The play A Raisin In The Sun essay highlights the life and adventures of a haunted convict the dreams of each family member and their plans on how they intend to use the money from the death of Mr. Younger, Mama’s husband. Mama, or Lena, wishes to use the money to purchase a new home for the benefit of the family in which her daughter-in-law Ruth agrees. Beneatha or Bennie, her daughter, wants the money to pay for her medical school tuition, while Walter Lee or Walter, Mama’s son has a great interest in using the money to open a liquor shop.

Hansberry noted that her play introduced details of Black life to the overwhelmingly white Broadway audiences, while director Richards observed that it was the first play to which large numbers of Black people were drawn. Frank Rich, writing in The New York Times in 1983, stated that A Raisin in the Sun “changed American theater forever”. In 2016, Claire Brennan wrote in The Guardian that “The power and craft of the writing make A Raisin in the Sun as moving today as it was then.” Walter and Ruth Younger, their son Travis, along with Walter’s mother Lena and Walter’s younger sister Beneatha, live in poverty in a run-down two-bedroom apartment on Chicago’s South Side.

Lastly, Hansberry uses diction of anger and vulgar diction to illustrate how Walter is under pressure and jealous, especially of George. He says that George is a “contented son-of-a-bitch” and that he is wearing “fagotty-looking white shoes”. Walter is incredibly bitter that George is eased and has next-to-no problems in life.

Thematic Analysis Of Lorraine Hansberrys a Raisin In The Sun Analytical Essay

Beneatha had to give up her independence and take a shot to her pride by marrying Asagai, so that she can pursue her dreams of becoming a doctor and curing others. Her passion of curing and helping others is also at risk because her marriage with Asagai is based on the foundation of her becoming a doctor and not love. This marriage breaks some important principals and pride that she has because she’s now having to depend on someone to pursue her passion of becoming a doctor and she has also fallen victim to a tradition which she despises. The society in her time often has a predetermined goal for a woman, which consist of roles such as becoming a housewife, secretary, nurse, or teacher. Being an intellectual, independent, prideful and strong person Beneatha feels that these roles are limiting and that she is destined for much more. This feeling of power gets to his head, which he convinces himself that he’s right and nobody around him can comprehend the ideas that he has in his head.

Before, Beneatha relied on her family and because of this, she was unsure about herself. By becoming a lone doctor with Asagai in Africa, Bennie gets the stepping stone to discovering herself that she never would have received if she stayed with her family. The clear primary theme of A Raisin in the Sun has to do with race and racism. The Youngers live in a segregated neighborhood in a city that remains one of the most segregated in the United States. Ruth is employed as a domestic servant and Walter as a chauffeur in part because they are Black—they are the servants, that is, of White people.

Stereotypes In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun

In either case, you can also check our free essay examples for “A Raisin In The Sun”, which focuses on various relevant questions. Use quotes from the book to support your ideas and don’t forget to mention the symbolism of dreams. Mama attempts to teach her family that money isn’t everything and tries to instill in them strong values, such as taking pride in themselves and their dreams. However, Mama does hold the insurance check very dear to her heart. In The Dead, Joyce’s Dubliners are trapped in monotonous lives of frustration and negativity. Obviously, Gabriel has been enduring a broken marriage because of the paralysis, a natural condition experienced by most of the characters in the book.

• Her greatest ambition is to become a doctor, which was not typical for women during that time period.
• It was characterised by its experimental and transitional nature, as its position in the film-period time-line was the next step towards the Modernist Period.
• Meanwhile, Karl Lindner, a white representative of the neighborhood they plan to move to, makes a generous offer to buy them out.
• The play presents the story of a few weeks from the life of the Youngers family, an African American family living in the poor neighborhood of Chicago’s Southern area during the 50s.

The fear of failure despite achievement is shown in the play through the character, Walter. Throughout the play we see Walter battle himself because of his inability to properly support his family. He sees his dad work so hard all his life and not get to see his dreams fulfill, leaving behind his family. I believe although Walter speaks about doing better he never made an initiative because of his fear of failure despite. He feared that even if he worked just as hard as his father he too would not see the fruits of his labor. He would want his hard work to be for something, not to go in vain.

The Character Of Beneatha Younger In A Raisin In The Sun

Although the abortion theme is merely touched on in this play, the way is opened for other writers to treat it more thoroughly in future plays. A Raisin In The Sun By Lorraine Hansberry Summer Journal In A Raisin In The Sun the Younger family lives in Chicago on the south side in a small two bedroom apartment. Another theme of the lay was the need to fight racial discrimination. Two themes Lorraine Hansberry uses in A Raisin in the Sun is that dreams can either save or destroy a person or in this case a family and the importance of family values and morals. Lorraine Hansberry put her personal views into A Raisin in the Sun.