ipl-logo

A Raisin In The Sun Identity Analysis

1176 Words5 Pages

Beneatha Younger struggles to find her real identity throughout the whole play, “A Raisin in the Sun.” She strives to become a doctor despite being a women. Throughout the whole play she tries out a handful of hobbies that she takes up during the play. She tries out horse riding and then she wants to learn to play the guitar. Beneatha talks about how she is experimenting with many hobbies to find her identity. Ruth and her are having a conversation about how she bought a 50 dollar horse-riding club habit that she has yet to use. Beneatha says, “ I experiment with different forms of expression!” (Hansberry 48). Mama and Ruth support her, but she is being held back by money, race, and education. Beneatha doesn’t have to money to go out and try …show more content…

Mama doesn’t know what she wants to do with the money, but she does know one thing for sure, that the family needs to move out of the cramped unit because the family is starting to fall apart. They are constantly fighting and Walter is always drinking so that when he gets home he won’t be angry and he drinks to forget the pain of what is going on back at home. Mama sees that Walter and Ruth’s marriage is falling apart, that Travis needs his own space and that he needs his own bed instead of sleeping on the couch, that Beneatha is tired of being in a space that is suffocating. Mama and her husband said that when they got married that they wanted to move out of the unit and get a house of their own but then when they had kids they didn’t have to money to move out a get a house. She saw that it was tearing him apart. Mama just wants her family to be happy and not be fighting all the time and when she finds out the Ruth is expecting another baby she knows that they need to get a house soon. When the check comes she knows that everyone is going to fight over it so she goes into town and buys a house so that they could all have their own place to live and not all be cramped together. When she gets back to the unit Walter asks her where she's been and she turns to Travis and says, “She went out and she bought you a

Show More
Related
482 Words | 2 Pages

One down almost lost his mind thinking ‘bout money all the time and the other done commence to talk about things I can’t seem to understand in no form or fashion. What is it that’s changing, Ruth?”(292) In this quote Mama is expressing her feelings about her children. She feels as if they are drifting away from her. This quote can represent the connection with other mothers around the world, and the problems they encounter when dealing with their children.

Read More
1010 Words | 5 Pages

“Them houses they put up for colored in them areas way out all seem to cost twice as much as other houses. I did the best I could.” (Hansberry 2.i). This shows that Mama doesn’t care what other people in an all white neighborhood might think of her family, she only wants her family to be in a more comfortable living position. The rest of the family is afraid of what others might think of them and don’t agree with Mama’s idea of moving into the neighborhood.

Read More
700 Words | 3 Pages

In the play the author expresses, “Walter(doubled with laughter)’Mama you look ready to go out and chop you some cotton for sure” (28) while him and the family are all having fun and messing around. The quote proves just how happy Walter truly is with his family and how happy the family makes him. Mama also states in the

Read More
587 Words | 3 Pages

She was not like other young women that would be housewives or maids at her age but instead is independent. Looking after herself and making more of a life for herself, she attends school, tries to play guitar, and looks for a love interest. This breaks the stereotype of a “normal” woman who is a housewife or maid and shows Beneatha is different. Therefore, Beneatha overcomes this criticism of her “unnatural ways”, and proceeds to make her life successful.

Read More
919 Words | 4 Pages

No one ever stays the same forever. This is shown in Beneatha Younger in “A Raisin in the Sun”. Beneatha is a young black women, who faces challenges everyday. She is a students at a college and dreams to be a doctor but no one else seems to believe in her. This makes her try harder and makes her change the way she thinks.

Read More
600 Words | 3 Pages

The title of the play “A Raisin in the Sun” comes from the poem “Harlem” written by Langston Hughes. The poem is asking what happen to dreams that are not accomplished, What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up/ Like a raisin in the sun (Hughes) in the play many character have unaccomplished or deferred dreams. Mama dreams is moving her family out of their small apartment and into a house in a nice area with a yard for Travis and a garden for herself. She has had this dream for a long time but has never been able to accomplish it financially. After the death of her husband, the family receives a $10,000 life insurance check this money gives mama of the opportunity to buy the house she has always dreamed for her family.

