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Gender Inequality In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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Many issues challenged the United States during the 1950’s, but one of the most prominent issues was gender inequality. Throughout history, writers have used literature to send a message across to readers. Lorraine Hansberry utilizes this technique in her most popular play, A Raisin in the Sun, to raise awareness of a problem that was important to her that many people in the fifties were not aware of. This issue was gender inequality, and the way she develops relationships between men and women mirrors the treatment of females in American history. Hansberry reflects the social injustice towards women in the 1950’s through the response of strong-willed women towards oppression from men. Walter Lee Younger wasn’t afraid to stereotype the …show more content…

But upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that he is not as adept as Beneatha would like. He informs Beneatha that a man and woman can only share a certain type of relationship-a romantic one (Hansberry 92). This makes it seem like he values the same things George does in a woman. It comes across that he doesn't want Beneatha around if she keeps sharing her thoughts and opinions, and that bothers her. She knows relationships are based on speaking to one another and learning about the other person so she is irked when Asagai doesn’t want that with her. Later, he tells her that he “live[s] the answer” to the question Beneatha has always asked herself: “Where are we all going-and why are we bothering?” (Hansberry 187). Asagai’s aforementioned self-glorification depicts the male belief that men are capable of anything and that they can do everything better than women can. Again, Beneatha proves herself to be self sufficient and in doing so, she proves the men in her life wrong. The most important point Hansberry wanted to get across was not how cruel and oppressive men in the 1950’s were towards women. She wanted to reveal how women fought against the demands of the patriarchy and how they accomplished their goals in spite of them being crushed. She definitely accomplished her goal and women for generations to come will use this play as an example of how to respond to gender inequality.

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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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600 Words | 3 Pages

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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This shows the family such as Mama and Ruth that they can’t trust Walter with anything now because he lost all of the portion of the money. He is looked down upon for not becoming the “Man” of the house and taking full responsibility when he is supposed to. Another traditional gender role that I see Hansberry challenging is Beneatha in the middle of the book. Beneatha explains how she has started taking guitar lessons Mama and Ruth laugh out loud making fun of her and asking why she wants to play the guitar. All of sudden she gets upset when Mama and Ruth don’t take it seriously “How come you done taken it in your mind to learn to play the guitar?”

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921 Words | 4 Pages

Walter uses his male privilege to put Beneatha down. Beneatha battles being underprivileged at home and in society by defying odds and choosing her own path. According to the matrix of domination, Beneatha being an African American woman shows that in order for her to have full privilege she has to deal with both the isms. The social construction of difference has produced racism and sexism and connected them and society has used them to justify

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1127 Words | 5 Pages

Although Walter does not deserve the power, the manhood of Walter Lee enables him to “control” the family. Conversely, Beneatha’s talkativeness and her aggressive personality are against how a 1950s African American should act. Ruth asks “Can’t you be a little sweeter sometimes? (Act 1, Scene 1)” to indicate the modest characteristics women should have. Furthermore, Ruth’s decision of abortion at the beginning of the play was unconventional since it was against gender expectation because it is against her duty as a wife and a mother.

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921 Words | 4 Pages

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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699 Words | 3 Pages

”(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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941 Words | 4 Pages

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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910 Words | 4 Pages

She puts a lot of effort and time in trying to get an education for herself and learn how to be her own person. Beneatha does not want to be with George because she feels that she will not be able to fulfill her dream of being a doctor. For example, “But if the Younger’s are sitting around waiting to see if their little Bennie is going to tie up the family with the Murchisons, they are wasting their time” (Hansberry31).Beneatha wants to be a hardworking woman and this connects to the American Dream because hard work is a big component of achieving what you want. Also, she does not want George Murchison stopping her from being a hard-working woman. She does everything by herself and puts her hard work into everything she does.

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816 Words | 4 Pages

She defies the ideal life for a woman and expresses her opinion loud and clear. Beneatha throughout the play finds herself and her African American roots. Walter does not approve of Beneatha’s hopes to become a doctor he tells her, “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. . .” (1.1.125) These social issues that the characters faced in their lives made them out to be the people that they were meant to be.

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1502 Words | 7 Pages

Beneatha dreams to be a doctor, which is a male-dominated profession. She says, “I am going to be a doctor and everybody around here better understand that!” (Hansberry 33). This shows her feminist attitude in the play when Beneatha takes a largely optimistic stance when facing troubles of entering a male-dominated profession, implying that she is a ‘non-conformist’. Additionally, Beneatha refuses to “just get married and be quiet” (Hansberry 22), as her chauvinistic brother, Walter Lee, expects her to be.

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779 Words | 4 Pages

In the play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, there are many examples of sexism throughout its entirety. The character, Walter, demonstrates the acts of a sexist human being. Walter is sexist to not only women in general, but to the women in his family. Not taking into consideration of other people’s sayings and their feelings, Walter generally only thinks about himself, says what he believes, and truly only cares about money. Walter constantly is fighting with all of the women in the family as well.

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848 Words | 4 Pages

Gender roles play an important role in A Raisin in the Sun. During the time A Raisin in the Sun was written the idea of set in stone positions in a household and society were common. Women were supposed to do house jobs, keep their mouths shut, and support their husbands’ decisions and men were seen as the headman or boss. A Raisin in the Sun shows readers a window into the world where those gender roles have a twist on them. Women in the time of A Raisin in the Sun were supposed to be subservient to men.

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825 Words | 4 Pages

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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845 Words | 4 Pages

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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