3 Symbols Throughout the story “A Raisin in the Sun”, Lorraine Hansberry creates the theme of the story by introducing tension between the characters on what each ones dream is in life.
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
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a play about segregation, triumph, and coping with personal tragedy. Set in Southside Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the individual dreams of the Younger family and their personal achievement. The Younger's are an African American family besieged by poverty,
In a carefully worded essay I will discuss the aspect of ‘race’ as a hindrance to the
Character Analysis “ A Raisin in the Sun” is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry about the life of an African American family during the era of segregation. The play starts off with the Younger family receiving a 10,000 dollar check from Mr. Younger’s insurance policy. The family argues over what they are going to do with it. Mama wants to buy a house with it, Walter wants to invest in a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to use the money to go to medical school. The contrast of the characters’ personalities fuels the conflict and drives the story forward. Beneatha is a young college student and the sister of Walter. She has a dream of becoming a doctor. Beneatha is a dynamic character who is easily influenced by her family and the people
The drama A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, shows the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living on the Southside of Chicago in the 1950s. In the beginning, the Youngers are about to receive an insurance check for $10,000. This money comes from the deceased Mr. Younger’s life insurance policy. Each of the adult members of the family has an idea as to what he or she would like to do with this money. Mama, wants to buy a house to fulfill a dream she shared with her husband. Mama’s son, Walter Lee, would rather use the money to invest in a liquor store with his friends. He believes that the investment will solve the family’s financial problems forever. Beneatha, Walter’s sister and Mama’s daughter, wants to use the money for her medical school tuition. Ruth, Walter’s wife, discovers that she is pregnant, but
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
Symbolism in A Raisin in the Sun Symbolism is a major tool used throughout the book “A Raisin in the Sun”. The author, Lorraine Hansberry, does a great job using symbolism in her play to convey her point. Lorraine Hansberry uses a variety of different things as symbols such as objects as well as people. The use of symbolism in the play is crucial because it helps understand things better and in more depth.
A Raisin in the sun shows the hardship many need to face in order to attain this notion of the American Dream. The book did more than then just show what everyone faced, she shows the struggles that many African American families had to face when trying to achieve the notion of the American Dream. She does this by showing the environment that many African American lived in when there was bombing in the neighborhood or when white people would force African American who finally bought a home, out. Lorraine also shows the struggles of the characters of the book like Walter who struggles with the decision he makes and the contradictions that stop him from achieving his goals of being wealthy or when Beneatha goes against the norms of society
Hope is essential; it is what drives the soul to persevere through the inevitable struggles in life until it reaches its dream. In the drama, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, hope plays a major role in the lives of the Youngers, a poor African American family living in Southside of Chicago during the 1950’s. Throughout the play, Lorraine Hansberry uses light to symbolize the Younger family’s ever changing hope of achieving their dreams. Symbolism underlines a subtle point, foreshadows, and adds meaning to the text. The use of symbols gives an idea or object, in this case the light, a representation beyond it’s literal meaning. In the drama, A Raisin In The Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, the light is a symbol that changes throughout
Essay 3: Suggested Topics A Raisin in the Sun was a play written in the late 1950’s analyzing the cruel effects of racism amongst the Younger family. The younger family suffers from racial discrimination within their living space, place of employment, and the housing industry. Racism has been going on for a very long time in the United States and will always continue to exist. Racism has not only led to political but also social issues. "A Raisin in the Sun confronted Whites for an acknowledgement that a black family could be fully human, 'just like us."(qtd. White fear.) The setting took place in the ghetto, south of Chicago where mainly African Americans settled. In this division, apartments and houses were overly priced, crowded and poorly maintained. Crime rates were extremely high and most families lived in poverty. Due to segregated housing, it was a daily struggle for black families who had hopes in leaving the ghetto for better lives.
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
My first impression of A Raisin In the Sun was that it was bland and uninteresting. The first scene in the story consisted of a woman waking up her son and husband and feeding them breakfast. This scene was uninteresting to me because there was no conflict. Another reason why the scene was not engaging was because it was typical for any family. Therefore, I found the beginning of A Raisin In the Sun to be dull because it was a scene with no conflict and it was a typical family scene.
Set in the South Side of Chicago, the Younger family faced adversity in A Raisin in the Sun. When Mama received her deceased husband’s insurance money, the entire family had different plans for it. She decided to make a down payment on a house and gave the remaining money to Walter to put some in the bank for Beneatha’s
Base on reading Act 1 and 2 in “The Raisin in the Sun”, I decided that I am going to choose option number one for many reasons. I believe the theme of the play in this book would connect closer to Mama’s money since the family is base on the