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Beneatha's Diary Essay

1000 Words4 Pages

Beneatha’s Diary :Dear Diary, I have decided that my true calling is to be in my country.
Joseph Asagai has asked me to journey with him to Africa, back to his homeland. After much consideration, I have decided to go. I am so excited about going to Africa. I want to learn and see the customs of my people.
"Life is simply a long line that reaches into infinity. And because we cannot see the end we also cannot see how it changes. And it is very odd but those who see the changes are called "idealists" and those who cannot, or who refuse to think, they are the "realists.” Joseph Asagai was put in the play to be a contrast to George Murchison. Joseph is the idealist and George is the realist. Joseph Asagai is a Nigerian that came to America to …show more content…

Knowing that Beneatha has a longing for identity and roots, he tells her all about Africa and gives her African records and a robe. If Asagai had his way, she'd be a straight-up African woman, instead of an African-American one. He even goes so far as to suggest her straightened hair is a sign that she is "assimilated" into white American culture. Eventually, Asagai proposes to Beneatha and asks her to come back to Nigeria with him. In the play's final scene, Beneatha is seriously considering his proposal. We never find out if these two lovebirds run off into the African sunset together, but we hope it works out for …show more content…

In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed or spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his

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and she is upset that no one understands that. Beneatha also wants to explore who she is. In a conversation with Asagai, he imitates her saying, “‘Mr. Asagai I want very much to talk with you. About Africa. You see, Mr. Asagai, I am looking for my identity!’”

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The cultural confusion that Beneatha has driven her to look back into her original family heritage. She looks into the African tribal apparel, headwear, along with tribal language/chants influenced by Asagai. She first finds that maybe the tribal culture isn't for her when she gets into a conflict with her brother walter. A quote describing that incident is

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They want to embrace both identities without suppressing the expression of one another. They want to be able to embrace both their American identity and African identity. However, African Americans feel as if they aren’t American because America treats them as unwanted foreigners. African Americans get the feeling that they aren’t American and are just long time visitors. “He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face” African Americans then and now still have to face discrimination based on their ethnicity.

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Asagai mentions that he cannot take women seriously; George thinks it's funny that a woman wants to be a doctor. The only reason George likes Beneatha is because of her beauty. While Beneatha is with George, she is not allowed to express her feelings to him without being made fun

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Hansberry makes the characters have a tough life so when they achieve what they want, it’s a greater reward than someone who had an easy life. The main reason Beneatha changed so much during this play because of how people treated her. Beneath goes through major changes in the play. One of the main reason she does is because of Asagia. Asagia is a friend of Beneatha and is from Nigeria.

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Beneatha's search for her identity is a motif carried throughout the play; the closer she gets to Africa via her relationship with Joseph Asagai, the more she develops into a pleasant, likeable, and less egocentric

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At the end of the play Beneatha is considering marrying Asagai and moving with him to Nigeria to practice medicine. Asagai’s dream is that Beneatha will become an African woman. He wants her to wear her hair natural and listen to African music. Asagai also wants her to marry him and move back with him to Africa.

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Beneatha 's dream is to go to college and become a doctor. She wants to prove her family´s disbeliefs of her becoming a doctor wrong. Yet she feels defeated after her brother, Walter, goes out and gives away all of her college money to some man that ends up disappearing with the money. She faces challenges financially and faces backlash from her family.

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His name is Joseph Asagai and he embraces his African heritage and encourages Beneatha to do the same. He prefers people call him by his surname, which originates from a Yoruba tribe in Nigeria. Asagai visits Africa fairly often and loves sharing his culture with Beneatha. He even bequeaths her with the agnomen “Alaiyo,” another Yoruba word meaning the “One for Whom Bread-- Food-- is not enough” (473). With this he is denoting her sense of purpose and her thirst for discovering who she is and who she wants to be.

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”(Hansberry 96 ). Beneatha is often confronted by Asagi, about how she is assimilating to an oppressive culture. Asagi tells her to stop trying to fit in, to be proud of her African roots, to embrace them, “White-black in this you are all the same.” (Hansberry 64) Beneatha desires to be different from those in her generation.

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All of the things that make Asagai’s relationship with Beneatha healthy, come from his upbringing; his upbringing that was lesser than George’s. Beneatha’s relationship with Joseph Asagai is healthier than Beneatha’s relationship with George Murchison because Asagai has a more positive view on the world. One key to a healthy relationship is having positive conversations ("MindPerk RSS"). In Act three, when Asagai comes

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The author, Lorraine Hansberry, was the first playwright of the century to express real social issues. There are three female characters in the play, each one is faced with a different struggle for their freedom. All three of these women, Lena, Ruth, and Beneatha all dreamed of something more in their future. They did not want the life that every female was supposed to have, they wanted to be different. Beneatha has high aspirations in life and is the character that most expresses her struggles with feminism.

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This character trait is seen when Asagai mentions how he met Beneatha. She tells him she wants to know more about Africa because she is looking for her identity (62). Beneatha’s effort to make herself different from her family shows her personal identity. She has different views from her family. For example, she does not accept the existence of God (51).

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