Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis

The play “ A Raisin In The Sun “ wrote by Lorraine Hansberry is a inspiring play about the Younger family. A typical African American family in the late 1950’s trying to make life better for themselves. They’re a family trying to overcome the difficulties and obstacles that comes with being black in America in that time. Obstacles such as lynchings,segregation,racial discrimination and overall the difficulties that comes with being black in America. With external problems within the family the characters also internal conflicts within themselves. From seeing the family fight with one another to loving each dearly it was big character development. In my essay i will discuss how the Younger family dealt with their conflicts and discuss the resolutions they came up with.

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.

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.

Money is often what is associated with greed in this world. It can blind people to the point where they disregard the situation of all others. In the play “A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Walter Lee wants the money that was left from his late father’s life insurance to invest in a liquor store. Everyone else in the family thinks that it’s a very bad idea. His mother, also known as Mama, is the one receiving the money, and wants it to be spent on bettering the family.

Through the use of the historical lens, looking specifically at the economic struggles, the struggle of unequal opportunity, and the housing covenant that African-American’s faced in the 1950’s, Hansberry’s message of A Raisin in the Sun is revealed: the perseverance of an ethnic minority in a time of racial discrimination. A Raisin in the Sun is set in a time of great racial discrimination, the 1950’s in the united States. This featured racism towards those of color or non-caucasians, and the struggles commonly faced by the African-American family is shown through the eyes of the Younger family through the writing and experiences of Lorraine Hansberry. Of the three major struggles the Younger family faced, the most prominent in Act one is that of financial disability. This is best shown through the working lives of the family.

In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, take place in the late 1950s in Chicago Illinois the younger experiences the struggles of living during the Jim Crow era. African American families have always struggled to find their place within a white society. Throughout the play the audience sees the differences between the three generations through Mama, Walter and Beneatha. Ruth, Walter’s wife, acts as a stabilizing force in the family who acts as a peacemaker and caretaker within the family.

“The ways in which the characters in Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A raisin in the sun, are affected by racial imbalances and respond to the injustices engendered by such inequities are solely influenced by their gender.” I agree with this statement to an extent. Although it is correct that gender plays a big role in this play, there are other factors to consider.

When people are poor, they often have a lot of problems in their life. They struggle through every day, but they learn to appreciate everything that they have. However, when people are going through tough times, they often think that money will solve all of their problems. In “A Raisin In The Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, she guides the audience through a black family -- impacted by the need for money -- living on the south side of Chicago. The Younger family gets Lena Younger’s dead husband’s insurance check and buys a house in a white neighborhood, and they save the remainder of the money for Beneatha’s medical degree and for starting a liquor store.

The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry debuted on Broadway in 1959, and the movie was made in 2008. “A Raisin in the Sun” is about the Younger family, the fifth generation of lower-class African-Americans living in Chicago’s Southside. They are faced with problems such as racial discrimination, poverty, and conflicting dreams. As the family decides on how to spend the insurance check of $10,000 from Walter’s father’s death, these problems cause many conflicts to rise. Reading the 1959 play and the 2008 movie, I have realized certain similarities and differences in how the story plays out.

A Raisin in the Sun addresses major social issues such as racism and feminism which were common in the twentieth century. The author, Lorraine Hansberry, was the first playwright to produce a play that portrayed problematic social issues. Racism and gender equality are heavily addressed throughout the play. Even though we still have these issues today, in the 1950’s and 60’s the issues had a greater part in society. Racism and gender have always been an issue in society, A Raisin in the Sun is an important piece of American history during that time period.

Chicago served as a home to numerous walks of life in the 1950’s, and much of the differences in realities were based on differences in race and people’s opinions of segregation. Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun is based off of real life experiences, and it authentically tells the story of an african american family that strives for equality and The American Dream. Walter Younger, the father of the family, battles with deferred dreams of his own and for his family. Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun and Nina Simone’s song “I Wish I knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” both portray Walter’s emotions throughout his daily struggles with his family as they dealt with segregation and destitution. Money was a large contributor

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.

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. To begin, Lorraine Hansberry uses Walter to show the negative consequences that occur with putting off your dream. Walter Younger is a racist, sexist, selfish, dissatisfied man in his thirties who lives in a small two-bedroom apartment with the rest of his family.

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.

The setting of the Raisin in the Sun is the ghetto of Chicago, where most black families lived and most of these black families had dreams of moving to a better neighbourhood, because of crime, but the housing industry causes segregated housing and manipulates communities with white fears of black integration. When Lorraine Hansberry was a child, her family also experienced the results of a government unconcerned with blacks leaving segregation. Lorraine used her play to tell people about her own struggle with racism, her play shows us that her problems were handled with determination. Linder speaks to the Younger family and offers them money to buy their house, because they, the white people feel that a community should share a common background and that negro families are happier when they live in their own communities. This is an example of how the Younger family has experienced racism, while it is true that people with the same background will be happier together, it is also their right to live where they feel they are progressing.