Category: A Raisin In The Sun

The play A Raisin In The Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry carries on the tradition of the Harlem Renaissance by centering the different characters’ experiences during and after this period and departs from or extends beyond that tradition by describing their realistic struggles and the racial injustice that they experience every day.

In the play A Raisin in the Sun a person who carries on the idea of the Harlem Renaissance is Lena’s daughter-in-law Ruth Younger. She portrays the centering of their experiences as complex and nuanced individuals, not just basic stereotypes. She does this by the way she raises her son and how she makes sure her husband doesn’t do anything stupid. She is the person in her family who always makes sure to keep them on time and budget. Even though she does this for the benefit of her family she still doesn’t want her son Travis to miss out on things or different experiences because they are poor. She makes sure to keep her husband in check and to make sure he sees the reality of the seriousness of his investment. She does so by making sure that he “Eats his eggs and go to work”.

Another was that in the play A Raisin In The Sun Lena’s son Walter carries on the tradition of the Harlem Renaissance because he brings to light the confrontation of racial injustice. When Walter gets home after being out all night drinking to see if Lena had gotten those ten thousand dollars from his father’s death he brings up the idea again of signing the papers for the liquor store he wanted to invest in. Lena right away shoots down his proposal because she doesn’t think that a liquor store is a way to make money. As Lena declines Wlater’s investment idea he begins to tell her how he feels, how he feels like there is no justice for dark folks.How being a servant is not a good job. Walter describes his job as a taunt to him because he drives around rich folks and he constantly sees how the rich live and how they work. He loves the idea of making million-dollar deals and sitting in big fancy restaurants but hates the fact that there is so much racial injustice that even if he would be successful in his liquor store business he would never be accepted in places like that due to all the racism.

Continuing the idea of the Harlem Renaissance being portrayed in the play A Raisin in the Sun another person who helps is Lena. She portrays the idea of the celebration of black culture. She does so by making sure the idea of God and his power is always stuck in her family’s head. For example Bennie (Lena’s Daughter) one day begins to speak about how God has nothing to do with people’s accomplishments, that people do things on their own, and that the big old man in the sky just slaps his name on everything. Lena on the other hand makes sure to remind her daughter that she and her husband did not spend all those Sunday afternoons taking them to church and putting good values in their head for her to be talking like that.

Last but not least another way that the play A Raisin in the Sun portrays the idea of the Harlem Renaissance is by referencing other art forms as part of their lives. For instance, as Lena receives the check of Big Walter’s life insurance she starts reminiscing the beautiful moments she and her husband spent together. How even in the really bad times they always managed to be together. They always managed to “dance” to a specific record. What she meant by this was they would just hold each other slowly swaying listening to this record. This is one of the things that really reminds Lena of her husband and how much she misses him.

In conclusion, there are many different ways that the play A Raisin in the Sun continues to portray the idea of the Harlem Renaissance. These were just some specific scenes that stood out to me and helped portray me the characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance.

The first-ever black woman to have a play performed on Broadway and all around the world in 35 different languages was accomplished by Lorraine Hansberry according to Nava Atlas in Lorraine Hansbury, Creator of a Raisin in the Sun (Atlas). Hansberry was raised in a black middle-class family in the southside of Chicago as the Civil Rights Movement was expanding. The Civil Rights Movement fought against segregation inspiring young black activists to express themselves in terms of art. Hansberry expressed her views against discrimination based on race. A Raisin in the Sun and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window are examples of Hansberry’s work addressing her views on the oppression of minority groups. Topics such as racism and poverty are present in A Raisin in the Sun while The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window discusses contemporary issues in a minority household. Hansberry’s life experiences lead her to become a successful playwright thus inspiring her work and influencing the Black Arts Movement.

Hansberry was born in May of 1930, a time of racial segregation, and faced discrimination living in a white community. As stated in Delano Greenridge-Copprue’s article Lorraine Hansberry, was the youngest child of civil rights activists Carl and Nannie Hansberry. Carl Hansberry had a successful real estate company and formed the first bank in Chicago for African Americans (Greenridge-Copprue). As a young child, Hansberry and her family moved into an all-white community where black people were not sold homes. The community had a negative reaction as noted by an incident when someone threw a brick into Hansberry’s home according to the Chicago Public Library in Lorraine Hansberry Biography (Chicago Public Library). As a result, the Hansberry were evicted from their home and eventually brought their case Hansberry vs. Lee, up to the Supreme Court. According to “Theater Appreciation” by James, John W, et al, Hansberry went on to study at the University of Wisconsin where she studied painting but then changed her major to writing (James et al, 30). Hansberry furthered her educational studies in writing and theater in New York City. As a writer, she worked for Paul Robeson’s newspaper Freedom. During a protest rally at New York University, she met Robert Nemiroff whom she married in 1953. Hansberry and her husband collaborated on a folk ballad which was a success allowing her to focus on her passion for theater. Notably, Hansberry focused on playwriting and wrote A Raisin in the Sun which was originally titled The Crystal Stair (Chicago Public Library). Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun was originally first performed in Connecticut, but after critical acclaim, it was developed into a Broadway play. According to The Facts on File Companion to American Drama by Jackson R. Bryer and Mary C. Hartig, “A Raisin in the Sun opened on March 11, 1959, at New York’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre, winning the New York Drama Critics’ Award (the first awarded to an African American) and running for an impressive 530 performances” (Jackson R. Bryer and Mary C. Hartig). Hansberry gained recognition as a young black playwright. In 1964, Hansberry produced her second and final play called The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (James et al, 30). Shortly after, Hansberry fell ill and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1963. The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window had its last run the same night Hansberry died of cancer (James et al, 30). Although Hansberry and Nemiroff divorced, he went on to publish her unfinished plays such as Les Blancs, The Drinking Gourd, and, What Use Are Flowers? (Chicago Public Library). In an autobiography To Be Young, Gifted and Black Nemiroff collected Hansberry’s unfinished works specifically, speeches, journal entries, and writings (Greenridge-Copprue). Strikingly, Hansberry’s impact on the African-American community lead to great attendance at her funeral as “mourners filled the church, and those unable to find room within the church stood outside in a blizzard to pay their respects to the 34-year-old playwright’’ (Greenridge-Copprue). This goes to show that the African-American community viewed Hansberry as an inspirational figure.

