Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Research essay paper on a raisin in the sun
Comparison/contrast in A raisin in the sun by lorraine Hansberry
Comparison/contrast in A raisin in the sun by lorraine Hansberry
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Even though Walter is the main character of the story, it is the women in his life who have the biggest dream for him, to find his own manhood. Manliness is having the strength to stand up for what is right, and Mama realizes that Walter has found his manhood when she says to Ruth, “He finally come into his manhood today, didn’t he? Kind of like a rainbow after the rain”(1935). Throughout the play when Walter loses and eventually recovers his pride it forms a major plotline in the play. Since the play portrays people who have little to nothing to their name, pride is a means for them to hold on to their dignity and declare their worth as humans.
In the text “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, the author uses the writing strategy of conflict to develop the central idea of how oneself can become selfish when trying to achieve the American dream. The text shows that the central idea is selfishness because circumstances are presented where various characters fail to take into consideration others while seeking their dreams. For example, Walters says, “ Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? 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…. ’’. This example of greed shows that the ambition to obtain a dream brings out the selfishness is true in the instance of Walter.
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.
Reading and Reimagining Social Life In Allan Johnson’s Privilege, Power, and Difference, Patricia Hill Collins describes the Matrix of Domination as an intersectionality between all the isms, especially racism and sexism. Collins describes this cycle of domination saying “that each form of privilege is part of a much larger system of privilege” (Johnson, 52). Work for change needs to focus on the idea of privilege in all forms and the way in which it enables people to think in relation to inequality and power. The only way to understand the matrix, is by understanding its dimensions.
In A Raisin in the Sun, Walter and Ruth have a personality that correlates to the traditional gender expectation. Walter has an abrupt nature, while Ruth is demure and quiet; the temperament of the two characters corresponds to a man expectation to be dominant and superior to women. Walter comments, “Don’t call it that. See there, that just goes to show you what women understand about the world. Baby, don’t nothing happen for you in this world ’less you pay somebody off!”
Hardships of the Youngers In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the characters of Mama, Walter ,and Beneatha are faced with hardships associated with their dreams being destroyed by discriminatory housing,racial inequality and lack of support from her family towards her education. In the play all the characters have some kind of dream. Mama wants to get a house for the family, Walter wants to have money to provide for his family and plans to do that with a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to become a doctor. Beneatha is going to school and at the same time she’s trying to discover herself,but her family is not supportive of this.
To be prideful is human nature, even when it hasn 't been earned. Being proud of who you are and what you have accomplished is an important part of everyone 's life, but sometimes we are prideful without something to be proud of. This kind of pride is shown in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry through the character Walter Younger. He enters the play with a false sense of pride in being a man, despite the fact that he is a chauffeur who is struggling to support his family. Throughout the plot, he struggles with acceptance of his social status and economical situations, but ends up achieving true fulfillment in simply being proud of who he and his family are as people with aspirations.
The author, Lorraine Hansberry, puts in different characters to help display these themes and the correlation between money and how it affects people. In A Raisin in the Sun, there is a connection between pride and money with more than one character. She puts these specific characters in to display the themes clearly. Lorraine Hansberry puts Walter in the beginning of the story as very pride driven, never wanting to show his son or family their financial struggles. He is a hard worker, but being a chauffeur for a rich white man is difficult for him and his pride and further into the play takes a toll on his attitude, ambitions and family’s future.
Family is important to everyone in some way because family sticks together no matter what. The play A Raisin in the Sun is about a black family named the Youngers and the hardships they face together as a family. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Ruth Younger is motivated by her family. This is shown by Ruth wanting to make her family happy, her working even though she is tired, and later when Ruth finds out there is going to be another mouth to feed. Ruth Younger is constantly worrying about her family’s well being and happiness for them.
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun presents the rise of feminism in America in the 1960s. A Raisin in the Sun is feminist because, with the feminist notions displayed in the play, women establish their rights to fulfil their individual dreams which diverge from traditional conventions of that time. Beneatha Younger, Lena Younger (Mama) and Ruth Younger are the three primary characters displaying evidences of feminism in the play. Moreover, Hansberry creates male characters who demonstrate oppressive attitudes towards women yet enhance the feminist ideology in the play. A Raisin in the Sun is feminist because, the play encourages women to develop an identity for themselves, particularly through education and career.
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.
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.
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun presents the rise of feminism in America in the 1960s. Beneatha Younger, Lena Younger (Mama) and Ruth Younger are the three primary characters displaying evidences of feminism in the play. Moreover, Hansberry creates male characters who demonstrate oppressive attitudes towards women yet enhance the feministic ideology in the play. A Raisin in the Sun is feminist because, with the feminist notions displayed in the play, women can fulfil their individual dreams that are not in sync with traditional conventions of that time.
Identity is who someone is as a person. People have different views of what identity is and what can be done to find it. Identity can be your actions and thoughts. It’s what makes someone unique and different from anyone else. The Bible has its own view of identity as well.
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.