ipl-logo

A Raisin In The Sun Mama Discrimination Essay

725 Words3 Pages

The play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is written based off of her experiences with her family and her struggles with discrimination. The play takes place in the Southside of Chicago between WW II (1939) and the 1950’s. The play is about an African American family, the Youngers, and their efforts in a world of discrimination. The play’s plot is most influenced by the actions, conflicts and dialogue of Mama and her son Walter as they differ on opinions and decisions. Mama is of great importance in the development of the plot. Her discipline toward the family and having ownership of the $10,000 insurance check shows her character. Mama’s conflict with Beneatha in Act 1 Scene 1 best shows that Mama is a strong disciplinarian. “(Mama absorbs this speech, studies her daughter and rises slowly and crosses to Beneatha and slaps her powerfully across the face…)”. Another example of Mama’s character is her independence in Act II Scene I when Walter questions where Mama has been all day. Mama responds by saying “You know better than to question me like a child, Brother.” Other than Mama’s sternness influencing the story, she also so happens to be the holder of the insurance check worth $10,000. With the insurance check Mama buys a house which greatly influences the story and sparks reactions from the other characters. Mama proves that family is important as she provides for …show more content…

The setting of the play is in the Southside of Chicago between WW II (1939) and the 1950’s. In the play the African American family, the Youngers, live in an old worn out apartment and share a bathroom with the other residents across the hall from them. The development of the plot is most influenced by the actions, conflicts and dialogue of Mama (Lena) and her son, Walter. which are expressed throughout the

Show More
Related
185 Words | 1 Pages

The playwright utilizes household rules, perseverance, and her plant to show us how strong Mama’s beliefs are. Mama’s stinginess in respect to household rules was evident when she slapped Beneatha for denouncing God. Mama demonstrates strength in her beliefs by not allowing Beneatha to impugn God in her household. Despite everything she’s been through, Mama maintains her beliefs, showing perseverance. This is evident throughout her adult life; as her dream of providing a nice life for her family never panned out.

Read More
1449 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
841 Words | 4 Pages

Even though Mama knows about the racial tension in America, she still decides to move into a predominantly white neighborhood. The Youngers live in a society where Black people have been racially oppressed and so the worst thing a Black family could do in the world is succeed. And Mama basically leads the way to support her family, even when society stands in her way. When Walter decides to sell the house back to Clybourne park and receive money, he tries to dismiss Travis from listening. Mama responds, “No.

Read More
700 Words | 3 Pages

Beneatha’s money too?” (29) after she finds out he just blew all of the money. This quote emphasises the discomfort and pure shock and disappointment of Mama at losing all of the money. Mama also cries in the play, "You mean your sister 's school money, you used that too?" (29) revealing her discomfort and despair in this quote shows just how upset that she is that Walter has gone and blown all of Beneatha’s money that was going to be her future on his little gamble.

Read More
831 Words | 4 Pages

In the play “A Raisin in the Sun,” the family explores many issues, both within their family and with outside conflicts. This play has a historical feel to it. In Chicago 's south side a black family is living in a run-down apartment. It takes the readers back to a time that many young people don’t know of, and a time that offers respect to older generations (1959). The play takes on a few social reforms.

Read More
973 Words | 4 Pages

Mama's decisions have a great impact on all of the characters as well as their futures, although most of the decisions that were made, mainly affect Travis. Mama's first big and most controversial decision of the play was telling Walter about his wife, Ruth, who is expecting. Many readers argue that this was not Mama's news to tell and

Read More
1105 Words | 5 Pages

Mama cares for the plant by feeding, watering and checking all through the day on it to make sure it was still doing well. She also does this for the family. Mama always wants the best for them and would do anything to keep them happy and well. Mama uses the plant as her fuel to always put the family first and to remember her dreams, as well as remind her family of theirs (Shmoop Editorial Team). Throughout the play, Mama’s plant symbolizes many things to the Younger family.

Read More
451 Words | 2 Pages

Mama watches over her family every day. In the play, when Ruth finds out that she is pregnant, Mama helps her. Mama doesn’t make Ruth panic, Mama just cares for her. In Act I, Travis needs 50 cents for school. Ruth tells him no, but Walter gives it to him along with another 50 cents for school.

Read More
1500 Words | 6 Pages

(Hansberry pg 47). This shows that Mama does not take Beneatha seriously when

Read More
1601 Words | 7 Pages

“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.

Read More
963 Words | 4 Pages

Family is important to everyone in some way because family sticks together no matter what. The play A Raisin in the Sun is about a black family named the Youngers and the hardships they face together as a family. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Ruth Younger is motivated by her family. This is shown by Ruth wanting to make her family happy, her working even though she is tired, and later when Ruth finds out there is going to be another mouth to feed. Ruth Younger is constantly worrying about her family’s well being and happiness for them.

Read More
454 Words | 2 Pages

She was inspired to write A Raisin in the Sun when she drew upon the lives of working-class Black people who rented from her father and went to school with her on Chicago's South Side, but she also highlights her experiences. In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry presents resilience in the characters of Beneatha, Ruth, and Mama to convey the gender norms and the disparency between men and women regarding equality, ultimately illustrating the unfair treatment of Black women in the 1950s.

Read More
816 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
779 Words | 4 Pages

In the play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, there are many examples of sexism throughout its entirety. The character, Walter, demonstrates the acts of a sexist human being. Walter is sexist to not only women in general, but to the women in his family. Not taking into consideration of other people’s sayings and their feelings, Walter generally only thinks about himself, says what he believes, and truly only cares about money. Walter constantly is fighting with all of the women in the family as well.

Read More
845 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

More about A Raisin In The Sun Mama Discrimination Essay

Open Document