a raisin in the sun
Racism is a major issue that has affected the United States since its discovery. Racism is the hatred by a person of one race pointed at a person of another race. The United States has grown up to improve as a whole but this process is a long way away from completion. Some citizens still believe that African-Americans are inferior to Caucasians and that they should be slaves. In the 1950s, whites and blacks were segregated to a point that they could not go to the same schools or even use the same bathrooms. Chief Justice Earl Warren abolished the segregation of schools in May of 1954. The desegregation of schools has helped people of all races grow up together in a non-hostile environment where they can develop relationships with people of other races. Throughout the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry criticizes the racial and discriminatory climate of America in the 1950s and early 60s. It becomes obvious to the reader that the racial tension Hansberry experienced growing up reflected on the way her literature is written. Moss and Wilson state that, "Lorraine Hansberry's South Side childhood, particularly her father's battle to move into a white neighborhood, provided the background for the events in the play"
Lena Younger, known as Mama, is in her early sixties. "She is one of those women of a certain grace and beauty who wear it so unobtrusively that it takes a while to notice. She has wit and faith of a kind that keeps her eyes lit and full of interest and expectancy. Mama is, in a word, a beautiful woman. Thomas Adler asserts, "Her speech is as careless as her carriage is precise-she is inclined to slur everything-but her voice is perhaps not so much quiet as simply soft"(826). Her husband died a before the beginning of the play leaving the Younger family a ten thousand dollar life insurance check. Mama works very hard to try and help her family have the best, especially for Travis. Walter Lee Younger is an intense man in his middle thirties who works as a chauffeur, but his dream is to one day open up a liquor store. Walter has a very bad temper and tends to say things he doesn't mean. Walter and his wife have been getting into many fights in which he will show off his bad temper. Many times when Walter gets upset he goes out and gets drunk. Gerald Weales explains, "Of the four chief characters in the play, Walter Lee is the most complicated and the most impressive. He is often unlikable, occasionally cruel.... The play is concerned primarily with his recognition that, as a man, he must begin from, not discard, himself, that dignity is a quality of men, not bank accounts" (183). Walter Lee is more concerned with material things rather than the most important thing to someone, family. Beneatha Younger is Walter's smart, younger sister who is about twenty years old. Beneatha wants to become a doctor when she gets older. She says everything that is on her mind and nothing seems to make her happy. Beneatha finds most everything people say to be offensive to her some how. As Thomas Adler says, "Beneatha, a mild self-parody of the artist herself when she was ten years younger, seeks identity as an adult by rebelling against the traditional religion of her mother..." (825). The character of Beneatha has been created by Hansberry to portray herself as a young, African-American striving for success. Walter believed that Ruth and Mama should not have work since it makes him seem cowardly. Ruth and Mama want to support the family by cooking and cleaning the houses of people in the neighborhood. Walter's discrimination
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1582
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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