A Raisin In The Sun Manhood Essay

In the play Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry takes place on the southside of Chicago where Walter and his family are racially profiled and show us how the survive throughout their struggles. The central struggles for the younger family in their search for the American dream is mostly poverty and being racially profiled against for their actions.

In some plays the experience of an important character changes him or her; this can be said about Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. A perfect example of a changed character from this play is Walter Lee Younger. Through the trials and tribulations that him and his family are made to face he becomes a better man.

The first of the three scenes that show that Walter evolved is when he got upset that he could not get the money for his liquor store. This showed that at the start Walter was acting like a pouting child. The second scene is when Walter loses all of the money. This scene shows that Walter is evolving because this is when he learns that not everything is going to go his way and that you should be careful of who you trust. When Walter tells Mr. Lindner that they are moving into the house and that there is nothing that he can do about it is the final scene that shows that Walter is evolving into his “Manhood”.this scene shows that Walter is “growing up” because he learns that he has to take control of his life and not just make decisions for himself. Sometimes people need to “grow up” and make intelligent decisions in order to avoid “going down the wrong road”. “I know that in my past I was young and irresponsible - but that's what growing up is. You learn from your mistakes.” ~ Lindsay

The play by Lorraine Hansberry , A Raisin In The Sun, utilizes the use of

In the play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, there are many examples of sexism throughout its entirety. The character, Walter, demonstrates the acts of a sexist human being. Walter is sexist to not only women in general, but to the women in his family. Not taking into consideration of other people’s sayings and their feelings, Walter generally only thinks about himself, says what he believes, and truly only cares about money. Walter constantly is fighting with all of the women in the family as well. His sister, Beneatha, wants to become a doctor and Walter isn't very supportive of her decision. Walter's wife, Ruth, is the recipient of the majority of Walter's anger and sexist remarks.

Lorraine Hansberry was born in 1930 and grew up on the southside of Chicago. Her play, Raisin in the Sun, is based on the beginning of her life growing up in a middle-class African American family. Hansberry’s family purchased a house in a white neighborhood and the white neighbors attacked them. In result to this, the white neighbors went to court and Hansberry’s family was kicked out of the neighborhood. This play is also a reaction to Langston Hughes’s poem, Harlem. In his poem, he asked the question “What happens to a dream deferred?” Raisin in the Sun is an answer to his question. In her play, Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry uses Walter, Mama, and Beneatha to show the negative consequences that occur when you put off your dream.

In Lorraine Hansberry’s “Raisin in the Sun” Act 3 Walter has seized the hero role and he displays a lot of pride. Walter is starting to understand that he has to stand up for what he believes in and not everything is about money. “And we have decided to move into our house because my father-my father-he earned it for us brick by brick”(1933). Walter turns down the Clybourne Park Association 's offer only after he remembers the roots his family has in America, and the rights that they deserve. He wants to set a strong example for his son, Travis, just like his father did for him. Even though Walter is the main character of the story, it is the women in his life who have the biggest dream for him, to find his own manhood. Manliness is having the strength to stand up for what is right, and Mama realizes that Walter has found his manhood when she says to Ruth, “He finally come into his manhood today, didn’t he? Kind of like a rainbow after the rain”(1935). Throughout the play when Walter loses and eventually recovers his pride it forms a major plotline in the play. Since the play portrays people who have little to nothing to their name, pride is a means for them to hold on to their dignity and declare their worth as humans. The drama forms this conflict between pride and money, and although money does win out for a little bit, the Younger family still maintains its pride at the end of the

A Raisin in the Sun is a play about the author’s life. The segregation life and the event of moving into a white neighborhood are events from the life of Lorraine Hansberry, the author. The events that occurred in the play along with real life events relate to the Civil Rights Movement and feminist topics. Lorraine Hansberry moved into an all white neighborhood just like the Younger family moved into Clybourne Park. The author did not modify the major events of her own life but rather added a series of complications and details to fit the play such as the event of Walter losing the investment money. Lorraine Hansberry’s life included events of her new neighbors’ threats but in the play, A Raisin in the Sun, the play ended it at the point where the Younger family moved out of their house. The author could have continued the story by adding her life events of living through her neighbors’ threat and her family taking the case to court. However, Hansberry stopped the play at the point where the Younger family moves out of the house to create a sense of ambiguity. The audience will not know what the Younger family will experience, which will allow for the audience to think about different possible scenarios. The author of the play did not modify the events that took place most likely in order to provide a view of how Africans’ lived and illustrate society in a realistic way. By writing the play in a realistic way, the audience both American and African

