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Choices In A Raisin In The Sun By Lorraine Hansberry

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The Younger family must make several choices throughout the reading of "A Raisin in the Sun '' and Lorraine Hansberry's novel since each character has a distinctive American Dream. Even if the play's realities and concerns are universal, there are certain particular examples and experiences that show up in Hansberry's writing. While they are forced to consider important choices in relation to their society conventions, I also think that many of the characters go through significant shifts throughout this story. There are, in my opinion, three main principles in this work. The importance of dreams, the value of family, and the necessity of fighting racism. Each family member has their own set of ambitions, yet they all need to work together …show more content…

With their limited resources and ongoing prejudice, the family faces challenges in achieving each member's own goals. They don't believe in dreams and assume that success just requires money, but in fact, if you believe you can, you can change the world. This passage from Walter's conversation with Ruth indicates that women may not share men's goals or their ability to grasp the broader picture. This is told by Walter as he is telling Ruth, “That’s it. There you are. Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs. Man say: I got to take hold of this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work. (Passionately now) Man say: I got to change my life, I’m choking to death, baby! And his woman say—(In utter anguish as he brings his fists down on his thighs) —Your eggs is getting cold!” (Hansberry 37). I believe that Hansberry wrote about these dreams because she grew up this way when she was …show more content…

The Younger family believed they had to undergo discrimination since they were a black family that faced it every day. This play dealt extensively with African American culture and the experience of discrimination. Although most were right, because the family was black they automatically assumed this family was poor. As George had said “Let’s face it, baby, your heritage is nothing but a bunch of raggedy-assed spirituals and some grass huts!”(Hansberry 83). Here, George discusses how everything seems to cost twice as much and how black families have harsher housing and living conditions than other families. I assume Hansberry wrote about this to show how difficult life can be if you're

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I also find that the characters in A Raisin in the Sun are over exaggerating the situation they are in given the archetypal standards they represent. Each character is representation of something generational, a gender or race issue, and it's a testament to Hansberry's writing that the characters don't come across as mouthpieces for the story. They are living, breathing human beings. It's not impossible at all to imagine the Younger family crowded together in their tiny roach-infested apartment on the south side of Chicago struggling, striving, and dreaming. “Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor?

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Families Sacrifice In “Raisin in the Sun” Lorraine Hansberry illustrates that a family will become stronger in the face of hardship and demonstrate their willingness to make sacrifices for one another. Hansberry utilized the use of conflict to show family will become stronger in the face of hardship. Mama speaks about the adversity her family faces and how they strengthen the bonds between them. “There is always something left to love.

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(Hansberry 197-198). Lena’s trying to tell Walter that money does not determine a

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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.

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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 Research Synthesis Famed playwright Lorraine Hansberry’s classic 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun is about the younger, African American family in Chicago, Illinois. They face many obstacles, like racism and money problems, while trying to fulfill their dreams. The play takes place sometime in the 1950s, which is significant to the overall plot because it is a time when suburbs like Levittown were growing fast with similar houses and lots of young families. Back then, people thought men should work and women should stay home, taking care of the family, showing how much society valued traditional roles. Specifically, the character Walter Lee, is a reflection of a middle-aged, African American, man in the time period.

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Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun follows the struggles of an African American family living in a neighborhood in 1950s South Side Chicago. The play discusses several issues pertaining to African Americans of the time, such as poverty and discrimination. One of the major themes of the story is the search for a sense of belonging; whether that’s a sense of belonging to the continent of Africa, a neighborhood in Chicago, or on a personal level within the Younger family. The play explores this theme through its characters Beneatha, Mama and Walter.

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This idea of moving forward and changing is very important to the African American Community because when faced down with betray mis-treatment they’re able to keep pushing forward and able to change for the better. At first Walter's spirit is broken because of the betrayal and the fact he lost all the money and after Ruth asks if he plans to sell the house, he says he isn't “just talking ’bout it, baby—I’m telling you that’s what’s going to happen! “ (Hansberry, 142) This quote can help express that he only believes that selling the house would be able to regain what he lost in giving away the money thus propagating redlining and showing his lost dignity and hopelessness. However he is soon able to overcome this bout of hopelessness because his mother tells “Travis, you stay right here.

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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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Through Walter Hansberry emphasizing how one’s assimilation, and submission to society impacts others negatively as well. In Water’s case this is because, through his dream, as he explains to Travis, he wants to “hand you the world”, instead of “stories about how rich white people live”. He wants his son’s hopes and dreams not to be limited by societal constraints associated with Travis’s ethnicity. He wants Travis to believe that dreams are realistic and attainable. Thus even in his in his despair faced with the bribery and persuasion of Linder to sell the new house Mama, his son's presence cause him to not sell the house.

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The play “ A Raisin In The Sun “ wrote by Lorraine Hansberry is a inspiring play about the Younger family. A typical African American family in the late 1950’s trying to make life better for themselves. They’re a family trying to overcome the difficulties and obstacles that comes with being black in America in that time. Obstacles such as lynchings,segregation,racial discrimination and overall the difficulties that comes with being black in America. With external problems within the family the characters also internal conflicts within themselves.

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Through the use of the historical lens, looking specifically at the economic struggles, the struggle of unequal opportunity, and the housing covenant that African-American’s faced in the 1950’s, Hansberry’s message of A Raisin in the Sun is revealed: the perseverance of an ethnic minority in a time of racial discrimination. A Raisin in the Sun is set in a time of great racial discrimination, the 1950’s in the united States. This featured racism towards those of color or non-caucasians, and the struggles commonly faced by the African-American family is shown through the eyes of the Younger family through the writing and experiences of Lorraine Hansberry. Of the three major struggles the Younger family faced, the most prominent in Act one is that of financial disability. This is best shown through the working lives of the family.

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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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In doing so, she becomes dependent on others and cannot fulfill her personal goals. In contrast, opposing the norms allows both members of a relationship to further themselves while still supporting each other. Because each member develops their independent characters, they establish a healthier relationship and a healthier family. Thus, Hansberry encourages her audience to reject the patriarchy, arguing that focusing on one's personal needs is as important as supporting the

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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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