a raisin in the sun
Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago on May 19, 1930, the youngest of four children. Her family lived, at the time, on the Southside, in a neighborhood that was entirely black. During this era, segregation--the enforced separation of whites and blacks was still legal, and widespread throughout the south. Northern states, including Hansberry's own Illinois, had no official policy of segregation, but were generally self-segregated along racial and economic lines. Chicago was a striking example, carved as it was into strictly divided black and white neighborhoods. As a child, Hansberry's family became one of the first to move into a white neighborhood. When their neighbors rebelled, both with threats of violence and legal action, the Hansberrys defended themselves; Hansberry's father successfully brought his case all the way to the Supreme Court. Lorraine Hansberry wrote that she always felt the inclination to record her experiences. Her writing--including A Raisin in the Sun--is recognizably autobiographical. Hansberry was one of the first playwrights to create realistic portraits of African-American life. When A Raisin in the Sun opened in March of 1959, it was met with great praise, from white
One hour later on moving day, everyone is still melancholy. Even the light in the apartment is supposed to look gray. Asagai arrives to find Beneatha questioning her dreams. She no longer believes that she can help people. Instead of feeling idealistic about demanding equality for African-Americans and freeing Africans from the French and English colonizers, she is focusing on the misery beyond legal equality and independence. Asagai reprimands her for her lack of idealism and her attachment to the money from her father's death. He gets her excited about reform again and asks her to go home with him to Africa, saying that eventually it would be as if she had "only been away for a day." He leaves her alone to think about his proposition. Though this act begins in despair, as it plays out the Youngers regain and realize some of their dreams. Asagai renews Beneatha's courage and pride. His discussion of colonial Africa and his stated belief that the ruling powers must fall, in fact, predicts the unrest that was to occur in those countries over the next decades. His claim that when she arrives in Africa she will feel as if she has been gone for only a day is also significant. It is a claim that America can never be home to blacks, no matter how long they have lived there. Asagai's radicalism, which seems to be endorsed by Hansberry and the play, is somewhat problematic. As an extreme pole of anti-assimilationism, it ultimately seems not that different from self-segregation. What is ultimately different about Asagai's desire to leave white America in favor of Africa, and Mr. Lindner's desire to keep blacks out of his neighborhood? Through the announcement of Ruth's pregnancy, we can see the power that Mama wields as the matriarch of the family. She is at the center of her family's life, and she controls many of the interactions of the members of her household. Actresses seem to play Mama in primarily two ways. First, women depict her as a folksy relic of an earlier time, hoping one day to have a garden in the sun. Second, a more recent interpretation sets Mama up as a hard-working, powerful, all-knowing matriarch. Mama, here, seems to be both. She reminds the family of the importance of family and history, and she holds the power to make economic decisions (she, in fact, literally holds the insurance check in this scene). The movers and Mr. Lindner arrive. Mama, seeming to have given up, tells Walter Lee to deal with Lindner, who is laying out contracts for Walter Lee to sign. He starts hesitantly, but soon we see that he has changed his mind about what he is going to do. His speech builds in power: the Youngers, he says, are hard working and proud and will move into their new house. He tells Lindner that they are not trying to stir up trouble but that they will be moving into his neighborhood. Lindner appeals to Mama, who defers to Walter's statement. Ultimately, Lindner leaves, papers unsigned. They all finish packing up as the movers come up to take their furniture. Mama is the last to leave, bringing her plant with her. A Raisin in the Sun - Analysis/Themes In the introductions to the characters, we see that they all have dreams as yet unrealized. These dreams mostly involve money--Mama has always wanted a house, Walter wants to have spending money, and Ruth wants more space for her family. In other words, although this family seems to be divorced from white middle- class culture, they harbor the same materialistic dreams. After all, in the fifties, the stereotypical American dream was to have one's own house with a yard, a big car, and a happy family. Essentially, the Youngers seem to want to become a part of that dream. and black audience members alike. Hansberry was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play of the Year--she was the youngest playwright, the fifth woman, and the only black writer to have won the award by then. Her promising career was cut short, though, when she died from c
Some common words found in the essay are:
Walter Lee, Walter Lee's, Lorraine Hansberry, Raisin Sun, Improvement Association, Clybourne Park, Beneatha Hansberry, Essentially Youngers, Ultimately Lindner, Beneatha George's, walter lee, raisin sun, walter lee's, clybourne park, liquor store, ruth walter, white neighborhood, raisin sun act, willy harris, sun act, george murchison, invest liquor store, walter lee returns, sun act ii, act ii scene,
Approximate Word count = 5658
Approximate Pages = 23 (250 words per page double spaced)
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