Manhood As Displayed in A Raisin in the Sun

A detailed Summary of Manhood As Displayed in A Raisin in the Sun

Literary works often depict the author's views on some aspect of life. Lorraine Hansberry uses A Raisin in the Sun in order to showcase her views on family relationships in black society. Through the characters in her play, Hansberry shows that men in black society must take a difficult path in order to achieve their manhood in the eyes of society. This goal defines nearly every action in the lives of a black man and is altered each day by the interactions he has with his family and other black men.

The character of Walter Lee Younger that Hansberry created encounters countless difficulties in the road to gaining his manhood. Most of these problems center around his family situation. Walter is a married father who is still living with his mother. The audience sees this in the first scene as the day starts and the family jumps into action. Almost immediately, the reader is presented with one of the conflicts in Walter achieving his manhood - his relationship with his wife, Ruth. Walter blames Ruth for holding him back and preventing him from achieving his goals, saying she "couldn't be on {his} side that long"

(124). In essence saying that her lack of support of his dreams causes him to fail in whatever he attempts. In Walter's eyes "a man needs a woman to back him up" (124), and according to him the only thing a black woman ever does for a man is hold him back and discourage his dreams.

Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun explores the author's thoughts on what it is to be a black man in our society. Through the character of Walter Lee Younger, Hansberry depicts the struggles that all black males go through in order to gain respect and support in society. Walter Lee's exploits are not uncommon for young black men that are in search of their manhood in American society. This is because the path to adulthood for black men is a hard one on which to achieve success.

Walter's interactions with the remainder of his family, mostly with his mother, Lena, show his lack of manhood throughout the rest of the play. The most dramatic of these moments is seen in when Walter loses the insurance money his mother received after his father's death. The moment when Walter has fallen, kneeling below his mother who is standing over him, crying "Willy" (169), marks the point where Wal

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Approximate Word count = 785
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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Manhood As Displayed in A Raisin in the Sun

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