In particular, Hansberry’s work was inspired by important poets and figures. Growing up, Hansberry was surrounded by cultural figures such as W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, and Jesse Owens. Although she was part of the few privileged black families there, she was still aware of the social divides. Hansberry was inspired to get into theater when she “attended a university production of Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock and was moved by O’Casey’s ability to make the particular suffering of the Irish people a commentary on the Universal suffering of humanity” (Greenridge-Copprue). Hansberry envisioned that she could also portray hardships African Americans were facing at the time and began her playwriting career. To accurately depict African-American characters in her work, she would get inspiration from her family members. Her first playwright was A Raisin in the Sun, named after Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem.” Hughes’s poem expresses how African American’s fate is fixed.

“What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore–

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over–

Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?” (Hughes, 74)

In this poem, Hughes discusses how African American dreams were not important which could cause them to eventually “explode” by protesting. Hansberry was inspired by Hughes’s words and she based her first playwright on the poem. A Raisin in the Sun illustrates an African American family living in the South Side of Chicago who have dreams but are unable to attain them because of prejudice and segregation. There were events in Hansberry’s life that she included in A Raisin in the Sun. For example, she once moved into an all-white neighborhood and everyone opposed her black family to live there. In A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family moves into an all-white neighborhood and faces bribes to move out. This play was successful due to Hansberry’s ability to accurately depict African American struggles in the eyes of white people. Her second playwright, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window was also a success but did not capture as much of an audience as A Raisin in the Sun did. In brief, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window addressed contemporary issues, for example, marriage. Before Hansberry’s death, she had worked on three unfinished plays: Les Blancs, The Drinking Gourd, and What Use Are Flowers? (Chicago Public Library). Hansberry also had an unfinished opera called Toussaint and an autobiographical novel titled All the Dark and Beautiful Warriors. Her works were inspired by activists in efforts to raise awareness of the oppression African Americans faced.

As a result, Hansberry efforts were an inspiration to African Americans in theater which led to the creation of the Black Arts Movement. The Black Arts movement began in the 1960s and according to Candance L. Baker in “To All Sisters: Defending Lorraine Hansberry’s Integral Role in the Black Arts Movement in Juxtaposition with the Works of Sonia Sanchez & Adrienne Kennedy” it “featured many black writers and artists who explored the “essence” of black identity in their creative work. Their values were reflected in the artistic expression of the period, often referred to as the ‘Black Aesthetic’” (Baker). African-American artists were openly expressing their views about their own identity. Hansberry is credited with inspiring a new generation of Black artists as she “focused on the topic of race in American Society” in her works (Baker). A new generation of African-American artists initiated the spread of activism through their works. Hansberry influenced feminism by creating pivotal female roles in A Raisin in the Sun for black women to portray. Black women were allowed to finally express their talent to portray what it was really like to be an African American during the 1950s. Hansberry’s achievements proved that African Americans were also capable of producing successful plays.

Overall, it may be said that Hansberry’s life experiences led to her becoming an influential playwright. Having been raised in a middle-class family, Hansberry experienced oppression which influenced several of her works. She integrated her personal experiences and works from other African Americans in her plays which made them authentic. Notably, Hansberry is known for her two playwrights- A Raisin in the Sun and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. Her plays were inspired by ongoing issues, for example, racism. Hansberry also incorporated contemporary issues such as marriage problems. Her playwrights allowed white people to get a glimpse of the life of an average African American. Hansberry became well-known and used her fame to advocate for racial justice. Although Hansberry passed away in 1965, she is credited for starting the Black Arts Movement. She led a new generation of African Americans to express their points of view creatively. To summarize Hansberry lived a short, but very meaningful life advocating for the African-American community. The events and people in her life guided her to create successful plays that enticed the Black Arts movement.

Personal growth and personal struggles in the black family are the primary topics covered in Lorraine Hansberry’s 1957 play A Raisin in the Sun, inspired by Langston Hughes’s poem, published in 1951 titled “Harlem (A Dream Deferred).” The story follows the Younger family, living in “Chicago’s Southside, sometime between World War II and the present” (Hansberry 1437). The Younger family consists of Mama, her children Walter Lee and Beneatha, Walter’s Wife, Ruth, and their son. The entire family is crammed in an apartment, meagerly furnished in Chicago’s black metropolis. Issues that afflicted black families during that time were their migration from the South, poverty, civil rights, identity, and opportunities that were not afforded them in the South. A Raisin in the Sun shows these struggles and how the family falls and rises through them together. This play is of particular significance as it was written during tumultuous times for blacks, regardless of living in the South or the larger cities. It was the first play written by an African American woman that was ever produced on Broadway, who experienced discrimination worse than the Youngers. It was a time when many blacks fled the “Jim Crow” South to come north hoping for opportunities to find better employment, housing situations, and dignity.

At the time the Younger family would have been in the city, Chicago, in the 1920s, developed a report on race relations in the city. Blacks from the South were asked “What do you like about the North?” their responses were noted to be similar “1) Freedom in voting & conditions of colored people here. 2) Freedom and chance to make a living; privileges. 3) Freedom and opportunity to acquire something.” (Hansberry 1448). This play addresses realistic issues and Hansberry portrays the mindset and development of the Younger children, Walter Lee and Beneatha. Hansberry illustrates that although Walter Lee and Beneatha are of the same parents, live in the same household, and in the same community, their journey toward self-discovery is different, mostly due to race & gender roles assigned to both during that time.

Beneatha and Walter were raised by proud parents who moved to Chicago just two weeks after getting married. They had dreams of moving up in life, Mama recalls her plans of homeownership “wasn’t planning on living here no more than a year. . . We were going to set away, little by little,” “Child, you should know all the dreams I had about buying that house. . . and making me a little garden in the back” (Hansberry 1469) However, like most, their dreams were deferred. There is an opportunity for Mama to reclaim her dream and buy a house for her family as well as finally having a garden. Big Walter, Walter and Beneatha’s father has passed, and the family is waiting on a $10,000 check from the insurance company. Each family member has a clashing vision, a dream, of what they could do with that money and how they could do it.

Walter Lee has his eyes set fast on the $10,000 to open a liquor store. Walter Lee’s plan conflicts with Mama’s of buying the family a home with space that is so desperately needed in light of their cramped living situation. Walter Lee’s vision is not a bad one, because he plans to gain wealth so that the family can be comfortable. Walter Lee is a chauffeur for a rich white man and sees firsthand the things that wealth brings. Being a poor black man working for a rich white man stirs up all types of emotions in Walter Lee, from anger to sadness to envy. It motivates him to have the desire to use the $10,000 to invest in a liquor store but does not motivate or allow him to realize that dream on his own. Walter remembers a time when the dry cleaner asked him to invest in the business “When he wanted me to go in the dry-cleaning business with him. And now –he’s grossing a hundred thousand a year. A hundred thousand dollars a year!” (Hansberry 1462) so this $10,000 represents Walter’s dream deferred. As noted, this is not Mama’s dream for the money and Mama is ultimately in control of the money. Walter feels defeated, His mother, his wife, and his son are ecstatic about the notion of a house in the suburbs and leaving the inner city. “Man says to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman says: Eat your eggs. Man says: I got to take hold of this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work. Man says: I got to change my life, I’m choking to death, baby! And his woman say -Your eggs are getting cold!” Walter is trying to convey to the family that he is suffocating but they are not hearing him.