Read More
1089 Words | 5 Pages

This is seen by the actions she takes to get to her goal, statements she makes towards her family members, and how she responds to her family when they are troubled. Mama has lived in her apartment for a long time with her family and is about to get enough money to change that. An example of Mama’s motivation to achieve her goal is shown when Ruth, her daughter-in-law and Mama are talking about what Mama would do with the insurance money. Mama states, “Been thinking that we maybe could meet the notes on a little old two-story somewhere, with a yard where Travis could play in the summertime, if we use part of the insurance for a down payment and everybody kind of pitch in” (563). Mama is suggesting to Ruth of what could be a better future for her son and their family.

Read More
1105 Words | 5 Pages

A Raisin in the Sun is a play, which consists of three acts for a total of six scenes. From the very beginning, the plot line begins with the Younger family waking up, going about their morning as they normally do. The family living in the small apartment consists of Mama, Beneatha, her daughter, Walter, her son, Ruth, Walter’s wife, and Travis, Walter and Ruth’s son. The apartment that accommodates this family consists of a small kitchen, containing one small window, a living room, which also serves as Travis’ room, and two bedrooms, one for Walter and Ruth, the other shared by Mama and Beneatha. In the kitchen window lays a potted plant, second to only family in Mama’s most prized possessions.

Read More
699 Words | 3 Pages

Beneatha is a young independent woman, who has big dreams of becoming a doctor. During the 1950, it was very rare for a young woman to become a doctor. As a result, becoming a doctor was even harder for a young black woman, like Beneatha. She is constantly told that women should just sit and look pretty. Constantly being put down by George Murchison a man that neglects his roots, “I don’t go out with you to discuss the nature of “quiet desperation”or to hear all about your thoughts...

Read More
910 Words | 4 Pages

She wants to become a doctor and get the education she needs to become one. Throughout the play she proves that her independence means a lot to her. Beneatha wants to be free and have her own life, just like the American Dream. In the play she says to Mama and Ruth, “Listen, I’m going to be a doctor. I’m not worried about who I’m going to marry yet-if I ever get married” (Hansberry32).

Read More
1127 Words | 5 Pages

Beneatha also faced a hardship in her life, but herr 's was different from the rest. She face problems with education. Her family did not fully support her decision of wanting to become a doctor. Beneatha wants to become a doctor but her family is not that wealthy.

Read More
1092 Words | 5 Pages

Identity is something people tend to think of as consistent, however that is far from the case. The Oxford English dictionary states that the definition of identity is “ The characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is.” The allegorical novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding tackles the issue of identity while following young boys from the ages twelve and down as they struggle with remembering their identities when trapped on a deserted island. Identity is affected by the influence of society and how individuals influence society based on their identities. By looking at Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the Stanford Prison Experiment, and Sigmund Freud 's philosophical ideas, it becomes clear that identity is affected by society through peer pressure and social normalities.

Read More
816 Words | 4 Pages

She defies the ideal life for a woman and expresses her opinion loud and clear. Beneatha throughout the play finds herself and her African American roots. Walter does not approve of Beneatha’s hopes to become a doctor he tells her, “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. . .” (1.1.125) These social issues that the characters faced in their lives made them out to be the people that they were meant to be.

Read More
679 Words | 3 Pages

In a patriarchal society, women are encouraged to focus on their family and its well-being. Most often, women achieve this by caring for the children and the home. However, in the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry suggests that women do not have to focus on the family. Instead, they can prioritize their own well-being. Hansberry exhibits these ideas through two female characters, Ruth and Beneatha.

Read More
825 Words | 4 Pages

In Act 1, Beneatha’s quest to find her personal identity is seen in the way she expresses herself, her ambitions, her roots and the way she deviates from what is acceptable in her family. She tries to find ways to express herself such as trying different hobbies. In the past, Beneatha has been a part of a play-acting group, horseback-riding club, and in Act 1 starts guitar lessons (47). She also has the ambition to become a doctor which is looked down upon by her brother, Walter Lee (38). Additionally, her African roots are important to her search for identity.

Read More

More about A Raisin In The Sun Identity Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document