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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

933 Words4 Pages

A Raisin in the Sun
A Raisin in the Sun takes place in Southside Chicago and is about an underprivileged family living in a small apartment. In the apartment lives Mama, Ruth, Beneatha, Lena, and Travis. This family is poor and is waiting for a 10,000 dollar check from mama’s dead husband. With this check comes conflict on what should be done with the money. In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry uses settings like Southside Chicago and themes like family and money as techniques to present to readers her characters and the dynamic between them.
A Raisin in the Sun is primarily set in a Southside Chicago apartment. The apartment is small and worn out. Hansberry says “And here a table or a chair has been moved to disguise the worn places …show more content…

She is different from Mama and Ruth. Beneatha wants to become a doctor which is a very different aspiration for a woman in her time. She also cuts her hair off which is symbolic because natural hair was not appreciated during her time so she now has natural hair. Additionally, a major disagreement between Mama and Beneatha is that Beneatha lacks the faith in God that Mama holds so dear. Beneatha expresses her disbelief in the divine when she says “Mama, you don’t understand. It’s all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don’t accept. It’s not important”. Hansberry may have chosen to have Mama be in conflict with her two children to emphasize that, to Mama, her children are still her children even though they are adults. Her relationship with them, as described by Hansberry, gives her an heir of matriarchy over her household and family dynamic. Money is a concept seen throughout the play and is a cause of great conflict for the family. The family is constantly disagreeing on money because everyone has their own hope for what the $10,000 check will allow for. However, everyone except Walter is respecting that this money is Mama’s and she has the final decision of what happens with it. Walter thinks that the money should be given to him, so when Mama explains that she put it towards a down payment he is extremely upset. Hansberry uses the theme of money to, once again, show that Mama is the head of the house and that it is her money-not her

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