Walter is a hard worker but not necessarily a go-getter, he has a dream to spend the insurance money but no solutions as to how he can acquire this on his own. Hansberry shows he is not necessarily good with money. He has a wife and child but seems to rely on his parents for support. Walter Lee does not find any peace in this world that does not include him. Walter will have to take a journey and dig deep within to find the solutions to his problems. The obstacles Walter Lee faces as a black man are tremendous; the odds are not stacked in his favor. He sees the American Dream through his employer and the world around him amid civil rights controversies, so that dream seems impossible to reach until the emergence of the insurance check. The Poem from which this play is inspired “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up; like a raisin in the sun?” (Hughes line) demonstrates where Walter Lee starts his journey, from boyhood to manhood. His hope is drying up like a raisin in the sun, along with his aspirations. Critic Douglas Turner Ward writes “Consequently, when Hansberry selects the “raisin” phrase she limits the thematic relevance of Hughes’ poem to her play; her themes are concerned, not so much with a fulfilled faith in inevitable changes for the better, but with the drying up of dreams.” (Ward, ‘Lorraine Hansberry and the Passion of Walter Lee.’)

Walter’s reaction to having his dream deferred -Mama putting a deposit on a home in a white racist suburb – leaves him hurt and angry. Walters’s pregnant wife is overjoyed. Her decision to possibly abort the baby because of their desperate financial situation can be put on hold with the notion of living in a new home with actual space for her and her family. When Walter hears of this he is enraged and hurt. In his mind, his manhood is questioned. He desires to be the man of the house in the absence of his father. Mama tries to reason with Walter letting him know that she has everyone’s best interest at heart. “I – I saw my family falling apart today . . . I wish you say something, son . . .I wish you’d say how deep inside you you think I done the right thing -” (Hansberry 1494) Walter, in his immaturity, doesn’t see that is the right thing for the family as a whole, so this decision causes him to spiral downward; he is not going to work and drinking heavily. It shows that the thing that he wants most, which is the responsibility of being the man of the house he is not capable of or at least not ready for. Walter has resentment toward the women in his life. (()) writes as he is resentful and burdened by the economic pressures and white supremacist structure. “You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to” (80).

Mama, seeing Walter Lee spiral, feels a sense of guilt “I been wrong son. That I been doing to you what the rest of the world been doing to you.” and she decides to take a leap of faith “There ain’t nothing worth holding on to, money, dreams, nothing else –if it means—if it means it’s going to destroy my boy.” So Mama puts the family fortune in Walter Lee’s hand. “… take three thousand dollars and put it in a savings account for Beneatha’s medical schooling. The rest . . from now on any penny that comes out of it or that goes in it is for you to look after. For you to decide. . .” Walter now has total autonomy to handle the remaining money that’s left after the deposit on the house. Mama tells him that he is the Man of the house.

This begins to change Walter’s disposition; it reaffirms his hopes, manhood, and dignity. He begins to show more affection to all three women in his household; he takes his wife to the movies, shows her affection, gives a gift to his mother, and teases Beneatha about her idealism. As critic (()) writes “Walter Lee’s ability to alter his behavior after gaining the money clearly shows the extent to which he has been influenced by financial pressures.” That joy is short-lived and Hansberry takes this character to what many believe is the transition in his life that ultimately softens and changes him.

Walter Lee decides to invest money into the liquor store he has been dreaming about along with a friend named BoBo and a shady character named Willy. Walters’s world dries up like a raisin in the sun when he hears from BoBo that Willy has run away with the money. At this point, his dreams and the dreams of his family “sag; like a heavy load.” As Langston Hughes suggests in his poem “Harlem” “Or does it explode?” Walter Lee retreats to a dark isolation, not only did he spend the money he was in charge of but Beneatha’s medical school money as well. At the end of the play, Mr. Linder representing the whites of the new neighborhood offers to buy the house at a profit to keep the Younger family out of their white neighborhood. Critic Steven R. Carter sums it up nicely in his essay “Images of Men in Lorraine Hansberry’s Writing” “Walter Lee realizes that he can accept this money only at the expense of his respect for himself, his family, and his race, and he finally concedes his family’s importance to him. He learns that his pride in himself and his pride in his family are inseparable, that anything harming one also harms the other, and he further sees that the three women in his life have always helped him bear the burdens of living in a racist system and are now prepared to be powerful allies in the struggle against this new racist insult, despite the implicit threat of harm which comes from not accepting it.”

Lorraine Hansberry is a writer and activist born in May 1930, born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Hansberry is an African American woman, born in the Depression era although, because of her father’s relative wealth they were considered middle class. Though their position on the economic ladder they still experienced extreme racism and segregation. She attended an overcrowded public school for African American students located in the ghettos. As she grew up she read books in her father’s library, she developed a strong mindset about the greatness of Africa and its ancient civilizations. She also learned about colonialism in Africa and its impact on the people. She soon drew a parallel between the exploited Africans and the subjugated African Americans. These early influences foreshadow the inspiring work she created in her later age. “Without a doubt, the play A Raisin in the Sun was a historically and culturally significant rhetorical production.” (Lipari 81). Hansberry shows her personal views and experiences of inequality and injustice of African Americans throughout her play, A Raisin in the Sun.

There were specific examples showing racism and oppression that happened in both Hansberry’s life and in her play A Raisin in the Sun that support the above research question. For example, as a young girl, Hansberry and her family moved into a white neighborhood which came with challenges due to segregation. The white community of the neighborhood was so angry they moved in, and the community threw bricks through the Hansberry family window. This was taken to court and the Hansberry were court-ordered to vacate the home. Her father became so furious, that he brought this case to the U.S. Supreme Court. This became the court case known as Hansberry v. Lee’s decision of 1940. In the play A Raisin in the Sun, The youngsters decide to move into a predominantly all white neighborhood. Before they even move in “Mr. Lindner [a white man] who comes from the ‘welcome committee’ of the new neighborhood to ask the Youngers not to move into it at all [and offers to pay them not to move]: ‘I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn’t enter into it…As I say, that for all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their communities” (Saber 452). The Youngers refuse this offer and decide to move in any way, despite all of the hate towards them. As does Hansberry’s father, “The Youngers make their decision in the end, the fact of racial oppression, unspoken and alluded to, other than the fact of how they live ” (Saber 453).

