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Who Is Beneatha In A Raisin In The Sun

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“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom” - Aristotle. Lorraine Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun with many subjects in mind, including how to address topics such as racism, sexism, poverty, and self-discovery. Her character Beneatha Younger, an ambitious, selfish, childlike woman, hopes to become a doctor while simultaneously trying to “find herself”. The rest of the Younger family, including her mother, brother, and sister-in-law, view Beneatha as an eccentric young girl who refuses to grow up. Despite her family’s views of her, Beneatha shows maturity when the time calls for it and proves to everyone, even herself, that maturity comes when you find yourself.
A family of five, the Younger family occupies an overcrowded apartment in Chicago during the 1950s. The family has big dreams that the small Chicago apartment struggles to hold. Lena “Mama” Younger, the head of the family, dreams of buying a house that she can call a permanent home. Walter Lee, Mama’s son, dreams of purchasing a liquor store. Though his wish has the family in mind, it nearly tears the family apart when it backfires. Ruth, Walter’s wife, dreams with Mama and hopes to one day live in a house. Beneatha, Mama’s daughter and Walter’s sister, aspires to further her education while chasing her hope to discover herself. Little does Beneatha know, everyone else …show more content…

Her search allures the reader, but it distracts from her true characteristics. Beneatha expresses childlike behaviors that her entire family, even her 10-year-old nephew Travis, can not help but notice and react to. Her approach to self-discovery is not only selfish, but reveals excessive juvenility through her choices. Beneatha Younger may not be done on her journey to self-discovery, she nevertheless needs to mature and grow as a person before she can truly find

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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.

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A Raisin In The Sun Beneatha Character

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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.

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A Raisin In The Sun Literary Analysis Essay

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, But are consistently being differed. Lena Younger, otherwise known as, “Mama” is Walter and Beneatha’s mother and the head of the household. With her deceased husbands ten thousand dollar insurance check Lena bought a three thousand-dollar house with a garden where her family would be happy and hopes to save the rest of the money for Beneatha’s medical school. Lena’s dream, “ Festers like a sore” and is the only dream that somewhat comes true.

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Examples Of Deferred Dreams In A Raisin In The Sun

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Beneatha 's dream is to go to college and become a doctor. She wants to prove her family´s disbeliefs of her becoming a doctor wrong. Yet she feels defeated after her brother, Walter, goes out and gives away all of her college money to some man that ends up disappearing with the money. She faces challenges financially and faces backlash from her family.

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A Raisin In The Sun Walter Vs Beneatha

672 Words | 3 Pages

In the book “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hanberry, the two characters that influence the plot the most are Walter and Beneatha. Walter Younger is tied up with too much, there is a very big check to come in the mail that the whole family is more than excited for, but the thing about the check is that every member in the family has their own opinion of what they think should be down with the check and its stressing everybody out, especially Walter. Although the check is Mamas, everybody wants the check for themselves and some of them believe that the check is all Mamas and that she should decide what should be done with her check. One of the main conflicts of this story must do with Walter because he is becoming out of control with this check. The thing that Walter does to try and make himself feel better is that he goes out and drinks because of his stress and he also doesn’t know what to do ever since Ruth told him about the baby and what she’s planning on doing

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Beneatha wants to study to become a doctor, but instead Walter Lee wants to spend his family’s insurance money so he can open a liquor store with Willy and Bobo his friends and be a man. Since Walter Lee and his family were in a bad position and were very poor it was Walter Younger’s responsibility to keep the family together and he saw this a very big responsibility. He frequently complained about being a chauffeur and ridding rich people, every day when he woke up in the morning. He would always fight with his wife Ruth, Mama and his sister Beneatha. For instance (Hansberry 32-34) he says to Ruth his wife “You tired, ain’t you?

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Where Beneatha enjoys her independent thought, George tells her that there is no need for it. George tells Beneatha that, “You read books... to get a degree. That’s all- it has nothing to do with thoughts” (75). George’s negative outlook on school, something that Beneatha is very interested in, shows signs of unhealthy relationships.

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Beneatha's Dream

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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).

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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.

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Raisin In The Sun Symbolism

793 Words | 4 Pages

Trusting Walter, her son, she mistakenly gave him the money. Mama specifically told Walter to put away some money away for Beneatha Walter's sister. Like Walter Beneatha has big dreams. She wants to go to medical school

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Social Issues In A Raisin In The Sun

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.

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Theme Of Feminism In A Raisin In The Sun

1502 Words | 7 Pages

Beneatha dreams to be a doctor, which is a male-dominated profession. She says, “I am going to be a doctor and everybody around here better understand that!” (Hansberry 33). This shows her feminist attitude in the play when Beneatha takes a largely optimistic stance when facing troubles of entering a male-dominated profession, implying that she is a ‘non-conformist’. Additionally, Beneatha refuses to “just get married and be quiet” (Hansberry 22), as her chauvinistic brother, Walter Lee, expects her to be.

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The family starts to tear apart as Walter decides to sell the house to Mr. Lindner and take the check. Mama and Beneatha try to explain to Walter that their family, through generations, would have never thought about taking money in hard times. Beneatha then begins saying that their dream of moving to a new house is now dead, which Walter replies, “What’s the matter with you all! I didn’t make this world. It was give to me this way!

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As a young boy I had always looked up to my mama. She was full of light and excitement, and made the world a better place. When my Father died she was heartbroken, but still maintained her joy. It wasn’t until Hank came into her life that everything changed. She met him in our town’s diner where she was his waitress.

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Personal Identity In A Raisin In The Sun

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.

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