Critical Analysis of a “A Raisin in the Sun” A raisin in the sun was written by an author, activist and playwright, Lorrain Hansberry, an African-American woman. Her play was performed in 1959 in Broadway and it was deemed a successful show. The play was about a lower class black family that struggled to be accepted and treated equally in the south side of Chicago, whom all dream of a better life. Opportunity arises when they received a ten thousand dollar insurance cheque when Lena Younger (Mama) husband died. Lena Younger, Walter Younger and Beneatha Younger all had plans for the money.
Literary Analysis - A Raisin in the Sun In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, the Younger's are a poverty stricken, African American, extended family of five living in a small apartment in Chicago during the 1950's. The mother, Lena receives a life insurance check for her deceased husband for ten thousand dollars and wants to use a portion of it to create a better life for her family and buy a home. The play covers the different ideas that each family member has in regards to how the money should be spent and the hardships that develop from those ideas. The three Younger women, Lena a strong willed older woman with traditional values, Ruth a middle aged hard working woman, and Beneatha a young, egotistical college student, all have unique characteristics which have been formed by the different time periods which they have lived in. Lena Younger, (Mama) is a strong, religious woman whose generation "was worried about not getting lynched and getting to the north...and still having dignity too" (1177) has recently became the head of the Younger family due to the death of her husband.
Review: A Raisin in The Sun Langston Hughes once wrote a poem that asked the question, what happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun, or does it explode? Well Loraine Hansberry decided to answer his question, except his answer could not be as simple as a poem, no, he wrote a whole play. His play was about an African American family, the Youngers, who lived in a small apartment in Chicago in the 1950’s. Throughout the movie the family faces many hardships, starting with the loss of their father, but along with hardships comes opportunity for the Youngers.
A Raisin In The Sun Book Analysis How can your dream come to reality? A Raisin in the Sun is a play of an African American family living in poverty. The father dies, leaving the younger children ten thousand dollars from insurance. The dreams of the Youngers involved the ten thousand dollars. The America dream means something different to each character.
Jordan Moore English III 4th Period Symbolism in Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” Authors often use many different types of writing styles and writing techniques to develop an overall theme for their work. Lorraine Hansberry uses symbolism of a plant, sunlight, and their move to a new home, in her play A Raisin in the Sun to put an emphasis on the Younger family’s troubles with racism and hope for a better future for themselves and their family. The Younger family receives an insurance check from the father of the family’s death, and with the money they are able to better their living conditions by moving out of their old, rundown apartment. The movement from their apartment to their new house in Clybourne Park represents progress. The new house represents the Younger’s courage.
Journal 4 “A Raisin in the Sun” is about an African-American family that lives in Chicago, era 1950s. The family in the story, the Youngers, has recently lost their father/husband (Mr. Younger). The father left ten thousand dollars for all of the adult members of the family to split, but everyone has their own opinion on what to spend the money on. The mother of the family, mama, wants to buy a house in a nice, white neighborhood to fulfill her and Mr. Younger’s dream.
The Young’s family agrees to disagree A. Mama gives Walter the money for his liquor store B. Walter loses the money IV. Love Conquer all Woodson 1 “A Raisin in the Sun,” arrived on Broadway in 1959, making Hansberry the first African-American woman to have her work performed on the “Great White Way.” Currently, she is the only African-American playwright to win the Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. Hansberry's interest in Africa began at an early age. Hansberry’s writing was not only her accuracy in capturing the racial dynamics of her time, but her foresight in predicting the direction black culture would take in subsequent years. The play's setting covers a pivotal time period for race relations in America – after WWII and before 1959.
The play ‘A raisin in the sun’ revolves around a typical African American Chicago family around the 1950’s . In the story Hansberry has used the beleaguered family to portray how African Americans worked hard to make a better life for themselves. She also portrays the chase for the American dream amongst African Americans as well as the frustrations and disappointments that accompanied their fight in trying to fulfill their dreams. The action of the play is set in Chicago Southside, in the 1950’s. This was a time of prosperity amongst African American.
The check represents Walters dreams of owning a liquor store (Hansberry, 957), a garden for Mama, a real home for Ruth and money for Beneatha’s education. Although Mama doesn’t appreciate the money (Hansberry, 977) she starts to relish the idea of owning a garden. In her old home, the closest Mama ever had to a garden was her old potted plant. In some ways, the plant represents Mama. It is old and limp; similar to Mama getting old and tired (retirement).
In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the matriarch of the Younger family, Lena Younger, also known as Mama, is constantly chasing what she believes to be the American dream. This mirage is constantly changing from the time Mama has just been wed to when she finds out that her daughter-in-law, Ruth, is expecting another child. No more than two weeks after their marriage, Lena and Big Walter form a plan; “[they are] going to set away, little by little… and buy a little place out in Morgan Park,” while living, temporarily, in a shoddy apartment (Hansberry 1.1.44). Mama’s original dream was very self-centered, only pertaining to her and her husband’s life. Mama’s second ambition is more long term than the first, focusing on the lives of her children.
