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Stereotypes Of Women In The 1950's

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Recommended: Analysis of A Raisin in the sun

“The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, ‘It 's a girl.’” says Shirley Chisholm, the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in the United States. A simple quote like this, shows how U.S. women were treated in the 1950’s and 1960’s, they were stereotyped, predestined to achieve certain expectations, and moreover, they were unequal to men. The expectations of U.S. women in the 1950’s and 1960’s are recognizable in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. It is a historical fiction about the Younger family, an African American family that lives in a small apartment in Chicago during the 1950’s. In the play, the family had conflict among each other
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The use and knowledge of the social context helps show the impact it has in A Raisin in the Sun. Lorraine Hansberry uses the story to show her stance on not only the Civil Rights Movement but also being a feminist and women empowerment, both being firsts at the time. It is analyzed in the article To Be a Man: A Re-Assessment of Black Masculinity in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and Les Blancs written by Julie M. Burrel. Burrel states, “When examined at all, critics tend to view Hansberry’s portrayals of Black masculinity either as an unfortunate departure from her feminist concerns, or as indicative of her damaging representation of Black men(Burrell)”.

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Amber LaCourt ENG 0235 Professor Jackson 3/29/18 Response Paper #2 Lorraine Hansberry’s play “A Raisin in the Sun” invoked the idea of “angry black men” by expressing the struggles of grasping the American dream and early feminism during the late 1950’s early 1960’s. Characters like Walter Lee Younger, a husband and a businessman is struggling to grasp and attain his version of the American dream. Walter tries to convey that by being the breadwinner in the household and show is stern authority. However, characters like Bernetha is expressing her ideas of becoming a doctor by providing early feminism by expressing the role of being self-orientated and independent.

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The 1970s were a pivotal decade for women’s rights in Canada. Women have historically been stereotyped as obedient housewives who were nothing without a man. The 1970s were a time when women were starting to voice that they were much more than that. They also started to demand more equal pay, more job opportunities, and more personal freedom.

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Stereotypes During The 1960s In the 1960s, a time when many social norms were being challenged and the rise of the women's rights movement was continuing with more female involvement, Kurt Vonnegut, the author of Slaughterhouse-Five, reinforces the stereotypes of women at the time and suggests that women are not as capable or intelligent as men. In the novel, Billy, suffering from severe PTSD from WW2, copes with his emotions by viewing life from a non-linear perspective. Throughout the novel, Valencia, the wife of the protagonist Billy Pilgrim, is portrayed as having few personal aspirations outside of being a housewife, perpetuating the stereotype of women as being limited to their household duties and dependent on men. In addition, Valencia

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564 Words | 3 Pages

Barbie dolls, Marilyn Monroe, and other symbols of the 1950s all promoted certain ideas about sexuality and beauty. Because they upheld dominant ideals about gender roles, reaffirmed traditional beauty standards, and encouraged a constrained and skewed understanding of race while also presenting subtle challenges that gave a sense of familiarity within the established societal framework, these messages were able to remain popular during conservative times in popular culture. First, 1950s beauty pageants emphasized conventional gender roles and ideals of beauty, upholding the prevailing image of femininity at the time. The victors, who were often white, thin, and aesthetically pleasing, supported society norms and fostered the notion that a woman's value was determined by her outward looks. Beauty pageants supported the popular themes of conservative times by sticking to these dominant representations of femininity and beauty.

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In Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks made the powerful decision to disobey the instructions of a white man who told her to move to the back of the bus after she had finished a long day of working. Rosa Parks was then arrested and became one of the most influential leaders of the Civil Rights movement, along with Martin Luther King jr., in leading us to today’s society of social equality and justice. The activists of the movement were fighting so that one day there would be no racial discrimination in the United States of America. In her play, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry communicates some of the challenges of being African American in the 1950’s. The reader sees the dreams and hopes of the characters, Walter,

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“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.

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In the 1940s men were the ones that held the power in society as they are seen as superior to women since they are physically stronger. This then allowed them to have more opportunity and left the women to be more vulnerable. It implemented this mindset of society looking down upon women, and treating women as if they are less than and not equal to men. Tennessee Williams portrays men as more dominant and aggressive than women through the interactions Stanley has with the women in his life. Staneley uses his aggressiveness to show that since he is a man he is able to do whatever he wants, whenever he pleases.

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Gender Roles in A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry, in her play A Raisin in the Sun, uses many themes and motifs and terrific imagery to portray an accurate representation of how society was in 1959. Using these themes and motifs such as money, family, and dreams along with the many characters, Hansberry provides a profound social commentary of the mid-twentieth century. Hansberry monumentally depicted gender roles of the mid-twentieth century. Throughout her play, Hansberry substantiates the, at the time, traditional gender roles in which, men assert total and absolute power over the women. Moreover, women were meant to be in the home assisting the man, which can discernibly be perceived through her immense characters as well as their

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683 Words | 3 Pages

To the men who like to objectify my sister, As a younger sister, I’ve always had my sister “the evil bitch” to look out for me - sometimes this was nice but other times I didn’t always appreciate it! She always took care of me and stood up to those who were being mean or rude to me and trust me there’s been a few of those in my short lifetime. She bought me hot chips at school, completely unprompted by myself or our mother! She cheered for me when I succeeded and had Disney or Barbie movie marathons with me when I was sad and just when we felt like it.

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Stereotype: A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Stereotypes have been around forever. Whether it be the strong, muscular, handsome, men in the 1800’s. Or the popular, pretty, girls you see in school hallways today. They are all stereotypes.

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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.

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1502 Words | 7 Pages

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.

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1499 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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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.

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