A Raisin In The Sun Gender Roles

Gender Roles in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun

The traditional gender roles in the 1950’s and today negatively impact our lives. In the play A Raisin in the Sun 1958 by Lorraine Hansberry, she uses the characters to express the truth about following the norms. She introduces and defines these gender roles by calling the reader to defy conforming to the stereotypes.

Lorraine Hansberry portrays the masculine gender role, through Walter and his failure to live up to the responsibility of being a strong male role model. These gender roles have not quite changed in many years, though peoples opinions on them have. A masculine gender role being the head man and provider for the family, to demonstrate qualities like power, strength,

She not only lost her tuition because of her brother, but Walter dismissed Beneatha and her dreams. Walter is very stereotypical when it comes to gender. He believes and expresses that Beneatha should no longer try to be a doctor. He believes that women are meant to stay home and take care of their husbands. In Act 1 Scene 1, Walter says ”who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ’bout messing ’round with sick people—then go be a nurse like other women—or just get married and be quiet …” (38). Walter tends to say stuff like this throughout the entire book, exemplifying that women are told to abide by the norms. Beneatha wants to do more than conform like the rest of women, she wants to chase her dreams. She doesn't want to stay home and take care of a family and house, or have to work some horrible job that wont pay her enough. Hansberry uses Beneathas’ character to create conflict and make others think twice about the gender roles set up. This makes the reader question lots of things happening in the younger family and in the

She does this because there are normally very defined gender roles in families. These gender roles influence how partners share household chores, how family members communicate with one another, and how parents interact with their children. For children these roles start at a young age because they grow up around it. Girls are typically assigned domestic tasks like cooking and cleaning, while boys are more likely to be assigned maintenance tasks like mowing the grass. This division of labor in the home teaches kids that they should assume different roles depending on their gender. Teaching children to comply with gender roles is destructive to them. If Walter continues to show his son that being the head of a family, and treating others in a disrespectful manner is the right way to live, nothing will change. No one will want to step out of the stereotypical roles if that's what they were taught their whole lives. This creates a cycle that can only break if people like Hansberry speak up on