prejudice emerge.

In A Raisin in the Sun, Lena (Mama) Younger is played by Claudia McNeil in the 1961 production. Mama becomes very emotional in scenes because she truly believes in what she is saying. The actress Claudia McNeil must have taken great preparation when building and getting into her character for Mama to be so intense. McNeil's skills are best displayed in scenes one, two, and scene three in the second act. McNeil continuously displays great facial expressions, gesticulation, body language and so much more.

In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry the Younger family are presented with a dilemma. The dilemma being should the Younger family stick with their pride and move into the Clybourne Park development refusing the money from the Clybourne Park association to convince the Younger family not to move into the predominantly white neighborhood. However a character named Walter Younger blew a lot of the insurance money given to the Youngers by the late father to Walter adding a another layer of complexity to the already morally complex dilemma. The Younger family should still stick with their pride and move into Clybourne Park to show they are humans too with equal inalienable rights, despite the recent economic set back the family

The play A Raisin in the Sun is still relevant. There are still people who have dreams that are yet to come true. As long as their are people who dream, there will be relevance in a play like A Raisin in the Sun. Today, there are people who still live in poverty. They still have nothing but dreams. They struggle to survive in the dog eat dog world in which we live.

As Austrian writer Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach wrote,“To be content with little is difficult; to be content with much, impossible.” History and literature have established that the ideal goal every American has wanted is for his thirst for material possessions to be reached, but even then, the individual isn’t truly happy. Money, and the things it can get you, have long been a part of American culture and the materialist culture of society have been examined in numerous ways from novels to the art of those like Andy Warhol. A life free from the economic woes that plague almost everyone seems like the quintessential existence, but material wealth is not a way to mend issues.

There are several themes present in A Raisin in the Sun. The subjects of hope, dreams, and values are all recurring motifs throughout the play’s entirety. Despite the repressive conditions faced by the Younger family due to the racist and sexist societal views of the sixties, they still maintain a degree of hope throughout their ordeal. They hold onto the hope that, in the face of their circumstances, things will get better and they will be able to achieve their dreams. The symbolism used in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun helps emphasize the themes and tone of the play.

The play A Raisin in the Sun illustrates the social and economic pressure that is placed on the Younger family, especially Beneatha who aspires to become a doctor at the time where not many women could even imagine such aspirations. The Younger family's daughter Beneatha is an outspoken intelligent member who raises the argument for the other side of the spectrum at all times. Beneatha is aspiring to become a doctor and has some hope that some of the money from her father's social insurance cheque would help go to her medical school. The pressure of being lower middle class severely affects the relationships of the Younger family as Walter, Beneatha's older brother shows no regard for his sister as he sees her as the only one in the house not

In a carefully worded essay I will discuss the aspect of ‘race’ as a hindrance to the

During the 1900s many black families barely had enough money to pay for the basic necessities needed to live. At times some families would receive a significant sum of money, something they were not used to getting. Deciding on how to spend this money is what caused problems among some families. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, she argues that there are times when in a state of financial instability and where money is a necessity to completing one’s dream that some family members choose to put their dreams over others when suddenly given the opportunity. After Mama’s husband died she was bound to receive an insurance check that would be used by the Younger family. Before even receiving the

Symbols can be; images, signs, colors, sounds, shapes, anything. It is like how blue can stand for sadness, and how the sun can stand for happiness. Symbolism is an object or an idea that has a representation beyond the literal meaning of the object. The functions of symbols are to add meaning to the text and underline some subtle point the author is making, also to give the reader a clue about the mood of the story and what will happen. The symbols Lorraine Hansberry used in A Raisin in the Sun are the light, plant, and the window. All three symbols; the light, the plant, and the window, have to go together for the Youngers to reach their dream.