Gender roles play an important role in A Raisin in the Sun. During the time A Raisin in the Sun was written the idea of set in stone positions in a household and society were common. Women were supposed to do house jobs, keep their mouths shut, and support their husbands’ decisions and men were seen as the headman or boss. A Raisin in the Sun shows readers a window into the world where those gender roles have a twist on them.

In the text “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, the author uses the writing strategy of conflict to develop the central idea of how oneself can become selfish when trying to achieve the American dream. The text shows that the central idea is selfishness because circumstances are presented where various characters fail to take into consideration others while seeking their dreams. For example, Walters says, “ Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ’bout messing round with sick people, then go be a nurse like other women-or just get married and be quiet…. ’’. This example of greed shows that the ambition to obtain a dream brings out the selfishness is true in the instance of Walter. It shows this because Walter diminishes his sisters Beneatha’s dream of becoming a doctor by making a misogynist comment in which insinuates on her settling on being a nurse due to a doctor clearly being an often male dominant profession. Furthermore, Walter is deluded by greed on opening a liquor store which causes him to have no regard for the feelings or desires of others. Clearly, the central idea of the text is that in trying to achieve a dream it can bring out a person selfish tendency because people tend to disparage others dreams in order to attain theirs.

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a play which contains many different obstacles that the characters face. One character, Beneatha, faces an obstacle that is out of her control. This obstacle is gender inequality. Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, gender inequality is experienced by Beneatha and reflects the struggles women faced in the 1950s.

Walter goes into immediate denial, making excuses for where Willy, their second business partner, could be with the money. He continues on until he realizes “THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY [HIS] FATHER’S FLESH-” (128) and he had lost it all; he felt he lost his chance of pursuing a better life now that he had even lost his father’s support. His false pride is severely injured up until he is struck with an idea which he believes could save the family. He abruptly calls Mr.Lindner, who he had originally turned away, and tells him to come by because he wants to take his offer of being paid to not move into the new house. He believes he is “..see[ing] life like it is” (141) in order to rightfully take his place as the head of the family by making this decision for them, regardless of the hope this house brought them all. The rest of the Younger family is disconcerted by this new business deal, and asks Walter if this is what he truly wants and believes is right, to which he responds that he’s “Going to feel fine…[like] a man…” (144). Due to internally knowing he still had prove himself but not physically doing so, Walter’s delicate, false pride in being a man doesn’t allow him to consider how his actions affect

To be prideful is human nature, even when it hasn 't been earned. Being proud of who you are and what you have accomplished is an important part of everyone 's life, but sometimes we are prideful without something to be proud of. This kind of pride is shown in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry through the character Walter Younger. He enters the play with a false sense of pride in being a man, despite the fact that he is a chauffeur who is struggling to support his family. Throughout the plot, he struggles with acceptance of his social status and economical situations, but ends up achieving true fulfillment in simply being proud of who he and his family are as people with aspirations. Walter’s evolution as a guy who is not

“Women are supposed to cook and do house chores… Women should be responsible for raising children… Men should tell women what they should do… Men are superior than women.” Gender expectations are evident in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and the society in Korea. Due to their different culture and lifestyle, The Youngers, the African American family, in A Raisin in the Sun have gender expectations that are different from the those in Korea. Gender expectations in the Youngers and Korea and are mainly noticeable in these three categories: occupation, personality traits, and physical appearance.

In A Raisin in the Sun, a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, the audience was able to obtain a sense of the struggle for the American dream. We are introduced to the Youngerś a black family living in the Southside of Chicago around the 1950’s. Each member of this family has their own meaning to what is the American dream. A Raisin in the Sun teaches us that even though life might be full of conflicts, it is important to not give up on our dreams.