As stated above, Hansberry was “born into material comfort on the southside of Chicago and she grew us as a part of the middle class and was therefore given some opportunities denied to others… this background which must be acknowledged” (Wilkerson 450). In the eyes of a young girl, it can be brought to the light, seeing her family getting treated differently because of her race, it could be seen why young Hansberry could have been discouraged; asking herself, why can my friends live in this neighborhood but I cannot? Why can’t we go to this side of town? All of these questions and discouragement that were put upon Hansberry at birth sent many other African-Americans into the shadows, but not Lorine Hansberry. Since Hansberry was taught at a young age to have “pride in the family and never to betray the race” (Wilkerson 450) she chose to use her experiences to fuel her writing career and write about the injustices in American society. In Lorine Hansberry’s play, she was able to show all Americans

Which is one of the themes of her play A Raisin in the Sun. Overcoming this adversity at such a young age turned Hansberry into the strong, activist, and powerful writer that she once was.

The segregation and unrightful treatment she experienced and witnessed are “experiences she would in part recount in her first dramatic work, A Raisin in the sun” (Abell 460). Hansberry holds strong beliefs about the means of African Americans and the civil rights they should attain. “These beliefs surfaced in the situations of the characters in the play” (Abell 461). For example, the character Travis Younger represents the innocence and purity of Hansberry’s younger self. Mama’s strong will to change stereotypes and oppression towards African Americans as does Hansberry’s father does, going to court fighting for their house lastly Beneatha shows open-mindedness and wants to learn about African american culture represents young Lorraine reading her father’s books and wanting to learn more about her African American culture.

“The aim of [Hansberry for this play] is asserting black racial pride. It was an attempt to cross racial lines and not to see everything through sharp black-white dichotomies, but to form a kind of racial settlement and to end racial oppression” (Murray 277). Hansberry does this through her personal experiences and views throughout the characters, themes, and events that relate to both her life and her play. The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry shows her personal experiences from life in a metaphorical way, while this literary essay explains how she was able to show her experiences.

A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, introduces several of her characters, where money is a promise of escape, a gift to be stored up and fought for whenever possible. But as the story progresses, the Younger family must constantly consider their wish for significant wealth against their wish for freedom. Beneatha, Walter, and the others eventually choose conceptual values over easy choices that hold out the potential of more money. Each person’s dream serves a significant emotional purpose for the character; though, the dreams also split the characters up, creating conflict between them.

Walter Lee Younger is used to signify the bold but, unaware African American family. Walter’s main role in “A Raisin in the Sun” is to represent the African American families that take many chances, which ultimately lead to total failure. Walter is shadowed by selfishness and ignorance which causes him to fail to accomplish the success he wishes to earn. Walter Lee Youngers’ greed is illustrated when he talks about, ‘Check coming today.’ (26). Walter’s deficiency of knowledge and his hard-headedness allow him to portray American success, which he hopes to achieve in a brief time. Walter Lee Younger is a man who is unsatisfied with his current situation in life, and every dissatisfaction he has faced so far. Though he attempts to be a loving man, occasionally he does not know how to show the idea of love, “Sometimes… sometimes… I don’t even know how to try'(89). His stance in life can be considered symbolic of every black male battling to offer for his loved ones by any means necessary. Although Walter has a job, it seems unsatisfactory for his survival. As a result, he has become discouraged and lacks good judgment. Throughout the story, Walter searches for something that will make his life pleasurable.

Walter was a hardworking man who had a vision. He planned to go into business with a few of his friends operating a liquor store. “Gone, what you mean Willy is gone? Gone where? You mean he went by himself. You mean he went off to Springfield by himself – to take care of getting the license…” (180). Walter desperately holds onto the chance of his dreams coming true, rejecting the fact that he has been conned. He knows that he has not only ruined his vision by trusting Willy Harris but he’s also put discouragement on Beneatha’s plans of going to medical school.

The male characters in the story are described as reckless, Walter, lacking in control or truthfulness, George and Joseph, or aggressive, Mr. Lindner. While the female characters are responsible, Mama, ruthless and orderly, Ruth.

The play A Raisin In The Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry carries on the tradition of the Harlem Renaissance by centering the different characters’ experiences during and after this period and departs from or extends beyond that tradition by describing their realistic struggles and the racial injustice that they experience every day.

In the play A Raisin in the Sun a person who carries on the idea of the Harlem Renaissance is Lena’s daughter-in-law Ruth Younger. She portrays the centering of their experiences as complex and nuanced individuals, not just basic stereotypes. She does this by the way she raises her son and how she makes sure her husband doesn’t do anything stupid. She is the person in her family who always makes sure to keep them on time and budget. Even though she does this for the benefit of her family she still doesn’t want her son Travis to miss out on things or different experiences because they are poor. She makes sure to keep her husband in check and to make sure he sees the reality of the seriousness of his investment. She does so by making sure that he “Eats his eggs and go to work”.

Another was that in the play A Raisin In The Sun Lena’s son Walter carries on the tradition of the Harlem Renaissance because he brings to light the confrontation of racial injustice. When Walter gets home after being out all night drinking to see if Lena had gotten those ten thousand dollars from his father’s death he brings up the idea again of signing the papers for the liquor store he wanted to invest in. Lena right away shoots down his proposal because she doesn’t think that a liquor store is a way to make money. As Lena declines Wlater’s investment idea he begins to tell her how he feels, how he feels like there is no justice for dark folks.How being a servant is not a good job. Walter describes his job as a taunt to him because he drives around rich folks and he constantly sees how the rich live and how they work. He loves the idea of making million-dollar deals and sitting in big fancy restaurants but hates the fact that there is so much racial injustice that even if he would be successful in his liquor store business he would never be accepted in places like that due to all the racism.

Continuing the idea of the Harlem Renaissance being portrayed in the play A Raisin in the Sun another person who helps is Lena. She portrays the idea of the celebration of black culture. She does so by making sure the idea of God and his power is always stuck in her family’s head. For example Bennie (Lena’s Daughter) one day begins to speak about how God has nothing to do with people’s accomplishments, that people do things on their own, and that the big old man in the sky just slaps his name on everything. Lena on the other hand makes sure to remind her daughter that she and her husband did not spend all those Sunday afternoons taking them to church and putting good values in their head for her to be talking like that.

