In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry starts off with Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem,” to show what can happen to dreams that get caught in the middle of life. In Hansberry’s play a family of five African Americans live in a small crouched apartment on the south side of Chicago. Hughes’ poem relates to Hansberry’s characters because each one of them has a separate dream, however, not everyone’s comes true and “stink like rotten meat” (Harlem 6). The dream deferred can refer to anyone in the play. Ruth Younger, the wife of an abominable Walter Lee Younger, has dreams of moving out of the ratty old apartment and joining her family together for good. Ruth has lost her youth, her family, her hope, and came close to losing a child. Many people …show more content…
From the play, we can infer Ruth grew up like any other African American in the mid 1900’s, which was during the civil rights era. Ruth had this bossy yet gentle attitude, however, she was very quiet, well at least when bad things were happening to her family. Ruth, unlike Beneatha Younger, was uneducated. Ruth devoted herself to the family by putting all of the money she earned towards the needs of the family. She was also easily embarrassed and would take responsibility for others’ actions, which was one of the reasons she was so overwhelmed in the play. Ruth is tired, weary, and she is thinking about giving up everything, even something that is living. Ruth is willing to do anything just for her family and so that they can stay together and live in a house where is hopes there will be fewer problems. Tayebeh Nowrouzi in his essay “In Search of Equality: A Dream Deferred for African Americans in A Raisin in the Sun” stated why each character could be the dream deferred, “Ruth is "dried up" for she was weary, tired, disappointed, settled, and "older than her years" and her hope had disappeared”(2273). His description of Ruth illustrates her well being throughout the play. She is a religious woman, and she stands with Mama on that too. Ruth was similar to Mama Lena in many ways, but Ruth is the fitting representation of the dream
The Deferred Dreams of the !950’s In Lorraine Hansberry 's play, A Raisin in the Sun, the characters of Mama, Walter, and Beneatha face several obstacles and hardships that refrain the characters from being able to accomplish their dreams. They are faced with issues such as gender stereotyping, discriminatory housing , and racial prejudice. All of which lead to their deferred dreams. Throughout the story, the reader is given a visual of how all of these issues are relevant and how they affect each character.
Dream Deferred 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.
Page 28). He also seems restless and impatient, but still respecting to his parents (he obeys his mother). To me it seems that Ruth and Walter are both stressed (they argue a lot and Ruth already has “disappointment hanging in her face” page 24), due to the family’s financial state. Their relationship seems rocky, yet you can tell they both love each other. Ruth seems to be tired and restless, having worked too much and doing housework.
Racism is a major issue that has effected many people since its discovery. Racism is the hatred by a person of one race pointed at a person of another race. A Raisin in the Sun deals with the impact of racism on the life of the younger family.
Her mother was crippled, spoke no English, and was not loved by her husband. Ruth was sexually abused by her father and began to look for a better life filled with friends, a home, and love. The day after high school graduation she fled Virginia to New York to live with her grandmother and aunts. She got a
One example of how Ruth’s sorrow is shown to the reader is early in the story when the narrator introduces Ruth, saying that “Ruth’s arm, linked with Matt’s tightened, he looked at her. Beneath her eyes there was swelling from the three days she had suffered” (111). This introduction to Ruth’s character is able to display her feelings of loss because of the fact that one of the first traits the reader learns about Ruth is that she had cried for three days after the loss of Frank, which does clearly show her sorrow because of the fact that three days is definitely a strangely long time to be crying for, especially since it seems like the entire family, besides her, had already moved on from crying about the loss. Another example of how Ruth is affected by loss is shown the night of Richard’s murder when Matt reflects on how “he believed Ruth knew... When Ruth said good night she looked at his face, and he felt she could see see in his eyes the gun, and the night he was going to” (116-117).
She grows old with the self-condemnation of staying with Nathan for as long as she did, for if she mustered up the courage to leave the Congo earlier, Ruth May would not have died. Ruth May’s plea for Orleanna to forgive herself, just as Ruth May has forgiven her, presents the possibility of repentance for anyone, no matter how great of consequence their mistakes are. Though she never passed the age of 6, Ruth May seems to have learned better than most the importance of finding strength from and learning from wrong-doings. Urging her mother to “Move on. Walk forward into the light”, Ruth may passes along her own moral reassessment to anyone whom will listen, telling the error in letting so-called sins weigh down ones self forever
Yet, at home, she devotes love and curiosity to her family. This contrasts to multiple other characters, as the relationship between Ruth and her single mother is inspiring. Accordingly, she respects her mother, who provides encouragements like, “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” With pure gratitude, Ruth seeks to apply her mother’s words. When bullies trouble Philip, Ruth can empathise with him.
They were expected to do the house jobs, keep their mouths shut, and support their husband’s decisions. The women in A Raisin in the Sun did not always do what society expects of them. Ruth, the wife, does do some of the expected roles, but she also shows some independence. Beneatha, the sister, test the restraints that society puts on women. Lena, Mama, plays the role of matriarch in the Younger family.
In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry and the speech, “I have a Dream”, by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have many similarities to having many dreams, a urge for power, and a want to make a change in the world for the many years to come. In Lorraine’s play, Lena Younger, is a mother who has two children and a step daughter with a kid all living in a two bedroom apartment. Lena wants nothing more than to give her family a better life. In Dr. Martin Luther King speech he wants nothing more than to give the world a better life.
Ruth is willing to work harder and harder if it means she works for what her family wants and needs. Ruth Younger is motivated by working for her family’s and her goals to get what they dream
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.
Ruth the Perpetual Foreigner and Model Minority by Gale A. Yee illustrates how the story of Ruth and the
The character purchased a house for her family to enrich and grow in life, regardless of the challenges they face just like the plant with little sunlight to survive. The family soon held together once they moved into their new house which also meant a new beginning. Susan Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, themes identified are dreams and faith that each character signifies throughout the entire play. The family was slowly falling apart from the challenges that they faced that pushed their dreams away and faith was slowly leaving as well. Through these trials, Lena Younger did what she felt was the right and new beginning for her
To properly understand a story, one must understand the background that correlates with it. Ruth was a Moabite and consequently disliked by the Israelites. This tension initiated when the Israelites looked at conquering the land of Canaan and the King of Moab, Balak, had his ritualistic prostitutes seduce the Israeli men in hope to subdue the Israelites and make them commit adultery. The Lord was furious with this and told Moses to destroy the Moabites, igniting a hatred that surpassed the anger felt towards the Egyptians (Numbers 25). This history between the two groups is what makes this story of Ruth so incredible.