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Social Injustices In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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In the play A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry explores issues revolving around race and class. She creates the character of Walter Lee Younger to express the issues that African American males struggle with, specifically social injustices. Because of the racial and discriminatory barriers that are stacked against him, Walter struggles to support his family. He will have to deal with obstacles that keep him from achieving his dreams and that ultimately change him as a man. Walter Lee Younger is a determined son, father, and husband who is eager to pursue his dreams. Many say that he his a desperate man, struck by a racial burden. That doesn't stop him from dreaming. He’s captivated with owning his own liquor store. He assumes his potential …show more content…

One of the biggest factors is systemic racism in relation to obtaining the amount of funding needed. People of color have a very distinct disadvantage, they have been forced live in lifetimes of legal segregation, followed by pervasive racist housing policies, and they are deprived in every aspect of life. Where you live can help decide what food you eat, what job you get, and how safe you are. He intends to go into business with his dear friend Willie Harris to reduce the initial investment cost. His fraction of the investment would come from his deceased father's life insurance payout worth a total of $10,000, nowadays worth just under $85,000. The way this money is spent is to the discretion of his mother, Mama. Walter pleads his case to his mother about how his family is his motivation: “Do you know what this money means to me? Do you know what this money can do for us? Mama—Mama—I want so many things.” (Hansberry 73). Mama refuses to is to provide him the amount of money that is required to fulfill his dream. The most evident obstacle is the prejudice that people of color are forced to deal with. The pressures and constraints created by racism and poverty create desperation, confusion, despair, anger, and tension throughout the entire Younger household. Such is evident in distinct dialogue between the family members. Ruth (His wife) states, “Oh Walter—ain’t you with nobody!”, In response Walter claims “No! ‘Cause ain’t nobody with me! Not even my own mother!” (Hansberry 85). In another example of frustration Walter states, “WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE LISTEN TO ME TODAY!” (Hansberry

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(Hansberry 495). Some argue that his attitude isn’t solely because he’s choosing to be pessimistic, perhaps he is also tired of living the life he’s living. Walter works as a chauffeur for a rich white man and feels that

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In the play the author expresses, “Walter(doubled with laughter)’Mama you look ready to go out and chop you some cotton for sure” (28) while him and the family are all having fun and messing around. The quote proves just how happy Walter truly is with his family and how happy the family makes him. Mama also states in the

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In Lorraine Hansberry’s “Raisin in the Sun” Act 3 Walter has seized the hero role and he displays a lot of pride. Walter is starting to understand that he has to stand up for what he believes in and not everything is about money. “And we have decided to move into our house because my father-my father-he earned it for us brick by brick”(1933). Walter turns down the Clybourne Park Association 's offer only after he remembers the roots his family has in America, and the rights that they deserve. He wants to set a strong example for his son, Travis, just like his father did for him.

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Mama made a decision that put Walter in charge of the remaining money, however she did not know that this decision might not have been the best for the Younger family. Walter was hesitant in taking the money, but Mama reassures Walter by saying, "I ain't ever stop trusting you" (Hansberry 546). This line from Mama foreshadows the possibility that Walter will not obey her and do something foolish with the money. Walter proves this foreshadowing as he is talking to Travis and says, "... your daddy's gonna make a transaction... a business transaction that's going to change our lives" (Hansberry 547).

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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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Both characters try to reach their dreams by moving their families and responsibility aside. For example, Walter Lee dreams of opening a liquor store, so to reach his dreams he took his family is money trying to act like a man but then that money was stolen by his friend Willy

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1127 Words | 5 Pages

(Act 1, Scene 1). Through the quote, it suggests that women should be ignorant about the world, and calling “baby” instead of her name shows the inferiority of the women to men. In addition, Walter is expected to be the head of the family; Mama says, “It ain’t much, but it’s all I got in the world and I’m putting it in your hands. I’m telling you to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be” (Act 2, Scene 2).

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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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( Hansberry 143) Walter’s belief is that people have learned to

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1127 Words | 5 Pages

Well it not that easy, see what is a black man and black men just don 't get paid as much as white men did. In an article america’s labor history, it says that “the white-led unions affiliated and the American Federation of Labor actually tried to get and keep blacks out of higher-paying jobs” (Black Workers Remember). The whites were trying to prevent blacks from making money,so they wouldn 't move into their nice neighborhoods. Walter got a little angry when he was asking George , a rich friend of his daughter, if they could talk business. George ended up blowing him off saying he was busy.

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1487 Words | 6 Pages

Walter further shows his false pride when he flaunts his newfound sense of power when Mr.Lindner, one of the Younger’s soon-to-be neighbors, offers him an unjust deal. Now that Walter has control over the family 's money, he considers himself the head of the family and decision maker; this plays an important role towards how Walter treats others now that he holds himself to a higher standard. This theme applies to Walter when the chairman of the “welcoming committee” (115) named Mr.Lindner pays a visit to the family a couple weeks before they 're supposed to move into their new home in Clybourne Park. During this visit, Mr.Lindner makes the offer of the Clybourne Park community “buy[ing] the house from [them] at a financial gain to [the] family” (118). Mr.Lindner’s offer represents the racial oppression and how the white community looks down upon and doesn’t want African american people dirtying their communities.

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784 Words | 4 Pages

Mama is also related to the poem “Harlem '' Mama was in her late 60 she was the mom of Walter and she wasn’t the wealthiest around but barely made it. Her husband died and they got money off of the insurance money which made a lot of the conflicts. One way that Mama relates to the poem “Harlem '' is “crust and sugar over '' Mama crusts over when Walter lost the money and was going to sell the house. In the text, it states that “I saw- him-night after night-come in'' This is because Walter lost the money that she didn’t know what to do with herself.

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809 Words | 4 Pages

Being the man of the household, Walter dreams of owning a liquor store and plans on using Lena’s money to do so. Walter is always after money and believes that the only way to succeed in life is with money. For example, when Walter is talking about the check, he says, “Mama, sometimes when I’m downtown and I pass them cool, quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking about things, turning deals worth millions of dollars, sometimes I see guys don’t look much older than me” (992).This shows how Walter wanted something more out of life and not just be a poor black man. Everyone in this family had dreams but no one supported each other dreams.

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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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Walter’s statement tries to tell the women that he didn’t try to make the world the way it is now. Yes, he wants luxurious items for him and his wife. However, even though he seriously messed up, he’s still the man in the family and will continue to make the decisions for the

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