Themes In A Raisin In The Sun

Life for blacks during the 1950s was difficult. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led protest and marches to promoted an end to segregation. Colored people did not have the the same civil rights as whites did. There were seperate water fountains, seperate bathrooms, and separate sections of dining for blacks, which were not in proper conditions to live in. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun the characters Mama, Walter, and Beneatha strive to achieve their dreams while facing the hardships of housing regulations, racial discrimination, and freedom to an education.

Throughout the play A Raisin in the Sun by Larraine Hansberry, one theme is persistent and that is the theme of manhood. Manhood has the ability to be defined in many different ways depending on the person and the situations that they currently face. This statement parallels the play as each man in the story has a different idea manhood and how they should carry themselves. This play also brings in the idea that manhood can change within oneself to accommodate a new situation. The three main ideas of manhood in the play stem from two characters, one idea from Joseph Asagai, and the others from Walter Lee Younger. Joseph Asagai’s definition of manhood is being close to one’s roots and being able to better one’s community. Walter Lee Younger’s begins the play believing manhood is being able to provide for your family and later in the play it switches to being able to protect and stand up for your family.

Another theme and issue that arrives from the play A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, is racism. During the 1950’s blacks and whites were segregated. The house the Younger’s purchased was in the Clybourne Park neighborhood, an all white neighborhood. When Lena told the family they were moving to Clybourne Park they stood with amazement. “Mama, there ain’t no colored people in Clybourne Park” (p.734). The family heard of other colored families’ houses being set on fire in this neighborhood, they were concerned that the same thing would happen to them.

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

A Raisin in the Sun skillfully exemplifies many aspects of ‘black’ culture, especially how different ‘black archetypes’ may make different decisions based on how they see race and themselves within a culture. This is impertinent as a plot device in the play, and in the culture itself which the play is expressing. Black men at the time were forced to consider themselves into a certain way both for themselves and their families, and this play show’s how that unnecessary consideration can affect their decision making and overall desires. There are three ‘black man’ archetypes given in the play; Walter, George Murchison, and Asagai, and they are all similar in the fact that they are black men, but differ in how they believe black men should act, especially when it comes to family and heritage.

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 the book “A Raisin in the Sun”, love is defiantly a major key towards keeping the “Younger” family together as they go through thick and thin. Multiple times in the book, a character known as “Walter” apart of the Younger family screws up, whether it be, pursuing a silly addictive dream or investing family money, it never turned out well for Walter. Walter’s mom, Lena aka “mama” however, always loved Walter and although didn’t show it often, supported his drive to strive for greatness and greatly awarded him near the end of the book. Walter’s sister Beneatha however, was not impressed at his short comings and often called him out where he fell short by belittling him with insults but, that

The play by Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, presents an African-American family living in poverty in the 1950’s. The family receives ten thousand dollars from deceased Mr. Younger’s insurance; the money is supposed to be distributed in buying a house, Beneatha’s education, and Walter’s liquor store investment. However, Walter invests wrongly and loses more than half of the money, forcing Beneatha to consider moving to Africa to pursue an education. Beneatha Younger’s struggle with segregation while pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor demonstrates that education can be obtained with determination and discipline.

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.

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

African-Americans have experienced racism since the 1600s and throughout American history. However, not many books have been able to display the ethnic ignorance that white people have towards blacks. One of the more successful stories is A Raisin in the Sun shares a compelling story about an African-American family during the 1900s and offers many themes about social class and race. In A Raisin in the Sun, a negative legacy is left on modern drama due to the many examples of poverty and the message of money in the novel; though some people may believe that the play was an accurate depiction of the African-American lifestyle and their culture, they are wrong to believe this impractical belief because it leads to many white people assuming

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.

Imagery in The Raisin In The Sun displays uniquely to distinguishes each feeling or reaction proceeding to the characters. The reader gets more of a better image of situation, actions and feelings as illustrated “Mama: Son do you know your wife is expecting another baby? (Walter stands stunned and absorbs what his mother has said.) That’s what she wanted to talk to you about…” (Act 1 Scene 2 Page:1568.) With this image you can examine him feel so much emotion Walter at that time. The imagery of him just sitting there blank as stone, the feeling of anguish, speechlessness and surprised with the news that may seem as bad news giving him the image of unhappiness. Furthermore, it exposes the possibility to be a restriction Walters dream and the families dream as said according to Mama: “Mama: I'm waiting to see you stand up and look like your daddy and says we done giving up nary another one… I'm waiting.” This is a big interpretation towards the American Dream that they needed money but it was a load of work to provide enough for Travis and the baby. It consumes the part of Walter that he can't explain with money, it was his one and only chance to use properly for himself. In Addition, Walter is not just being selfish but he is just seeing the outcomes of his dream be put down. Then again there was also a big huge family that was living in the house; in which was also needing to provide Mama but she expected more from her son, to be wise enough to choose between the right and

America in the late 1950s- a country riddled with the complexions of unfair prejudices, racial conflicts, and pursued dreams. Experiencing the intricacy of this world firsthand, Lorraine Hansberry successfully condenses the complexity of the world around her into the play A Raisin in the Sun. She accurately replicates the lives of a lower class black family in the late 1950s and includes the various struggles associated with this setting. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, the discrimination against blacks instils a positive legacy through the use of historical allusions, external conflict, and characters’ tones to establish the ability to overcome the struggle of racism.