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Comparing A Raisin In The Sun And The Piano Lesson

1285 Words6 Pages

Although, there were times of struggle and domination of African Americans during the slavery times of the dominance that was especially hard for African Americans to survived. The huge impacts of oppression, families were extremely affected in different way that included: physical, intellectual, social and emotional abuse imposed by their slave masters, thus, causing gaps between family members. The obvious and cruel histories occur to both Lorraine Hansberry’s (Beneatha) from A Raisin in the Sun and August Wilson’s (Berniece) from The Piano Lesson. Both authors challenge the issue of identity and family ties in their plays. Both families in the two plays are forced to deal with the economic, social, and moral pressures forced since their ancestor experience slavery. In addition, each family deals with the pressures in very different …show more content…

When the play opens, the Youngers are about to receive an insurance check for $10,000. This money comes from the deceased Mr. Younger‘s life insurance policy. During the era of segregation and separation of whites was with a great praise from white dominance against African American people. Racism was the key to manipulate, humiliates African American and stereotype them based on their appearance. Benetha believe that there was more than “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?”1Beneatha dreams were to be a doctor regards of the obstacles African American faced. Her will to succeed in life was reach her goals and to break those particular “rules” the society persist as stereotyping not only colored people but also label women as part of their fake view of racism against people of

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Contrasting All My Sons to A Raisin in the Sun Not everything is seen by people the same. Everyone has their own take on things. All My Sons shows Chris’s thinking when it comes to money, and then there's Walter from a raisin in the sun and how he feels about money. Plus the contrasting of different American dreams between the 2 plays.

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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.

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In the novel A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry brings in multiple characters for brief periods. Each character impacts the story in his or her own specific way. In Hansberry’s realistic fiction novel, she allows the reader to experience what it is like to live in a time period where African Americans and Whites are not considered equals. She gives in depth scenarios, showing what it is truly like to be an African American in Chicago during the 1950’s. The characters in the story experience a multitude of issues involving society, culture, and family.

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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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According to an article by Stephen Iervolino, a survey showed that out of 2,000 American book readers, 67% say that they prefer reading a book to watching the movie version of it. But, half mentioned that they would rather watch a movie than read that movie’s book. But why would more people rather read a book than watch a movie about the same story? What could the difference between reading a book and viewing it be? Well, in both the book and play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, one can experience the story of Walter, Ruth, Beneatha, Mama, and Travis as they struggle through financial and familial problems together.

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Despite an individual’s race, demographics, and origin, most people have the desire to live a prosperous lifestyle. In many cases, to achieve this prosperous life, one must endeavor to overcome great obstacles. For instance, the characters in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, a play about a black family who all have aspirations of obtaining the American Dream, expect their goals to come easily. Achieving any goal is difficult but for these characters, racial boundaries make their dreams harder to achieve. Walter and Beneatha are all adamant about accomplishing their goals; however, they fail to notice their own characters flaws that stand in their way.

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The scientific community today still have not found a reason as to why people dream. To many, dreams have been a mystery since the beginning of time because they have the ability to impact someone's life socially and mentally. In Lorraine Hansberry's novel, A Raisin in the Sun and John Steinbeck’s film, Of Mice and Men, both deal with characters who struggle to pursue their dreams. Fulfilling a dream has the ability to save or destroy someone's life which is why the characters face challenges while trying to achieve them. It either satisfies the family or himself.

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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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1138 Words | 5 Pages

As a civil rights activist, Stokely Carmichael once said, “We are told,” If you work hard, you’ll succeed”- but if that were true, black people would own the country. We are oppressed because we are black- not because we are ignorant, not because we are lazy, not because we are stupid, but because we are black!” This quote is still relevant even to this day, blacks are still considered a minority and they get treated differently simply because of the color of their skin. People continue to treat others by the color of their skin rather than their character. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the interaction between the themes of race and dreams demonstrates that your race can affect the dreams that you have and what you choose to do about it.

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Major Conflicts in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and August Wilson’s Fences: a Comparative Study “An effective way to begin to discuss the play 's significance is to ask about the major conflicts in the play” (Lund, 84) Introduction As the title of this paper suggests, there are major conflicts which somehow frame the thematic scope of both plays. These conflicts revolve around money and race. After reading the two texts and many other paper and electronic references, it becomes clear enough, for me, that Hansberry was aware that if conflicts like these are well managed on both paper and stage, they can serve to reflect the tensions in relations between, either family members with each other, or with the society outside. Talking about this, Darwin T. Turner in Past and Present in Negro American Drama writes that “ in A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry dramatized sympathetically but amusingly the tensions of Negro family, who must fight themselves as well as the white world outside” (26) .

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1127 Words | 5 Pages

Hardships of the Youngers In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the characters of Mama, Walter ,and Beneatha are faced with hardships associated with their dreams being destroyed by discriminatory housing,racial inequality and lack of support from her family towards her education. In the play all the characters have some kind of dream. Mama wants to get a house for the family, Walter wants to have money to provide for his family and plans to do that with a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to become a doctor. Beneatha is going to school and at the same time she’s trying to discover herself,but her family is not supportive of this.

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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.

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873 Words | 4 Pages

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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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.

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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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