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

The Power of Female Gender Roles in A Raisin in the Sun

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian writer whose work focuses on themes of race, gender, and culture, once said, “Do not ever tell her that she should or should not do something because she is a girl” (Adichie). Such limited female gender roles in society are challenging for many women. Whether they are inflicted when young or are naturally imprinted in one's brain, it is crucial to convey that women can do the same tasks as anyone else, and representing this throughout the media becomes essential. The three main female characters in Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, illustrate the power of gender roles in the 1950s: Mama sacrifices her wants for her children, Ruth overworks

Beneatha faces this certain belief from her mother constantly in conversations and yet she could not care less. In almost every scene Beneatha is seen in, she’s talking about her immense dream of becoming a doctor. When her brother Walter is questioning her desire and reasoning behind it, he remarks to her, “Then go be a nurse like other women or just get married and be quiet . . .” (Hansberry 38). Walter never wanted to believe in her dream and assumed she would end up conforming to all the other expectations “normal” women do. Without regard to the constant backlash Beneatha receives, her dream never falters until Walter loses all of the money Mama had given to them for their dreams. She loses sight of everything, and cannot craft a way that could make her dream happen. As she talks to her companion, Asagi, she explains why she had chosen to go into this career path, “I always thought it was the one concrete thing in the world that a human being could do. Fix up the sick, you know, and make them whole again” (Hansberry 133). She has put all of her efforts and self-value into making other people well again, and she has forgotten what to do if this dream could not become a reality. By displaying her fears and opening up to Asagi she grapples with a dependency on men to help her find a reason not to give up. He provides her with the hope of moving to his home in Africa and even getting married to him. With some convincing Beneatha jumps at the offer and begins to see the light again. Eventually, she does not defy the expectations society has for her and completes the status quo of marrying someone, but in a different