There is a direct link between herself and they play; its centers around an African-American family, the Youngers, who live on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950’s. When the Youngers receive $10,000 they have different ideas with what they want to do with the money and in the end a payment is put down for a house that is in a white neighborhood. It explores racism at the time and the need for black people to, instead of wanting to fit into the white world, protest against the repression they were subjected to. It has also been said that A Raisin in the Sun is almost Hansberry’s autobiography as a lot of the events that take place within the play, have happened to her at some point. The 1950’s, which is the era the play is set, was meant to be a time of complacency, where people just conformed to what was expected, instead of standing for what they believed.
Holly Gilbert Terrell English 11 3/8/2012 Beneatha Younger and Her Representation of Feminism in the 1950’s A Raisin in the Sun is a play by the author Lorraine Hansberry. It starts with Lena’s children, Beneatha and Walter Lee, arguing over who deserves the money that is to be handed to their mother. The check of $10,000, a life insurance policy, is to be handed to Lena Younger, the matriarch of the family after her husband’s death. She wants to buy a house so as to fulfill her late husband’s dreams of a better house for the family. Walter, however, wants to use the money in an investment for a liquor store with some of his friends.
A Raisin in the Sun Which is more important to you: money or family? “Cherish your life, cherish your health, cherish your family, and cherish your friends. For these are the things that money can’t buy and will define your true wealth.” In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, “A Raisin in the Sun,” the author utilizes the varying personalities of the Younger family to show that as each character strives to reach their dreams they often disregard the aspirations of other family members and neglect to put family first. In spite of this neglect, through many ups and downs, eventually the Youngers learn to support one another in attempt to better their lives. The aspirations of the Younger family are hinged upon a windfall coming to the family in the form a life insurance policy paid for by the blood, sweat, and tears of the family patriarch, the former Mr.
Mama has a dream that had dried up like a raisin in the sun. The beauty of the raisin is that it is still there even when times are hard. It can be reconstituted when the time is right. Even when it is darkest and Walter loses a good portion of the money, Mama is willing to not go through with her dream. As a family, they stand together in the end and Mama's dream is no longer deferred and dried up.
All their lives the Youngers are just looking for a place to call their own. All they really need is a place where they won’t be cramped. As Mama buys the house the Youngers get a visit from the neighborhood improvement association. The representative, Mr. Linder, visits them with one mission of having them not move into their new house. The community in Clybourne Park only sees the Youngers for the color of their skin which shows prominent racism towards the Youngers.
And tell it to me, Mama, every time we need a new pair of curtains and I have to watch you go out and work in somebody’s kitchen. Yeah, you tell me then!” (1.2.343) Walter feels that because he is poor he has nothing to be grateful for or to be proud of. Contrary to Walter, Mama is proud of everything her family has accomplished in the past and in the present. Mama does not believe the solution to the family’s problems is money, and she does not understand Walter’s obsession with it. Mama says to Walter when it seems to her that she cannot recognize him, “No…something has changed.
A Raisin In The Sun A Raisin In The Sun was a play by Lorraine Hansberry, that profiled the life of a struggling black family in Chicago, trying to make ends meet. This play starred on Broadway in 1959. The play was such a big hit, it was produced in 1961 by Daniel Petrie as a movie, and starred Famous actor, Sidney Poitier. The movie starts off with Walter Lee Younger, explaining to His wife Ruth that he wants to open up a liquor store with friends. The money he wants to use comes from an insurance check that his mother has received, for the passing of his father.
Restoration of Happiness A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry expresses the struggles of an African American family during the 1950’s. Hansberry wrote this story in third person point of view. The Younger family lives in a dark, rundown two bedroom apartment on the southern side of Chicago. When Mama’s husband dies, the family receives a check from his life insurance. When the money arrives, Mama decides to buy a new house in a white neighborhood.
She drew from a Langston Hughes poem, “Harlem,” which asks “What happens to a dream deferred… Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun…? Or does it explode?” In the play she tells the struggles of three generations of a poor black family. The courage of this family symbolizes the courage displayed during civil rights movement of the 1950’s in the United States. In Hansberry’s story, Walter
Alli Olejarz Period 3 March 19, 2009 Theme Essay A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, depicts the lives and struggles of an African American family living in a poor part of Chicago during the late 1950’s. These struggles include racial discrimination, lack of money and difficult living arrangements. Many themes are evident throughout this story, and are shown through the Younger family’s struggles. However, one theme stands out throughout the entire novel. The Younger family’s actions show that they believe that despite poor living conditions, hope can still be found.