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A Raisin In The Sun Generational Gap Essay

1448 Words6 Pages

Generational gaps have been prevalent throughout history for hundreds of years; in today’s society, one of these gaps has been created by modern technology and the evolution of social norms. Around the time playwright Lorraine Hansberry conceptualized A Raisin in the Sun, a generational gap divided African American culture, with many young people trying to prosper in post-war, racist America. Hansberry’s play focuses on an African American family that is struggling to prosper in this hostile setting. Their family is segregated into Chicago’s South Side ghetto, and eventually, they buy a house in a white neighborhood after receiving an insurance check for $10,000. Throughout the story, generational differences are blatantly exposed while the …show more content…

As previously stated, Mama is an older woman in her sixties who was probably born in or around slavery. She even says to Walter, “‘...In my time we was worried about not being lynched and getting to the North if we could and how to stay alive…’”(1520). During Mama’s generation, they were worried about staying alive and were actually actively persecuted, sold, and, often times killed because of their skin color. Mama says this because Walter really does not realize how good he has it compared to the generation before him. Sure, there are problems that still plague America and African American culture at this time, but at least the family can own an apartment and they are not the property of a white man. Another example of Walter’s seemingly ungratefulness of his situation comes in when he is complaining about his job. Walter says, “‘ I drive a man in a limousine...that ain’t no kind of job…’(1519)”. Walter is complaining about his job to Mama because he calls himself a ‘servant’ to other people. For Mama, she knows all too well what it means to be a servant to other people, but Walter does not understand the full weight of what he is saying. This creates a conflict between the two because it becomes a battle of values between the two; where one values freedom, the other values money and

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