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A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry essay
The character of Walter Lee younger in A Raisin in the sun
Detailed account on walter lee younger as the central character in "a raisin in the sun
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The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry debuted on Broadway in 1959, and the movie was made in 2008. “A Raisin in the Sun” is about the Younger family, the fifth generation of lower-class African-Americans living in Chicago’s Southside. They are faced with problems such as racial discrimination, poverty, and conflicting dreams. As the family decides on how to spend the insurance check of $10,000 from Walter’s father’s death, these problems cause many conflicts to rise. Reading the 1959 play and the 2008 movie, I have realized certain similarities and differences in how the story plays out.
A Raisin In the Sun Hook: Imagine a small, struggling plant, desperate for sunlight, amidst the darkness of a cramped apartment. In ‘A Raisin in the Sun’, this plant becomes a powerful symbol of resilience, capturing the characters undevoted determination to overcome adversity and cultivate their dreams. Background Information: Lorraine Hansberry wrote the play ‘A Raisin in the Sun,’ which explores the life experiences of an African-American family living on the South side of Chicago during the 1950’s. The play explores themes of racism, dreams, and bravery. The plant symbol represents the hopes and challenges faced by the Younger family as they strive for a better future.
Hardships and trials help to shape, mold, and create characters in stories, this is evident within the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. Hansberry’s assertive character, Beneatha, connects to the messages from classic Motown songs of the time period such as: inequality, identity, and respect. These songs sing of some characteristics and problems Beneatha holds. Through the soulful sound of Nina Simone’s song, “Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free”, a cry for equality is heard that is similar to the one from Beneatha in A Raisin in the Sun.
In the play “A Raisin in the Sun,” the family explores many issues, both within their family and with outside conflicts. This play has a historical feel to it. In Chicago 's south side a black family is living in a run-down apartment. It takes the readers back to a time that many young people don’t know of, and a time that offers respect to older generations (1959). The play takes on a few social reforms.
Cooper McMillan Ms. Coen Advanced English 9 May 19, 2023 Title In the ’50s and ‘60s and long before, African Americans did not have the same rights or opportunities as their white counterparts. When this was happening multiple factors led to this such as segregation, redlining, and the availability of certain jobs. During the primary time of the segregation, specifically, from 1954 to 1968, the African Americans Were fighting for the right to be looked upon as equal. This led to pay disparity and caused a lot of different views on money as someone could see in the play A Raisin in the Sun.
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.
“A Raisin in the Sun,” written by Lorraine Hansberry in 1959, was the first play ever produced on Broadway by an African-American woman and was considered ground-breaking for it’s time. Titled after Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem,” sometimes known as “A Dream Deferred,” the play and the subsequent film adaptations are honest examinations of race, family, poverty, discrimination, oppression and even abortion in urban Chicago after WWII. The original play was met with critical praise, including a review by Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times where he wrote, “For A Raisin in the Sun is a play about human beings who want, on the one hand, to preserve their family pride and, on the other hand, to break out of the poverty that seems to be their fate. Not having any axe to grind, Miss Hansberry has a wide range of topics to write about-some of them hilarious, some of them painful in the extreme.” The original screen adaptation released in 1961 was highly acclaimed in its own right, and was chosen in 2005 for preservation in the United States of America National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for its cultural and historical significance.
The world stereotypes rich people as rude, stuck up and selfish. Ever wonder why? Studies from Yale, The New York Times, TED and more have concluded, money changes everything. Whether it’s attitude, morals or values, money can affect and change all aspects of someone’s life. The play, A Raisin in the Sun, has a theme showing this claim clearly.
A black Trinidadian rapper, Nicki Minaj, grew up in a turbulent home and was in extreme poverty. She prayed and worked so she just wanted be able to make enough money to take care of her mother. Nicki Minaj ended up making more money than expected which was a blessing for her and her family. In the play, “A Raisin in the Sun ” by Lorraine Hansberry, an African American family is given $10,000 because the grandpa in the family passed away. The family didn’t have much money so this money was beneficial to the family.
Lorraine Hansberry’s stage play “A Raisin in the Sun” explores the theme of poverty and its impact on African-American families in the 1950s. Despite being set over half a century ago, the play’s depiction of poverty remains relevant in today’s society. Many individuals and families, especially in the Black community, continue to struggle with poverty and economic inequality. The lessons from A Raisin in the Sun serve as a reminder that addressing poverty remains an ongoing challenge. This essay will explore how poverty is represented in the play and how poverty is today for Black people in the United States.
Brandon Lee Robin Miller Theatre Appreciation October 15, 2017 Reading Report I am going to to be writing my reading report on “The Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry. A Raisin in the Sun is about the Younger family; Lena, who was the momma of the family who previously lost her husband to death. Then there was Walter, the oldest child of Lena. Walter was a chauffer, who hated his job, so afterwards he would go to a bar and drink his pain away.
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry represents one of the first books to ever properly illustrate the struggle of black families in the mid 1900’s. It’s realistic depiction of the hope many African Americans had for betterment of their lives through hard work and the discouragement they dealt with daily from the lack of social progress in their communities reoccurs throughout the production through stage movements, and the character’s actions. The author portrays characters with relatable despair and elation, so that viewer feel their trials and triumphs like they were their own. Most importantly, her writing leads readers to question if the system will allow success for the underdogs, and if religious faith means anything. Lena Younger,
Through the use of the historical lens, looking specifically at the economic struggles, the struggle of unequal opportunity, and the housing covenant that African-American’s faced in the 1950’s, Hansberry’s message of A Raisin in the Sun is revealed: the perseverance of an ethnic minority in a time of racial discrimination. A Raisin in the Sun is set in a time of great racial discrimination, the 1950’s in the united States. This featured racism towards those of color or non-caucasians, and the struggles commonly faced by the African-American family is shown through the eyes of the Younger family through the writing and experiences of Lorraine Hansberry. Of the three major struggles the Younger family faced, the most prominent in Act one is that of financial disability. This is best shown through the working lives of the family.
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.
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.
