A Raisin In The Sun Women Analysis

During the 1950’s, women undergo oppression in the grip of a patriarchal society and lack the encouragement of discovering their roots. Beneatha Younger challenges the social uniformity when she explores her family’s African heritage through the aid of Asagai. Although Joseph Asagai in Lorraine Hansberry's “A Raisin in the Sun” encourages Beneatha’s quest for cultural identity, he is decidedly less progressive on the issues concerning the relationship between men and women. Beneatha’s love interest Asagai is seemingly impeccable, a melange of sophistication and advanced contentions. Hansberry presents him as a philosophical and political exemplar through his professed devotion to his indigenous roots, transpiring him into a romantic idol.

Men during the 1950’s all account for the same view of women. Just because he believes in an uniqueness of living through cultural heritage, does not make him more sensitive and intelligent when it comes to women. He does not realize the gap between women and men and does not see the reasoning for the fight women have. Women of the time were a slave to men. They could only support men, never themselves. When Asagai comes across Beneatha, a fiery feminist figure, he is shocked. Women in his culture are even more persecuted against that African American women in the United States. They are forced to do everything for a man. Asagai follows these beliefs, and confirms this to Beneatha by his actions and words. He believes Beneatha’s quest for an identity is laughable since women’s only identity should be in the kitchen at home for a man. Equality for women was a foreign concept to Joseph since African Americans were still fighting to be seen as equal to the whites. He does not show interest in the fact that women are fighting the same fight as African American men in the United States, and more. African Americans face discrimination when they go out in the world, but women are facing it everywhere, including their own homes. To sum up, "being black in America," in the words of Gary Weiner "is utterly exhausting- physically, mentally, and

She loses sight of her dreams, blinded by man’s grip on her life. Asagai does not want Beneatha to be a doctor. When he invites her to Africa with her and proposes, her wishes become cloudy. Asagai contributes to the lack of identity in this way, despite encouraging the discovering of her cultural identity. Beneatha lacks the power to deny Asagai’s request as her infatuation for him has become momentous. She admires him for his uniqueness, which is something that she feels is missing in her own identity. For a moment, she inquires the thought of giving up on becoming a doctor.

Asagai wishes for Beneatha to be less ambitious, as woman usually are. As a feminist, Beneatha challenges this. Woman during the 1950’s are submissive to men and are completely conventional. Society creates a social normality that is difficult to break. During this time, that social normality was for women to be quiet and undetermined. Men believe that women should exist for their benefit, as a wife or daughter or mother. The concept of a woman starting her own career as a position in a leadership job is udderly bizarre. Beneatha is relentless in her quest, despite the family’s lacking financial