Last but not least another way that the play A Raisin in the Sun portrays the idea of the Harlem Renaissance is by referencing other art forms as part of their lives. For instance, as Lena receives the check of Big Walter’s life insurance she starts reminiscing the beautiful moments she and her husband spent together. How even in the really bad times they always managed to be together. They always managed to “dance” to a specific record. What she meant by this was they would just hold each other slowly swaying listening to this record. This is one of the things that really reminds Lena of her husband and how much she misses him.

In conclusion, there are many different ways that the play A Raisin in the Sun continues to portray the idea of the Harlem Renaissance. These were just some specific scenes that stood out to me and helped portray me the characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance.

The first-ever black woman to have a play performed on Broadway and all around the world in 35 different languages was accomplished by Lorraine Hansberry according to Nava Atlas in Lorraine Hansbury, Creator of a Raisin in the Sun (Atlas). Hansberry was raised in a black middle-class family in the southside of Chicago as the Civil Rights Movement was expanding. The Civil Rights Movement fought against segregation inspiring young black activists to express themselves in terms of art. Hansberry expressed her views against discrimination based on race. A Raisin in the Sun and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window are examples of Hansberry’s work addressing her views on the oppression of minority groups. Topics such as racism and poverty are present in A Raisin in the Sun while The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window discusses contemporary issues in a minority household. Hansberry’s life experiences lead her to become a successful playwright thus inspiring her work and influencing the Black Arts Movement.

Hansberry was born in May of 1930, a time of racial segregation, and faced discrimination living in a white community. As stated in Delano Greenridge-Copprue’s article Lorraine Hansberry, was the youngest child of civil rights activists Carl and Nannie Hansberry. Carl Hansberry had a successful real estate company and formed the first bank in Chicago for African Americans (Greenridge-Copprue). As a young child, Hansberry and her family moved into an all-white community where black people were not sold homes. The community had a negative reaction as noted by an incident when someone threw a brick into Hansberry’s home according to the Chicago Public Library in Lorraine Hansberry Biography (Chicago Public Library). As a result, the Hansberry were evicted from their home and eventually brought their case Hansberry vs. Lee, up to the Supreme Court. According to “Theater Appreciation” by James, John W, et al, Hansberry went on to study at the University of Wisconsin where she studied painting but then changed her major to writing (James et al, 30). Hansberry furthered her educational studies in writing and theater in New York City. As a writer, she worked for Paul Robeson’s newspaper Freedom. During a protest rally at New York University, she met Robert Nemiroff whom she married in 1953. Hansberry and her husband collaborated on a folk ballad which was a success allowing her to focus on her passion for theater. Notably, Hansberry focused on playwriting and wrote A Raisin in the Sun which was originally titled The Crystal Stair (Chicago Public Library). Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun was originally first performed in Connecticut, but after critical acclaim, it was developed into a Broadway play. According to The Facts on File Companion to American Drama by Jackson R. Bryer and Mary C. Hartig, “A Raisin in the Sun opened on March 11, 1959, at New York’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre, winning the New York Drama Critics’ Award (the first awarded to an African American) and running for an impressive 530 performances” (Jackson R. Bryer and Mary C. Hartig). Hansberry gained recognition as a young black playwright. In 1964, Hansberry produced her second and final play called The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (James et al, 30). Shortly after, Hansberry fell ill and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1963. The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window had its last run the same night Hansberry died of cancer (James et al, 30). Although Hansberry and Nemiroff divorced, he went on to publish her unfinished plays such as Les Blancs, The Drinking Gourd, and, What Use Are Flowers? (Chicago Public Library). In an autobiography To Be Young, Gifted and Black Nemiroff collected Hansberry’s unfinished works specifically, speeches, journal entries, and writings (Greenridge-Copprue). Strikingly, Hansberry’s impact on the African-American community lead to great attendance at her funeral as “mourners filled the church, and those unable to find room within the church stood outside in a blizzard to pay their respects to the 34-year-old playwright’’ (Greenridge-Copprue). This goes to show that the African-American community viewed Hansberry as an inspirational figure.

In particular, Hansberry’s work was inspired by important poets and figures. Growing up, Hansberry was surrounded by cultural figures such as W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, and Jesse Owens. Although she was part of the few privileged black families there, she was still aware of the social divides. Hansberry was inspired to get into theater when she “attended a university production of Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock and was moved by O’Casey’s ability to make the particular suffering of the Irish people a commentary on the Universal suffering of humanity” (Greenridge-Copprue). Hansberry envisioned that she could also portray hardships African Americans were facing at the time and began her playwriting career. To accurately depict African-American characters in her work, she would get inspiration from her family members. Her first playwright was A Raisin in the Sun, named after Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem.” Hughes’s poem expresses how African American’s fate is fixed.

“What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore–

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over–

Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?” (Hughes, 74)

In this poem, Hughes discusses how African American dreams were not important which could cause them to eventually “explode” by protesting. Hansberry was inspired by Hughes’s words and she based her first playwright on the poem. A Raisin in the Sun illustrates an African American family living in the South Side of Chicago who have dreams but are unable to attain them because of prejudice and segregation. There were events in Hansberry’s life that she included in A Raisin in the Sun. For example, she once moved into an all-white neighborhood and everyone opposed her black family to live there. In A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family moves into an all-white neighborhood and faces bribes to move out. This play was successful due to Hansberry’s ability to accurately depict African American struggles in the eyes of white people. Her second playwright, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window was also a success but did not capture as much of an audience as A Raisin in the Sun did. In brief, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window addressed contemporary issues, for example, marriage. Before Hansberry’s death, she had worked on three unfinished plays: Les Blancs, The Drinking Gourd, and What Use Are Flowers? (Chicago Public Library). Hansberry also had an unfinished opera called Toussaint and an autobiographical novel titled All the Dark and Beautiful Warriors. Her works were inspired by activists in efforts to raise awareness of the oppression African Americans faced.

As a result, Hansberry efforts were an inspiration to African Americans in theater which led to the creation of the Black Arts Movement. The Black Arts movement began in the 1960s and according to Candance L. Baker in “To All Sisters: Defending Lorraine Hansberry’s Integral Role in the Black Arts Movement in Juxtaposition with the Works of Sonia Sanchez & Adrienne Kennedy” it “featured many black writers and artists who explored the “essence” of black identity in their creative work. Their values were reflected in the artistic expression of the period, often referred to as the ‘Black Aesthetic’” (Baker). African-American artists were openly expressing their views about their own identity. Hansberry is credited with inspiring a new generation of Black artists as she “focused on the topic of race in American Society” in her works (Baker). A new generation of African-American artists initiated the spread of activism through their works. Hansberry influenced feminism by creating pivotal female roles in A Raisin in the Sun for black women to portray. Black women were allowed to finally express their talent to portray what it was really like to be an African American during the 1950s. Hansberry’s achievements proved that African Americans were also capable of producing successful plays.

