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A Raisin in the Sun

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Though there was a heightened sense of tension over civil rights in the late 1950s when A Raisin in the Sun was written, racial inequality is still a problem today. It affects minorities of every age and dynamic, in more ways than one. Though nowadays it may go unnoticed, race in every aspect alters the way African-Americans think, behave, and react as human beings. This is shown in many ways in the play as we watch the characters interact. We see big ideas, failures, and family values through the eyes of a disadvantaged group during an unfortunate time in history. As Martin Luther King said, Blacks are “...harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what …show more content…

Toward the end of the play his spirit is broken, and he behaves almost like a madman, plotting to give in to Lindner and accept his offer; this action greatly worries his mother. The whole time, Walter wasn’t simply looking for a chance to follow through with his plans. He was seeking support from the system that he found himself subject to. This idea comes up in Gertrude Samuels’ Even More Crucial Than in the South. “…the real drive that is now rising ominously is a demand for personal dignity” (Samuels 1546). His personal dignity is at stake repeatedly throughout the story when he finds himself battling against a troubled family and a corrupt system. The racism-steeped social system negatively affects African-American males and females, causing deeply rooted issues. The three women in the story, Beneatha, Ruth, and Mama, represent the different views Black women took during these troublesome times. There were women like Beneatha, who didn’t want to live the typical life of a wife and mother, and openly disapproved the assimilation of Blacks into American culture as well: “Because I hate assimilationist Negroes!” (Hansberry 1500). She wanted to become highly educated, and to change the world somehow. She wanted to be something. Beneatha is a very strong-willed, hard-headed character. This could very well have been caused by the unfair rules of her time constantly being reiterated to her through several mediums. Over and over again she is told that she must

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