Selflessness In A Raisin In The Sun

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

In Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun a number of social issues are both explicitly and subtly exemplified through out the characters experiences and relationships. Living in a cramped Chicago apartment, the Youngers’ display both influential goals and conflicting restraints. Beneatha Youngers is a controversial character; she complicates society’s typical gender roles, introduces the wrestle between assimilation and ancestry of African-Americans, but specifically serves as a paradigm for her generation in the play.

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

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.

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

“What happens to a dream deferred?” (Hughes l. 1) Langston Hughes asks in his 1959 poem “Dream Deferred.” He suggests that it might “dry up like a raisin in the sun” (Hughes ll. 2-3) or “stink like rotten meat” (Hughes l. 6); however, at the end of the poem, Hughes offers another alternative by asking, “Or does it explode?” (Hughes l. 11) This is the view Lorraine Hansberry supports in her 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun, in witch she examines an African-American’s family’s struggle to break out of the poverty that is preventing them from achieving some sort of financial stability, or the American Dream. It focuses on Walter’s attempt in “making it,” or “being somebody.” She also analyzes how race, prejudice, and economic insecurity

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

     Tom and Walter are in similar situations. They are living almost in poverty, and they are denied authority. Walter’s goal is not selfish, in that it is not just for him, but also for the benefit of the entire family.

We often forget our moral development in life. It tends to lead us to a sense of confusion, and anger. But what we should find most valuable in ourselves, is our conscious that sends us a right or wrong feeling in our integrity. In the play A Raisin In The Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, she precisely executes the true meaning of self reconciliation within the characters in their scenes. The development among each character helps them understand what they need in life; opposed to what they did. The growth they signify adds to the plot of each character in their finest form.

When a person thinks of the American dream they think of wealth, financial stability, and a centered household, but they often do not think of what level of self-interest one must have in order to succeed. When people form upper class families have certain privileges that others do not they are not considered to be selfish. Furthermore when people that have lower class budgets get the opportunity to be privileged they are both trying to fulfill a personal centered objective but are also stopped by other people's success and selfishness. This is the controversy that has framed the United States today. The American dream has separated the fortunate and the less fortunate and has blurred the lines of societies standards of being selfish. The play A Raisin in the Sun exemplifies this controversy as the characters with their own selfish needs but we have to ask, are they really selfish if the higher people in society are doing the exact same thing? The play also shows that everyone is trying to achieve the American dream, and for that people have to be focused and accumulated more towards their self needs.

   "What happens to a dream deferred?" (l. 1) Langston Hughes asks in his 1959 poem "Dream Deferred." He suggests that it might "dry up like a raisin in the sun" (ll. 2-3) or "stink like rotten meat" (l. 6); however, at the end of the poem, Hughes offers another alternative by asking, "Or does it explode?" (l. 11). This is the view Lorraine Hansberry supports in her 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun. The drama opens with Walter reading, "Set off another bomb yesterday" (1831), from the front page of the morning newspaper; however, he is unaware that bombs will soon detonate inside his own house. These bombs are explosions of emotion caused by frustration among members of Walter's family who are

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.

Theme Statement CEW In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini demonstrates that selflessness has the potential to benefit both those receiving and contributing to an action. To begin, as a youthful Mariam describes Mullah Faizullah, “He came by once or twice a week from Gul Daman to teach Mariam the five daily namaz prayers, and tutor her in Koran recitation... It was Mullah Faizullah who had taught Mariam to read, who had patiently looked over her shoulder…”

Dreams are a powerful ideas in society. We encourage our children to follow their dreams, but dreams can be a double-edged sword. Striving for dreams can cause us to be blind to reality, and see the world in an idealized form, instead of with all of its flaws. This fine line between dreams being beneficial and harmful is central in Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun. In the play, Lorraine uses Walter’s characterization as a dreamer and his interactions with others to symbolize how dreams can not only blind oneself to reality, but also break down even the bonds of family.

Applying a Marxist perspective could help readers understand the play better by describing the social and economic conditions that can be found. A Marxist approach is when “human consciousness is a product of social conditions and that