Overall, it may be said that Hansberry’s life experiences led to her becoming an influential playwright. Having been raised in a middle-class family, Hansberry experienced oppression which influenced several of her works. She integrated her personal experiences and works from other African Americans in her plays which made them authentic. Notably, Hansberry is known for her two playwrights- A Raisin in the Sun and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. Her plays were inspired by ongoing issues, for example, racism. Hansberry also incorporated contemporary issues such as marriage problems. Her playwrights allowed white people to get a glimpse of the life of an average African American. Hansberry became well-known and used her fame to advocate for racial justice. Although Hansberry passed away in 1965, she is credited for starting the Black Arts Movement. She led a new generation of African Americans to express their points of view creatively. To summarize Hansberry lived a short, but very meaningful life advocating for the African-American community. The events and people in her life guided her to create successful plays that enticed the Black Arts movement.

Personal growth and personal struggles in the black family are the primary topics covered in Lorraine Hansberry’s 1957 play A Raisin in the Sun, inspired by Langston Hughes’s poem, published in 1951 titled “Harlem (A Dream Deferred).” The story follows the Younger family, living in “Chicago’s Southside, sometime between World War II and the present” (Hansberry 1437). The Younger family consists of Mama, her children Walter Lee and Beneatha, Walter’s Wife, Ruth, and their son. The entire family is crammed in an apartment, meagerly furnished in Chicago’s black metropolis. Issues that afflicted black families during that time were their migration from the South, poverty, civil rights, identity, and opportunities that were not afforded them in the South. A Raisin in the Sun shows these struggles and how the family falls and rises through them together. This play is of particular significance as it was written during tumultuous times for blacks, regardless of living in the South or the larger cities. It was the first play written by an African American woman that was ever produced on Broadway, who experienced discrimination worse than the Youngers. It was a time when many blacks fled the “Jim Crow” South to come north hoping for opportunities to find better employment, housing situations, and dignity.

At the time the Younger family would have been in the city, Chicago, in the 1920s, developed a report on race relations in the city. Blacks from the South were asked “What do you like about the North?” their responses were noted to be similar “1) Freedom in voting & conditions of colored people here. 2) Freedom and chance to make a living; privileges. 3) Freedom and opportunity to acquire something.” (Hansberry 1448). This play addresses realistic issues and Hansberry portrays the mindset and development of the Younger children, Walter Lee and Beneatha. Hansberry illustrates that although Walter Lee and Beneatha are of the same parents, live in the same household, and in the same community, their journey toward self-discovery is different, mostly due to race & gender roles assigned to both during that time.

Beneatha and Walter were raised by proud parents who moved to Chicago just two weeks after getting married. They had dreams of moving up in life, Mama recalls her plans of homeownership “wasn’t planning on living here no more than a year. . . We were going to set away, little by little,” “Child, you should know all the dreams I had about buying that house. . . and making me a little garden in the back” (Hansberry 1469) However, like most, their dreams were deferred. There is an opportunity for Mama to reclaim her dream and buy a house for her family as well as finally having a garden. Big Walter, Walter and Beneatha’s father has passed, and the family is waiting on a $10,000 check from the insurance company. Each family member has a clashing vision, a dream, of what they could do with that money and how they could do it.

Walter Lee has his eyes set fast on the $10,000 to open a liquor store. Walter Lee’s plan conflicts with Mama’s of buying the family a home with space that is so desperately needed in light of their cramped living situation. Walter Lee’s vision is not a bad one, because he plans to gain wealth so that the family can be comfortable. Walter Lee is a chauffeur for a rich white man and sees firsthand the things that wealth brings. Being a poor black man working for a rich white man stirs up all types of emotions in Walter Lee, from anger to sadness to envy. It motivates him to have the desire to use the $10,000 to invest in a liquor store but does not motivate or allow him to realize that dream on his own. Walter remembers a time when the dry cleaner asked him to invest in the business “When he wanted me to go in the dry-cleaning business with him. And now –he’s grossing a hundred thousand a year. A hundred thousand dollars a year!” (Hansberry 1462) so this $10,000 represents Walter’s dream deferred. As noted, this is not Mama’s dream for the money and Mama is ultimately in control of the money. Walter feels defeated, His mother, his wife, and his son are ecstatic about the notion of a house in the suburbs and leaving the inner city. “Man says to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman says: Eat your eggs. Man says: I got to take hold of this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work. Man says: I got to change my life, I’m choking to death, baby! And his woman say -Your eggs are getting cold!” Walter is trying to convey to the family that he is suffocating but they are not hearing him.

Walter is a hard worker but not necessarily a go-getter, he has a dream to spend the insurance money but no solutions as to how he can acquire this on his own. Hansberry shows he is not necessarily good with money. He has a wife and child but seems to rely on his parents for support. Walter Lee does not find any peace in this world that does not include him. Walter will have to take a journey and dig deep within to find the solutions to his problems. The obstacles Walter Lee faces as a black man are tremendous; the odds are not stacked in his favor. He sees the American Dream through his employer and the world around him amid civil rights controversies, so that dream seems impossible to reach until the emergence of the insurance check. The Poem from which this play is inspired “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up; like a raisin in the sun?” (Hughes line) demonstrates where Walter Lee starts his journey, from boyhood to manhood. His hope is drying up like a raisin in the sun, along with his aspirations. Critic Douglas Turner Ward writes “Consequently, when Hansberry selects the “raisin” phrase she limits the thematic relevance of Hughes’ poem to her play; her themes are concerned, not so much with a fulfilled faith in inevitable changes for the better, but with the drying up of dreams.” (Ward, ‘Lorraine Hansberry and the Passion of Walter Lee.’)

Walter’s reaction to having his dream deferred -Mama putting a deposit on a home in a white racist suburb – leaves him hurt and angry. Walters’s pregnant wife is overjoyed. Her decision to possibly abort the baby because of their desperate financial situation can be put on hold with the notion of living in a new home with actual space for her and her family. When Walter hears of this he is enraged and hurt. In his mind, his manhood is questioned. He desires to be the man of the house in the absence of his father. Mama tries to reason with Walter letting him know that she has everyone’s best interest at heart. “I – I saw my family falling apart today . . . I wish you say something, son . . .I wish you’d say how deep inside you you think I done the right thing -” (Hansberry 1494) Walter, in his immaturity, doesn’t see that is the right thing for the family as a whole, so this decision causes him to spiral downward; he is not going to work and drinking heavily. It shows that the thing that he wants most, which is the responsibility of being the man of the house he is not capable of or at least not ready for. Walter has resentment toward the women in his life. (()) writes as he is resentful and burdened by the economic pressures and white supremacist structure. “You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to” (80).

