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A Raisin In The Sun Literary Analysis

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Recommended: Describe the family in a raisin in the sun

A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry is a well-known play in American literature. It was first performed in 1959 and has become a significant work in the African-American literary canon. The play revolves around the younger family, an African-American family living in a cramped apartment in Chicago's South Side. The central conflict arises when the family receives a life insurance payout following the father's death. Each family member has different dreams and aspirations for money, leading to a thought-provoking exploration of race, family dynamics, and the pursuit of the American Dream.
Several characteristics and elements of "A Raisin in the Sun" stand out. Firstly, the play addresses the experiences and challenges faced by African-Americans …show more content…

Through the characters' dreams and desires, Hansberry examines themes of identity, assimilation, and the inherent conflict between personal ambition and the collective struggle for equality. The play confronts the audience with the harsh realities of racial discrimination while emphasizing African-Americans' resilience and determination.
In many ways, Hansberry was successful in achieving her intended expression. "A Raisin in the Sun" was one of the first plays by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway, bringing the experiences of African-Americans to a broader audience. The play received critical acclaim and continues to be performed and studied today, catalyzing discussions on race, social justice, and the African-American experience.
Now, let us consider a cultural work from a culture unfamiliar to me. For this, I will choose the Ukiyo-e woodblock prints from Japan. Ukiyo-e, which translates to "pictures of the floating world," was a popular art form in Japan during the Edo period (17th-19th centuries). These prints depicted various subjects such as landscapes, historical events, kabuki actors, beautiful women, and scenes from everyday …show more content…

It reveals the connections between art and culture, the influences of historical events and societal norms, and how art serves as a means of communication and expression. By analyzing cultural works, we can uncover universal themes and recognize the shared human experiences that transcend cultural boundaries.
Studying cultural works from other cultures equips us with valuable skills and new perspectives on various aspects of life. In the workplace, it promotes intercultural competence, enhancing our ability to collaborate and communicate effectively with people from diverse backgrounds. In our communities, it fosters understanding and respect, allowing us to build inclusive and harmonious environments. In our families, it provides a platform for intergenerational dialogue, where different generations can learn from each other and celebrate their cultural heritage.
Moreover, learning about cultural works from other cultures broadens our worldview and challenges our assumptions and biases. It encourages critical thinking and encourages us to question our cultural norms and values. It, in turn, promotes personal growth, empathy, and a more inclusive and tolerant

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A Raisin in the Sun PBA Unit 2 Cinematography and filmmaking are art forms completely open to interpretation in many ways such lighting, the camera as angles, tone, expressions, etc. By using cinematic techniques a filmmaker can make a film communicate to the viewer on different levels including emotional and social. Play writes include some stage direction and instruction regarding the visual aspect of the story. In this sense, the filmmaker has the strong basis for adapting a play to the big screen. “A Raisin in the Sun” is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959.

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The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry debuted on Broadway in 1959, and the movie was made in 2008. “A Raisin in the Sun” is about the Younger family, the fifth generation of lower-class African-Americans living in Chicago’s Southside. They are faced with problems such as racial discrimination, poverty, and conflicting dreams. As the family decides on how to spend the insurance check of $10,000 from Walter’s father’s death, these problems cause many conflicts to rise. Reading the 1959 play and the 2008 movie, I have realized certain similarities and differences in how the story plays out.

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The hidden meanings in the references that authors write about, when they write their novels or plays, change how a play or book is thought of and also commences the development of better critical thinking skills.. In the play, A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry uses many different types of literary devices for the play to have a deeper meaning or idea than what is just read. Taking place during the 1950’s in Southside Chicago, the play is about an African American family who live through many struggles, racially and financially. When the father dies and the Younger family receives $10,000, their hopes and dreams are possible and may come true. It is until they lose their money that they realized they “aimed to high”(140), especially Mama and Walter Younger.

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Katelyn Walker Morrison Period 2 3/3/23 Symbols in Raisin: Loraine Hansbury's play A Raisin in the Sun takes place in southside Chicago during the 1950’s. During this time, Chicago was experiencing devastating conditions such as racial segregation. These problems correlate to the struggles that the Youngers face in the play, causing them to be less fortunate. A life insurance check of 10,00 dollars is shown to be the life changing for the Youngers. Hansbury uses symbols in A Raisin in the Sun such as the life insurance check and the allusion of Prometheus to define develop the characters in the play.

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Many of the African Americans in the play are fighting for equal rights and against injustice. Even women held their own part, gaining their own equality. The play set a time of simple oppositions and an eager, personal justice system. Hansberry’s, “A Raisin in the Sun” does a good job at pointing out all of society’s flaws at the time.

