Deferred dreams: dreams that have persistently been put on hold. Langston Hughes once said, “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” A Raisin in the Sun illustrates what happens to people when their dreams, aspirations, and hopes have been put off. Everybody has dreams that keep them going through the hardest of times; this is evident in various characters throughout the play. When this hope is taken away or put off it is clear that people explode.
Have you ever wanted to accomplish something that nobody else thought you could be? In “A Raisin In the Sun” Beneatha Younger, a young black woman, living with her older brother’s family in an apartment too small in a racist 1950s town. Everyone in the family treats her as the little sister even though Beneatha’s in her twenties. Defiant, determined, and ambitious, Beneatha Younger is a young woman who as her heart set on becoming a doctor and finding her place in life. Beneatha Younger lives with the Younger family in an apartment too small for them.
Top of page 144 to bottom of page 145 In pages 144 and 145 of “The Raisin in the Sun”, Walter sinks in the state of shock and despair as he makes his decision to sell the house to Mr. Linder. It also contains a dialogue passage between Beneatha and Mama, where an important message is contributed in the play. These two pages contains the preface before the final resolution took place. In the middle top section of page 144, Walter begins his act of despair, and to the other present characters, a simple act of madness.
Identity is who someone is as a person. People have different views of what identity is and what can be done to find it. Identity can be your actions and thoughts. It’s what makes someone unique and different from anyone else. The Bible has its own view of identity as well.
React: The opening of scene one struck me as extremely peculiar. Beneatha had never been so interested in Nigeria, but the moment Asagai explained his opinion on that Beneatha changed completely. She strikes me as an indecisive individual, and quite unsure of who she is as a person. It is also weird when Walter returns from bar hopping and joins in on the commotion Beneatha is making. It seems that for a small moment, Walter and Beneatha are bonding.
Reader Response: 3 “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, is a play about a black families experience in 1950s South Side Chicago. The story revolves around what happens to the family when Lena Younger, the matriarch of the family, receives a ten thousand dollar life insurance check upon the death of her husband. Everyone from the family has different plans for what they want to do with the money. Lena Younger serves as the head of the family. She is Walter and Beneatha’s caring mother so they and Ruth call her Mama.
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun presents the rise of feminism in America in the 1960s. A Raisin in the Sun is feminist because, with the feminist notions displayed in the play, women establish their rights to fulfil their individual dreams which diverge from traditional conventions of that time. Beneatha Younger, Lena Younger (Mama) and Ruth Younger are the three primary characters displaying evidences of feminism in the play. Moreover, Hansberry creates male characters who demonstrate oppressive attitudes towards women yet enhance the feminist ideology in the play. A Raisin in the Sun is feminist because, the play encourages women to develop an identity for themselves, particularly through education and career.
In the book “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hanberry, the two characters that influence the plot the most are Walter and Beneatha. Walter Younger is tied up with too much, there is a very big check to come in the mail that the whole family is more than excited for, but the thing about the check is that every member in the family has their own opinion of what they think should be down with the check and its stressing everybody out, especially Walter. Although the check is Mamas, everybody wants the check for themselves and some of them believe that the check is all Mamas and that she should decide what should be done with her check. One of the main conflicts of this story must do with Walter because he is becoming out of control with this check. The thing that Walter does to try and make himself feel better is that he goes out and drinks because of his stress and he also doesn’t know what to do ever since Ruth told him about the baby and what she’s planning on doing
Greed. Betrayal. Mistrust. Slimy. Selfish.
Discrimination Through the years from Martin Luther King Junior’s time to today, we believe that we have worked to give everyone equal rights. Discrimination is seen as a thing of the past, however, in the book A Raisin In The Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, A family of low class African Americans are harshly discriminated against. The family, The Youngers, experience hard times living in a small apartment with a low income. The Youngers wait for a check of $10,000 to arrive at their house from their insurance since Big Walter passed away. Each family member has a different idea of what they want to do with the money, but the final decision is up to Lena Younger as the wife of Big Walter.
People all have their own individual idea on wealth. To an extent, society paints a picture for everyone to work in order for them to gain wealth as a means to live a more comfortable lifestyle. While most people want material luxury, being wealthy goes much deeper than that for many people, as they have different motives as to why they want to be wealthy, whether they want to be seen as successful or are seeking out their identity. This idea is brought up in Lorraine Hansberry’s story A Raisin in the Sun, which later had a film adaptation released in 1961. The story revolved around an African American family living together in an apartment in Chicago with different attitudes towards money.
Beneatha’s Dream People have dreams to do or be what makes them happy by setting goals to reach their dream. Dreams are almost like goals that people create in their mind to try to motivate them self to achieve their dream. The American Dream is the idea that everyone who is a U.S. citizen should have an equal opportunity to be successful and benefit through their hard-work, determination, and initiative. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Beneatha Younger’s dream is to become a doctor and build a career/life for herself without anyone providing for her which connects to the American Dream through her independence, hard-work, and determination.