A Raisin In The Sun Analysis

Welcome to the Windham High school drama club revival of A Raisin in the Sun!

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry many character have dreams. Beneatha’s to become a doctor, Mama’s to buy a house and Walter’s to own a liquor store. These dreams affect each character differently. In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry illustrates Walter Lee’s dream of owning a liquor store affects him negatively by causing him to constantly be thinking about money and causing him to make bad decisions, it also affects him positively, by teaching him an important life lesson.

Cynthia Kersey once said, “The only opinion about your dream that counts is yours. The negative comments of others merely reflects their limitations- not yours.” This quote applies to Beneatha, a character from Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun, because throughout the book readers see her talk about her aspirations in life and everyone always tells her she is aiming too high. They tell her that she should not be so bold and to settle and do what a typical woman should, but she is so driven she refuses to let them degrade her and her dream. She continues to push for what she wants no matter what anyone says. Throughout the book A Raisin In The Sun Beneatha appears to be insensitive, strong-willed

In Lorraine Hansberry’s a Raisin In the Sun the character Ruth is talking about getting rid of her child and mama wants Walter to be like his father and tell her not to but he can’t bring himself to do it. In act one scene three there is a lot of tension and fighting so hansberry wants to break the tension with some humor. One example of humor is when beneatha comes out of her room in a Nigerian dress singing songs and confusing Mama (76). Another example of how there is humor after beneath a comes out with her dress Walter also comes in the scene drunk and dancing and chanting with beneatha (77-79). Hansberry made things calmer and broke the tension because a book or play is not good if it is serious scene after serious scene they have to have humor in their book or play.

Many African American come with a dream but instead they have to fight for it. Which took an African American individual to end the inequality to change the view of the world . In, “A Raisin in the Sun” it talks about how Beneatha is embracing in her african culture. In “I too sing America” it is about African Americans and how people in the world are treating them like they do not belong. ’Both want to be free about their lives without anyone being judge by anyone but they do go in different ways.

In the play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the author shows several different themes. The main theme in the play version of “A Raisin in the Sun” is the theme of dreams. Each of the members in the Younger family has dreams for what they would do with a $10,000 insurance check. The dreams are the same in the play version and the 1961 version of the film. Mama Younger would like to purchase her family a house, so that they do not have to share a rental house. Beneatha wants Mama to pay her way through medical school. Walter Lee wants his mother to hand over the money so he may buy a liquor store. Ruth wants Mama to use the money on herself and forget about her two selfish children. Travis would like to

Lorraine Hansberry was a young African- American playwright, activist and writer. She was born in Chicago, IL during the 1930’s. Hansberry’s father was a successful real estate broker and her mother was a school age teacher. Both of her parents were wealthy successful members of the NAACP and Urban League and contribute large amount of money to help the associations fight for the equality of African American families during the civil rights movement. Both parents were well respected and known by their peers. Lorraine Hansberry was able to attend college and discover a career as a writer. One of her most famous piece of work and till this day still is, is the playwright A Raising in the Sun which it’s title is a reference to the famous poem of Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem” also known as “A Dreamed Deferred”. “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore- and the run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?” (Hughes 1951). The playwright A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the different dreams and aspirations of the Younger’s family members. Living in a restricted society during the 1950’s in Southside Chicago was not every families dream. Through each character in the play we see the hunger and hope for a better future where they each could have something to live for. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play “A Raisin in the Sun” she uses the

Raisin in the Sun represent the different dreams of everyone in the Younger's family. Having the ten thousand dollars in their mind, they develop their own plan. Mama's plant and hat symbolizes her dreams of having some day her own house with a little garden in the back. It also represents' how Mama cares and keeps her family together as the head of the family. " Lord, if this little old plant don't get more sun than it's been getting, it ain't never going to see spring again" (Hansberry 1517). This shows mama's worries to her families. Walter’s liquor store, symbolizes Walter's fights against poverty and racial discrimination that he imagined to be free. Ruth's unborn child represents the family's moral issue regarding abortion since poverty

Many authors love to leave parts of their artwork up to the reader's imagination and let them interpret their own meanings and endings behind certain choices made in their piece. That is exactly what Lorraine Hansberry is doing by deciding to end A Raisin in the Sun on a cliffhanger. A Raisin in the Sun is ending with the Younger family beginning to move out of their old house and packing up to move to their newly bought house. The Youngers are moving to Clybourne Park, an all white neighborhood, and are trying to do better for themselves. However, previous to this event a representative from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association comes to their house and tries to stop them from moving there by attempting to pay them off. This encounter causes some readers to believe that the Youngers deciding to move to the neighborhood hints at a sad ending. Even though Hansberry leaves it on a cliffhanger, one can interpret it as a happy ending more so than a sad ending.

In A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family is given the opportunity to actualize their dreams when a $10,000 check comes in the mail. The play explores the complications in turning their dreams into a reality. The family’s aspirations in life is for a better and more successful life. The central conflict of the play lies in Walter's view of his own dreams.

The title “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry draws inspiration from a poem by Langston Hughes and explores the idea of what happens when a person's dreams are postponed, denied, or deferred by using the imagery of a raisin drying up in the sun. The Youngers are a colored family that lives in a kitchenette on the South Side of Chicago. Mama’s dream is to give her kids and her one grandchild a better life than she ever had. Beneatha’s dream is to become a doctor and find her true identity. Walter’s dream is to become a successful businessman and open his own liquor store.

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, there are a number of symbols that represent various concepts that can all be traced back to issues on race. Many symbols in The Raisin in the Sun, for example, capture the restricted opportunity given to the Younger family and African Americans as a whole; these symbols show the true magnitude of the issue of race at the time the drama was written. Nonetheless, among the strongest hidden meanings in A Raisin in the Sun, is not a symbol but a character. Travis Younger is a living, breathing motif that firmly represents the young hope for the African American community.

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the Youngers are a poverty-stricken african american family living in a small apartment in Chicago. They are receiving a life insurance check for ten thousand dollars, and what they will use this money for becomes a sensitive subject in the household. Each family member believes some of the money should go to their dreams or goal, but in the end agree it should go to a house first. They each want to be with ones with the money because it symbolizes power in the household. While power and money are sources of conflict in the Younger household, ultimately it brings them closer as a family.

In order to be successful, sacrifices must be made. This relates well to an African-American family, the Youngers, who lived in 1950s Southern Chicago, in the play, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry. The Youngers were in a poor economic condition; five people in a small, dingy two bedroom apartment, until the death of Lena’s husband.. The family was to receive a life insurance check of $10,000, which could improve the lives of everyone in the family. However conflict occurred once the check arrived due to the family member’s dreams conflicting. Ten thousand dollars was a lot of money back then, but it was not nearly enough to satisfy everyone, and thus,sacrifices were made. The decisions that Walter, Mama, and Ruth made prove that sacrifices are necessary for a family to function.

In the play, “Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, the story has a strong cultural feel. Throughout the play the author focuses a lot on the families Southern culture. The author tries to focus the play around events that happened in her own life. A black family struggling to meet ends meet living in a poor neighborhood comes across a chance to upgrade and move into a family home in the white neighborhood. The play takes place in the 1950’s, a time where black lives didn’t matter to many. The characters in the play go against many social norms that would have been set during this time such as blacks living in a white neighborhood. The 1950’s were a hard time for African American's, and women, neither of them had many rights and were constantly struggling to get by.