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Kalp Ostawal Mr.Wiley Language Arts I February 5th, 2023 Trash to Treasure: The Story of Walter Younger In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, she depicts the limitations and constraints of an upper working class within the colored community through her eyes and the lens of her time. In the late 1950s, Lorraine Hansberry wrote this play during an era of liberation in the African continent which transitioned into the start of the Civil Rights movement. Furthermore, the closure of an assimilationist philosophy and the further inclusion of African culture and ideas ensued after African sovereignty.

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A Raisin in the Sun is a play, which consists of three acts for a total of six scenes. From the very beginning, the plot line begins with the Younger family waking up, going about their morning as they normally do. The family living in the small apartment consists of Mama, Beneatha, her daughter, Walter, her son, Ruth, Walter’s wife, and Travis, Walter and Ruth’s son. The apartment that accommodates this family consists of a small kitchen, containing one small window, a living room, which also serves as Travis’ room, and two bedrooms, one for Walter and Ruth, the other shared by Mama and Beneatha. In the kitchen window lays a potted plant, second to only family in Mama’s most prized possessions.

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In the play Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry takes place on the southside of Chicago where Walter and his family are racially profiled and show us how the survive throughout their struggles. The central struggles for the younger family in their search for the American dream is mostly poverty and being racially profiled against for their actions. Hansberry challenges the traditional gender roles and issues of dominance throughout the play when Mama gives Walter lee the rest of the money at the end of the play. He becomes all excited and was supposed to save some for himself and put the rest of the money to Beneatha 's education. Instead, he gave all that money to Willy another character in the play which later on that he stole from him.

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“A Raisin in the Sun,” written by Lorraine Hansberry in 1959, was the first play ever produced on Broadway by an African-American woman and was considered ground-breaking for it’s time. Titled after Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem,” sometimes known as “A Dream Deferred,” the play and the subsequent film adaptations are honest examinations of race, family, poverty, discrimination, oppression and even abortion in urban Chicago after WWII. The original play was met with critical praise, including a review by Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times where he wrote, “For A Raisin in the Sun is a play about human beings who want, on the one hand, to preserve their family pride and, on the other hand, to break out of the poverty that seems to be their fate. Not having any axe to grind, Miss Hansberry has a wide range of topics to write about-some of them hilarious, some of them painful in the extreme.” The original screen adaptation released in 1961 was highly acclaimed in its own right, and was chosen in 2005 for preservation in the United States of America National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for its cultural and historical significance.

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In A Raisin in the Sun, a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, the audience was able to obtain a sense of the struggle for the American dream. We are introduced to the Youngerś a black family living in the Southside of Chicago around the 1950’s. Each member of this family has their own meaning to what is the American dream. A Raisin in the Sun teaches us that even though life might be full of conflicts, it is important to not give up on our dreams.

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Reader Response: 3 “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, is a play about a black families experience in 1950s South Side Chicago. The story revolves around what happens to the family when Lena Younger, the matriarch of the family, receives a ten thousand dollar life insurance check upon the death of her husband. Everyone from the family has different plans for what they want to do with the money. Lena Younger serves as the head of the family. She is Walter and Beneatha’s caring mother so they and Ruth call her Mama.

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A Raisin in the Sun addresses major social issues such as racism and feminism which were common in the twentieth century. The author, Lorraine Hansberry, was the first playwright to produce a play that portrayed problematic social issues. Racism and gender equality are heavily addressed throughout the play. Even though we still have these issues today, in the 1950’s and 60’s the issues had a greater part in society. Racism and gender have always been an issue in society, A Raisin in the Sun is an important piece of American history during that time period.

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A Raisin in the Sun "Education has spoiled many a good plow hand" (Hansberry 103). This quote is significant because it is applying that education is better than being a hard-worker. A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, is taken place in South Side, Chicago between World War II and the present. The main focus of this play is about a poor African-American family who has a chance to escape this lifestyle with a ten-thousand-dollar life insurance check, but is not desired to live in a "white" neighborhood.

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Just within the recent decades, men and women started to fight against the gender stereotypes and started to challenge their roles in a family and in the society. The play, A Raisin in the Sun, portrays the lives of African–Americans during the 1950s. Lorraine Hansberry, a writer and a social activist, reinforced the traditional gender roles, especially female’s, by depicting how the Youngers interact and how they act in an economical struggle. Throughout the play, A Raisin in the Sun, she uses Walter Lee Younger, Ruth Younger and Lena Younger to reinforce the traditional role of fathers, wives and mothers within a family.

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“In 2016, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that Americans ate an average of 54.3 pounds of beef, 92.1 pounds of chicken, and 50.4 pounds of pork, per person, per year” (Vegetarianism). Food production counts for only one of the many injustices animals face daily. Although they have been proven emotionally intelligent, mankind views these entities as subservient and continue to harm them. People around the world have created organizations that work to ameliorate the treatment of animals. As the animal rights movement nobly fights to improve the conditions of these living creatures, daily human activities and the moral values of some prolong the acceptance of animal equality.

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