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Theme Of Racism In A Raisin In The Sun

1233 Words5 Pages
The Dream of a Mom In the 1950s, finding a job, a house, peers, or even food on the table was difficult for most African American fellows. All of these troubles lead back to racism and prejudice against the pigment of some people’s skin. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, Mama goes through many phases of racism and prejudice in Chicago. Along with the rest of her family, she experiences examples of racism, unfair housing regulations, and problems with gender inequality. Though these are hardships that nobody should have to go through, issues involving discrimination and bigotry helped her to realize her dream and defeat the racism that is presented to her. Mama deals with many forms of gender stereotyping throughout the play, both from society and from her own family. In this time period, women were paid a lot less than men and were still seen as lower-ranking and submissive humans even though they endured difficult tasks during wartime (Gardiner). Women in the 1950s were treated as inferior than men; therefore, men were taught to be the head of the house over a woman. Throughout the book, Walter and Mama fight over the head of the house. Walter begs for respect from both Mama and Ruth, but he is halted by Mama’s desire to keep the position. At the end of the book, Mama finally gives up her rank to Walter in attempt to keep him from going off on his own. Adding on to Walter’s issues with wanting authority, Mama finally admits the lead role to Walter when she
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