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Complex Themes In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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Published in 1959, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun handles complex themes through the development of multifaceted characters. Opening with Langston Hughes’ poem “A Dream Deferred”, we explore the concept of dreams, hopes, and plans. We’re introduced to the Youngers, a multigenerational African American family living in a tenement in Chicago “sometime between World War II and” (22) when the book was written. As the characters interact with one another, we learn about their individual dreams and delve into the ways they intersect with other complex issues, including race. While the tone is somber and the ending is fairly open, the curtain closes on a hopeful note. One of the primary themes of the play is dreams, hopes, and plans. Opening with and titling her play after a line from Hughes’ poem, Hansberry immediately jumps into the concept of dreams, hopes, and plans. While each member of the family has their own dreams, I most strongly connected the poem to Walter. Desperate to break free from his situation, he sees opening the liquor store with Willy …show more content…

While she wants to enjoy the freedoms afforded to her in America, such as education and freedom to bounce between hobbies, she does not want to do it at the expense of fully losing touch with her roots. This is largely shown between her two love interests, George Murchinson, a wealthy, fully Americanized black man, and Joseph Asagai, a visiting student from Nigeria. While Asagai ignites her desire to learn more about her heritage, Murchinson continually dismisses it, pushing her to adhere to the culture in which he lives. However, despite encouraging her, Asagai also urges her to consider her privilege as an American, something many people in his country do not have, adding another interesting facet to race within the

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A Raisin in the Sun is an inspirational book/play that tells the overcoming story of an African-American family Going through the terrible struggles of Chicago in the 1950’s. Greg Kincaid once said “No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. That's the only way to keep the roads clear.”. This explains Beneatha younger, a young woman who tries to find herself while dealing with others scrutinizing and being treated like a child in her family. In conclusion, Beneatha younger is an overpowering character that is shaping her life through independence, an education, and growing closer to her

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When people are poor, they often have a lot of problems in their life. They struggle through every day, but they learn to appreciate everything that they have. However, when people are going through tough times, they often think that money will solve all of their problems. In “A Raisin In The Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, she guides the audience through a black family -- impacted by the need for money -- living on the south side of Chicago. The Younger family gets Lena Younger’s dead husband’s insurance check and buys a house in a white neighborhood, and they save the remainder of the money for Beneatha’s medical degree and for starting a liquor store.

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Walter Lee is the brother of Beneatha and Lena’s only son. Walter’s dream is similar to the, “American Dream” in some ways. His dream is to open a liquor

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Dreams are a common thing in society that hold and bond people together. Hope is in many aspects of our life as well, and fuel many of the wishes Americans possess. From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's famous “I Have a Dream” speech, to Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun play, we find that accomplishing these dreams and goals is something that takes courage or passion. Throughout these two pieces of literature, equality, racism, dreams, and hope are common themes. We can find that real human beings and simple characters share the desire of freedom, and strive for better opportunities in life.

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Many of the African Americans in the play are fighting for equal rights and against injustice. Even women held their own part, gaining their own equality. The play set a time of simple oppositions and an eager, personal justice system. Hansberry’s, “A Raisin in the Sun” does a good job at pointing out all of society’s flaws at the time.

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In the text “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, the author uses the writing strategy of conflict to develop the central idea of how oneself can become selfish when trying to achieve the American dream. The text shows that the central idea is selfishness because circumstances are presented where various characters fail to take into consideration others while seeking their dreams. For example, Walters says, “ Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ’bout messing round with sick people, then go be a nurse like other women-or just get married and be quiet…. ’’. This example of greed shows that the ambition to obtain a dream brings out the selfishness is true in the instance of Walter.

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The quintessential image of the American dream is that of a house with a white picket fence and Mama thinks the house she buys in Clybourne Park will allow the Younger family fulfill that dream. It’s a symbol for belonging in America; it can also represent an acceptance of American cultural values, such as capitalism. In addition, it’s an emphasis on the Youngers’ value on family and the home because the Youngers rely on each other during hard times, and they are not afraid of what may happen in the new neighborhood they know they are not welcomed in because they know they have each other. Moreover, Lindner and the other residents of Clybourne Park who offer to buy the house the Youngers bought represent the discrimination against African Americans at this time, and possibly a reason black Americans, like the Younger family, need to fight for a sense of belonging. “And we have decided to move into our house because my father- my father- earned it for us brick by brick” (Hansberry 148).

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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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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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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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Dream Deferred Lorraine Hansberry was born in 1930 and grew up on the southside of Chicago. Her play, Raisin in the Sun, is based on the beginning of her life growing up in a middle-class African American family. Hansberry’s family purchased a house in a white neighborhood and the white neighbors attacked them. In result to this, the white neighbors went to court and Hansberry’s family was kicked out of the neighborhood. This play is also a reaction to Langston Hughes’s poem, Harlem.

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In Susan Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the themes identified are dreams and faith that each character signifies throughout their struggles in their daily lives. The theme dreams refer to how each of the main five characters: Ruth Younger, Walter Lee Younger, Travis Younger, Beneatha Younger, and Lena Younger dealt with different oppression situations that took part in their lives that put the dreams on hold. Furthermore, the theme also connects towards the faith that each main character had to pursue to keep their family together after the death of a love one. The characters’ in A Raisin in the Sun tries to chase after a separate dream, unfortunately their dreams are utterly pushed away to realize the importance of their family

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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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