I also find that the characters in A Raisin in the Sun are over exaggerating the situation they are in given the archetypal standards they represent. Each character is representation of something generational, a gender or race issue, and it's a testament to Hansberry's writing that the characters don't come across as mouthpieces for the story. They are living, breathing human beings. It's not impossible at all to imagine the Younger family crowded together in their tiny roach-infested apartment on the south side of Chicago struggling, striving, and dreaming. “Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor?
In the poem “Harlem,” Langston Hughes asks, “What happens to a dream deferred?” (Hughes 1). Mr. Hughes question is answered by the play Raisin in the Sun. The play follows the Younger family as they attempt to achieve their dreams. Hansberry uses Mama, Walter, and Beneatha the show the negative consequences that occur when your dreams are deferred.
Privacy is the Key A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry was published in the year 1959, a time of discrimination, racism, and segregation for Blacks. Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun to portray the difficulty of being an African American in the 1950’s. Lorraine Hansberry particularly chosed to write a private play to bring the audience into an intimate experience with the family and their drama so that we can understand how it was to be black and that the play was a form of activim/. The set in A Raisin in the Sun was located in the Younger family’s apartment in Chicago’s Southside.
In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun, One theme is that a mother will do anything to teach her children money isn’t everything, to never give up on their dreams, and to make her family happy. For Mama’s whole life, she has been trying to teach her family that money isn’t everything, but it seems that ever since they knew that they were getting an insurance check that seems to be all they talk about. Right, when Walter woke up he started to ask about the insurance check and when it was coming, so when Mama wakes up she says "Somebody would have thought my children done starved to death the way they talk about money here late...”(330). This quote is important because it shows that the family is talking about money like they are starving and don't have food, but in reality they are so worried about what mama is going to do with the money because they all want it used a different way to benefit themselves or their dream, but some of the family disagree and want to leave it to Mama to choose what happens to it because it's her money and it's not right for them to ask for it or use it how they want to.
Historical Analysis: A Raisin in the Sun is a play about the author’s life. The segregation life and the event of moving into a white neighborhood are events from the life of Lorraine Hansberry, the author. The events that occurred in the play along with real life events relate to the Civil Rights Movement and feminist topics. Lorraine Hansberry moved into an all white neighborhood just like the Younger family moved into Clybourne Park. The author did not modify the major events of her own life but rather added a series of complications and details to fit the play such as the event of Walter losing the investment money.
A Raisin in the Sun is the breakout story of Lorraine's career. A Raisin in the Sun is about her struggle through her life with dealing with racism. She wanted to write about her struggle through one of the hardest parts in American History. Lorraine wasn’t just dealing with her sexality but, she was dealing with racism while people were fighting for African Americans lives. She wrote A Raisin in the Sun in 1959 talking about racism and family struggles but, African Americans lives didn’t change until 1963 when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech.
I also choose to write about the play A Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry. My reason for choosing the poem as well as the play. While doing research, its noted that Lorraine Hansberry took the title of the story. From a line in Langston Hughes poem “Harlem”. Both readings were written in a time of immense promise and hopefulness.
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.
Lorraine Hansberry was a great writer of the 20th century that was friends with a great poet by the name of Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes wrote a poem called Dream Deferred which asked the question of what happens when a person's dream is deferred. Lorraine Hansberry wrote Raisin in the Sun to answer this question. In Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry uses the characters of Big Mama, Walter and Beneatha to show all of the negative effects that come from deferring your dream.
Lorraine V. Hansberry Author Lorraine Hansberry, who is considered one of the Great American authors, wrote during the Modernist period. She wrote “A Raisin in the Sun” in 1959. In this work, we can see evidence of the characteristics, themes and style identified with the Modernist movement which was extant in American letters between 1850’s and after WWII. Lorraine Hansberry wrote during this time period of American literature, and such, remains one of the most identifiable and iconic writers of her time. Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois.
Reader Response: 3 “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, is a play about a black families experience in 1950s South Side Chicago. The story revolves around what happens to the family when Lena Younger, the matriarch of the family, receives a ten thousand dollar life insurance check upon the death of her husband. Everyone from the family has different plans for what they want to do with the money. Lena Younger serves as the head of the family. She is Walter and Beneatha’s caring mother so they and Ruth call her Mama.
A Raisin in the Sun was an innovative play for its era. Lorraine Hansberry produces in the Younger household one of the first authentic portrayals of a black household on an American stage, in an era where primarily black spectators just didn’t exist. African-American characters, typically minor and comedic, mostly hired racial stereotypes before this play. Lorraine Hansberry, nevertheless, displays a whole black household in an authentic view, one that is unbecoming and anything but comedic. She makes use of black dialect all through the play and raises significant concerns and struggles, for instance poverty, bigotry and racism.
A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by an African-American, Lorraine Hansberry. The play debuted on Broadway in 1959. Set in South side Chicago, Hansberry portrays an African-American family, the Youngers: Lena Younger (Mama), Ruth Younger (daughter), Walter Lee Younger (son), his wife Beneatha Younger and their son Travis Younger. The family suddenly gains $10,000 due to the life insurance money from the father’s death. Each character has their own dream of a better life and how to use the money to pursue that dream.
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.
A Raisin in the Sun "Education has spoiled many a good plow hand" (Hansberry 103). This quote is significant because it is applying that education is better than being a hard-worker. A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, is taken place in South Side, Chicago between World War II and the present. The main focus of this play is about a poor African-American family who has a chance to escape this lifestyle with a ten-thousand-dollar life insurance check, but is not desired to live in a "white" neighborhood.
