Unit Analysis II
Each phase in the the lives of women comes with certain expectations. They are born as daughters, built up to settle down as wives and eventually mothers. For black women, each step in their womanhood is caught between race and gender. They are denied humanity due to their blackness, yet demanded as women to bring life into a world that does not even consider them human. The burden of black womanhood is proven to be inescapable for those who choose or deny the path of domesticity.
In Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun, Ruth Younger is exhausted from trying to satisfy the impossible standards of womanhood. She is described in the same worn-down manner that Hansberry uses to depict the dreary setting, as “disappointment has already begun to hang in [Ruth’s] face”. She has done everything that the world has demanded of her as a woman, yet it is still not enough. In comparison to her sister-in-law Beneatha, Ruth lacks mobility. Every scene, Ruth is inside the house. Hansberry never depicts Ruth entering or exiting the setting as Beneatha constantly does. She has rooted herself in her household, resulting in a synchronized deterioration. She is never allowed a day off from the stress of marriage and motherhood. In the first act,
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Gender proves that there is still a hierarchy that exists for those denied the status of “human”, it is not a universal bottom but a web of intersectional oppression. Sylvia Wynters notes that domination needs a cultural model, such as female domesticity, that encourages exploitation. Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun presents the division between community and identity in black womanhood. Beneatha denies to sacrifice herself, but faces rejection from her black female peers. However, Ruth puts herself second only to realize it will never be enough. The space outside of female expectations is isolating, yet compliance to the pressures of womanhood is
Antonette Wade Analysis Paper: “Cooking in Other Women’s Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South,1865-1960” by Rebecca Sharpless and “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly Wade 1 After the Civil War, African American women had thought they were going to live a life of freedom with the same benefits as their white counterparts. However, the newly freed African American women in the south had didn’t have too much money, barely had education and racism impacted every one of their lives. The change from being slaves to being free was a difficult and worrisome thing for most black women who lived through the enslavement knowing "that what they got wasn't what they wanted; it wasn't freedom, really." African American
Additionally, these stories reveal the great diversity among women. Generally, women are grouped together, as stated by Lorde: “As women we have either been taught to ignore our differences or view them as causes for separation and suspicion rather than forces of change (Lorde, 1979).” Despite the efforts to categorize women’s issues into one mass of problems, White women perceive the world differently than African American women, Hispanic women, Native American women, etc., and vice versa. This conglomeration of “women’s issues” does not address every aspect of being a woman in patriarchal and unjust societies throughout the world.
In the 1980’s black women are faced with a lot pressure in society, Because women of color are both women and racial minorities, they face more pressure in which lower economic opportunities due to their race and their gender. This pressure is reflected both in the jobs available to them and in their lower pay. Also because they are women of color they are likely to be the giver of the house and also within the families. Through the use of anecdotes,rhetorical questions, anaphora, ethos and metaphors, "In The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism, Audre Lorde argues that women of color need to respond to racism with anger spurred from their fear and that not a bad thing depends on how anger is portrayed.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a narrative on life as a slave. “African-American Women’s History and the Metalanguage of Race” defines what race is and its influence. Several of the points made in the latter can be seen in the former. They show that enslaved black women received no protection from the law, were held to a harsh stereotype that wasn’t their fault, and couldn’t expect sympathy from white women simply because of their shared gender. Enslaved black women were not entitled to protection from the law.
In the book Ar’n’t I a women the author, Deborah Gray White, explains how the life was for the slave women in the Southern plantations. She reveals to us how the slave women had to deal with difficulties of racism as well as dealing with sexism. Slave women in these plantations assumed roles within the family as well as the community; these roles were completely different to the roles given to a traditional white female. Deborah Gray White shows us how black women had a different experience from the black men and the struggle they had to maintain their sense of womanhood against all odds, resist sexual oppression, and keep their families together. In the book the author describes two different types of women, “Jezebel” and “Mammy” they
The interpretation gained from reading “A Raisin in the Sun” came accross with a few points, Ruth and Walter fight a great deal within the story. Ruth and Walter’s living environment is both positive and negative. It would be interesting to find out what's makes Walter tick, as well as why Ruth feels like she needs to put up barriers. Also explore how Walter and Ruth slowly come back together as a couple to find peace in their lives which directly affects the baby living or dying. The understanding received was Walter wants to be better within his socioeconomic status.
In A Raisin in the Sun, Walter and Ruth have a personality that correlates to the traditional gender expectation. Walter has an abrupt nature, while Ruth is demure and quiet; the temperament of the two characters corresponds to a man expectation to be dominant and superior to women. Walter comments, “Don’t call it that. See there, that just goes to show you what women understand about the world. Baby, don’t nothing happen for you in this world ’less you pay somebody off!”
The racism and sexism being shown in the Raisin in The Sun demonstrates that the matrix of domination is in play. In the book, Beneatha is an African-American woman who is battling not only racism, but also sexism. She battles racism by attending medical school during the civil right movement era and she battles sexism at home with her brother Walter, and being told to marry George Murchison. In the text Walter says “We one group of men are tied to a race of women with small minds” (Hansberry, 35). In this quote he not only degrades the woman, but he degrades the African American woman.
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. Women in the time of A Raisin in the Sun were supposed to be subservient to men.
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.
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.
Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.
In a patriarchal society, women are encouraged to focus on their family and its well-being. Most often, women achieve this by caring for the children and the home. However, in the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry suggests that women do not have to focus on the family. Instead, they can prioritize their own well-being. Hansberry exhibits these ideas through two female characters, Ruth and Beneatha.
Walker exposes the patriarchy that condones male domination of women. The novel is about the trials and tribulations faced by a black woman under colonialism and black male oppression and her journey to attain knowledge, identity and freedom. Walker’s womanism stems from her mixed ancestry-
Just within the recent decades, men and women started to fight against the gender stereotypes and started to challenge their roles in a family and in the society. The play, A Raisin in the Sun, portrays the lives of African–Americans during the 1950s. Lorraine Hansberry, a writer and a social activist, reinforced the traditional gender roles, especially female’s, by depicting how the Youngers interact and how they act in an economical struggle. Throughout the play, A Raisin in the Sun, she uses Walter Lee Younger, Ruth Younger and Lena Younger to reinforce the traditional role of fathers, wives and mothers within a family.