Mama, seeing Walter Lee spiral, feels a sense of guilt “I been wrong son. That I been doing to you what the rest of the world been doing to you.” and she decides to take a leap of faith “There ain’t nothing worth holding on to, money, dreams, nothing else –if it means—if it means it’s going to destroy my boy.” So Mama puts the family fortune in Walter Lee’s hand. “… take three thousand dollars and put it in a savings account for Beneatha’s medical schooling. The rest . . from now on any penny that comes out of it or that goes in it is for you to look after. For you to decide. . .” Walter now has total autonomy to handle the remaining money that’s left after the deposit on the house. Mama tells him that he is the Man of the house.

This begins to change Walter’s disposition; it reaffirms his hopes, manhood, and dignity. He begins to show more affection to all three women in his household; he takes his wife to the movies, shows her affection, gives a gift to his mother, and teases Beneatha about her idealism. As critic (()) writes “Walter Lee’s ability to alter his behavior after gaining the money clearly shows the extent to which he has been influenced by financial pressures.” That joy is short-lived and Hansberry takes this character to what many believe is the transition in his life that ultimately softens and changes him.

Walter Lee decides to invest money into the liquor store he has been dreaming about along with a friend named BoBo and a shady character named Willy. Walters’s world dries up like a raisin in the sun when he hears from BoBo that Willy has run away with the money. At this point, his dreams and the dreams of his family “sag; like a heavy load.” As Langston Hughes suggests in his poem “Harlem” “Or does it explode?” Walter Lee retreats to a dark isolation, not only did he spend the money he was in charge of but Beneatha’s medical school money as well. At the end of the play, Mr. Linder representing the whites of the new neighborhood offers to buy the house at a profit to keep the Younger family out of their white neighborhood. Critic Steven R. Carter sums it up nicely in his essay “Images of Men in Lorraine Hansberry’s Writing” “Walter Lee realizes that he can accept this money only at the expense of his respect for himself, his family, and his race, and he finally concedes his family’s importance to him. He learns that his pride in himself and his pride in his family are inseparable, that anything harming one also harms the other, and he further sees that the three women in his life have always helped him bear the burdens of living in a racist system and are now prepared to be powerful allies in the struggle against this new racist insult, despite the implicit threat of harm which comes from not accepting it.”

In dysfunctional families, conflicts between members of the family occur continuously and regularly. Family members in dysfunctional families are often disbarred from being unique and may also endure abuse and neglect. The Youngers in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun undergo both loving and hateful moments throughout the play. The Youngers are a dysfunctional family as they have many beliefs and behaviors which causes repeated conflict within the family. To begin with, the Youngers let money diminish their family relations. Moreover, the Youngers are discouraged and punished from stating their own opinions. Finally, they put their needs and wants before those of their fellow family members.

The large check that Lena Younger (Mama) had received causes the family to fight over it and turn on each other. Walter’s want for money causes it to be his highest priority in life. When Mama declines Walter’s request for the money, he responds by saying, “Because it is life Mama… No ⎼⎼ it was always money, Mama” (Hansberry 74). Here Walter says that money is life, rather than freedom or family. He is putting money as his highest priority in life rather than his own family. Mama barely challenges Walter’s thinking and does not try to set his goals and priorities straight. Ultimately, this leads to Walter continuing to put money first like when he tries to sell their new house to Lindner despite the family’s protests. Walter lets material things get in the way of his family relations, and his decisions throughout the play which are mostly based on money cause continuous conflict within the family. Also, when Walter loses the insurance money, his family turns on him. When Walter is distraught over losing the money, Beneatha says this to Mama, “That is not a man. That is nothing but a toothless rat… I said that individual in that room is no brother of mine” (Hansberry 144-145). Beneatha was angry over Walter losing the money, which included her schooling money. She goes as far as disowning Walter as her brother. If Mama had not consulted Beneatha after this, she probably would have never let it go. She let the money harm her family relationship with her brother and caused conflict over it. Overall, the Youngers let third-party objects like money deteriorate their relations and disputes within the family.

Furthermore, the Youngers have many conflicting ideas on large issues and struggle to be able to express themselves and their ideas, which hurts the functionality of their family. When Beneatha reveals her beliefs about God, it causes tension in the household. When Mama scolds Beneatha for using the Lord’s name in vain, Beneatha replies to her by saying, “Mama you don’t understand. It’s all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don’t accept” (Hansberry 51). Throughout the play, it is shown that the Youngers are a highly Christian family. After Beneatha had said this, Mama and Ruth had a serious argument over it. Religion often plays a substantial part in a family and defecting from your household’s religion could cause tension. Mama slaps Beneatha and forces her to say that in her house there is still God. Mama uses physical harm and silences Beneatha from stating her own opinion. Those are both signs of dysfunctionality which is present within the Younger household. Additionally, Ruth’s decision to abort the baby shows how members of the Younger family are discouraged from voicing their independent opinions. After Walter learns of Ruth’s decision, Mama says, “And I’m waiting to see you stand up and say we are people who give life, not who destroys them” (Hansberry 75). Mama disagreed with Ruth’s decision to abort the upcoming baby. While Walter was stunned, Mama was forcing him to tell Ruth not to do it. Instead of letting Walter voice his own opinion on the matter, he was told to give a certain answer. It shows that the Youngers are dysfunctional as they have no freedom to say what they want. Ultimately, the Youngers have no freedom as they are expected to obey and believe what the head of the household (Mama) believes is right.

At last, the Youngers’s lack of empathy and selflessness causes the family to have continuous conflict. Throughout the play, the Youngers fight selfishly over what the money should be used for. While Beneatha is arguing that the money is Mama’s, Walter says to her, “You such a nice girl ⎼ but if Mama got that money she can always take a few thousand and help you through school” (Hansberry 37). Here, Beneatha wanted Mama to have the money as she would be more likely to help her pay her tuition rather than Walter. Walter wanted the money for his dream and Beneatha wanted it for hers. They did not think of a way of splitting the money between each other, they wanted all or nothing. This led to continued conflict as they neither considered nor thought about how important each person’s dream was to them. In addition, Mama buying the house was another act of selfishness. After Mama had bought the house and was talking to Walter, Walter says, “What you need me to say you did right for? You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to” (Hansberry 95). Mama bought the house as she thought it was the best for the family. She did so without consulting the family or considering what everyone in the household wanted. This causes conflict as Walter feels that no one thinks of him and that he is not represented in the decision. In a functional household, consulting between family members is usually done before a big decision, like buying a house. In conclusion, the Youngers’s selfishness allows conflict to be persistent within the family.

The Youngers in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun endure many conflicts throughout the play which debilitates the functionality of their family. They let money hurt their ties and allow it to cloud their judgment and decisions. Additionally, the Youngers have many different opinions conflicting with each other. However, they are typically discouraged and punished for stating their opinion. At last, the Youngers are a very selfish family. They only seek to fulfill their desires and do what they think is best, without truly finding out what is the right thing for their family. Ergo, dysfunctional families suffer from many conflicts. If they do not try to support each other no matter their different views, dreams, or beliefs, the overall happiness in the family will dwindle and it may affect the family members’ mentality and beliefs in the future.

Racial discrimination is the main theme of the book, strongly reflecting the situation that prevailed during the 1950s in the United States, a time when the story’s Younger family lived in Chicago’s South Side ghetto. Racial discrimination led to the city being carved into two distinct parts – the first housing whites only, and the other housing blacks. A majority of blacks did not accept the idea of assimilating into the dominant white culture on the grounds that by doing so, they would fit into white perceptions about their behavior and actions and thereby would be demeaning themselves. Blacks were searching for separate self-identities based on a celebration of their culture and heritage. They wanted to be treated as equally (like whites) contributing members of society in pursuit of the American Dream. All the minor characters in the book indulge in actions that reflect the racial discrimination prevailing at that time.

Lena Younger is the family matriarch who desires that her family move into the all-white Clybourne Park area because it would not only provide them more comfort and prestige (Jane) but would overcome all constraints associated with racial discrimination and gain equality with whites in society. All through the novel, she goads and pushes her family members towards this dream. The greatest challenge comes in the form of Karl Lindner who tries to dissuade them from moving into the all-white Clybourne community (Hansberry, 143). Her dream is achieved to a great extent at the end of the novel when her son Walter rejects money in favor of the ideals inculcated in him by his mother.

Walter Younger captures the central meaning of an African American’s intense desire for the American Dream {“Seems like God didn’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams” (Hansberry, 29)}. The power of his dream is to be financially well-off, educate his son Travis and provide for his future. Disillusioned with his job as a chauffeur, his endless preoccupation with finding quick riches and dominating his household makes him engage in arguments with his mother, wife, and sister; he turns wayward by constantly drinking and invests part of the insurance money rashly with his friend Willy Harris. In the end, he realizes that fighting against racial discrimination is worthier than accepting money to stay out of it.

Beneatha Younger is the stereotype of a black woman in those days who was racially discriminated by white society as well as by her own culture as not being worthy of higher education and its related status in life. Beneatha Younger uses education as the base to fight against racial discrimination. She attends college (Hansberry, 17) and is better educated than anyone else in the family.

Ruth Younger portrays a pragmatic pessimist continually battling poverty and household problems. Like Lena, Ruth also dreams of escaping from racial discrimination, getting away from their present slovenly locality, moving into a respectable house, and attain equal status with whites in society. She is fiercely protective of her power over her own body – realizing she is pregnant, she contemplates abortion . Due to his perceived pro-racist stance, George becomes increasingly repelling to other blacks .

Joseph Asagai is the exact opposite of George Murchison. He is a forceful Nigerian character, an African intellectual (Hansberry 42), who takes fierce pride in his African heritage (Hansberry 72). Having fallen in love with Beneatha, he tries to awaken the pride of her heritage in her by giving her Nigerian costumes to wear and fondly calling her ‘Alaiyo’ . He pleads with her to marry him and accompany him to his native Nigeria that he promises she would like so much, it would feel as though she had “only been away a day” (Hansberry, 130)}. While Asagai represents a powerful African model that other blacks can proudly emulate, he is guilty of supporting an important pillar of racism – the suppression of women. When Beneatha, in response to his proposal of marriage, says she is not interested in a storybook romance but wants to become an independent and liberated woman, Asagai heaps scorn on her wishes, saying: “Liberated women are not liberated at all” (Hansberry, 50).

Willy Harris, Walter Younger’s black partner in his liquor store project, cheats him and runs away with the investment money (Hansberry, 118). Instead of helping Walter try to improve his finances and position in life for himself and his family, Willy instead adds more problems to the Youngers’ already heavy financial burden. Willy’s action proves that he is a betrayer of his fellow black, and by association, a betrayer of the entire black community and the causes they were fighting for.

Mrs. Johnson, the neighbor of the Younger family, represents the typical black person too scared to assimilate with whites in a predominantly white neighborhood. She tries to scare the Younger family into not moving into the all-white Clybourne community by recalling incidents where blacks were badly intimidated in similar situations (Hansberry, 104).

Karl Lindner portrays the typical “white Aryan,” arrogantly secure in the power of his race and its belief that blacks are not fit to live in the same neighborhood as them. He is chosen by the Clybourne Park Improvement Association to dissuade the Youngers from moving into the predominantly white Clybourne Park area (Cocola and Douthat). Lindner comes very close to achieving his mission when Walter agrees to take the money and sign a binding contract (Hansberry, 141), only to be thwarted at the last moment when Walter has a change of heart.

By depicting the defiant and strong response of the Youngers to the racial discrimination being practiced against them, the author portrays that the best way to respond to such discrimination is to confront it head one and reaffirm one’s dignity directly in its face, rather than letting it go without confrontation (Cocola et al.)

“A Raisin in the Sun” is regarded among the best and most realistic plays in African American History (Jane). The events in the 1959 book correctly refer to the situation in the U.S. during the 1950s, when racial segregation was widespread. After the U.S. Supreme Court set a precedent in Plessy v. Ferguson by approving state-sponsored racial discrimination, blacks were not allowed to mingle with whites in schools and other public facilities; even graveyards were segregated. Blacks were contemptuously referred to as ‘boy’ or ‘girl.’ It was only later that resistance from blacks began to have a telling effect as incidents such as the Rosa Parks incident in December 1955 Incidents like these, contained in the Civil Rights Movement, culminating in the march of nearly 200,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C on December 28, 1963, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Congress finally passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 (Wikipedia.org).

Reference

“American Civil Rights Movement.” Wikipedia.org. 2007. Web.

Cocola Jim & Douthat Ross. “Sparknote on ‘A Raisin in the Sun’.” Sparknotes.com. 2008. Web.

Hansberry, Lorraine. “A Raisin in the Sun.” USA: Vintage. 1994.

Jane, G.A. “Raisin in the Sun.” Bookstove.com. 2008. Web.