Beneatha In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, is about a African American family in 1959 on the Southside of Chicago. Mama, who is the head of the family, lives with her son(Walter), daughter(Beneatha), daughter in-law(Ruth) and grandson(Travis). All the characters in the play face challenges, but one character in particular stands out among the family. Beneatha, despate all odds and all prior beliefs, wants to be a doctor. In this time period, it was very uncommon for a female African American to have an occupation as such. She has to cope with various prejudices throughout the play. This influences her motivation which makes her question her dream. This ultimately leads to her giving up on her dream. Beneatha does a good job of rising …show more content…
Specifically, Walter expresses the most doubt and prejudiced views to her throughout the book. He starts off early in the novel on page 38, “(Walter) Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor?... go be a nurse like other women-or just get married and be quiet.” Beneatha is exposed to prejudiced views constantly within her family. When Walter says “go be a nurse like other women..” he is expressing his sexist views to Beneatha. He believes that Beneatha should just be like other women and take up a typical occupation for women. By emphasizing the phrase “Who the hell told you..”, Walter is questioning why Beneatha believes that she is supposed to be a doctor. Walter is frustrated because he believes Beneatha is selfishly taking away hard earned money from the Youngers. This isn’t the only time Beneatha is criticized. When Beneatha offers no sympathy for Walter after he lost all of the inheritance money, Mama has some words for her and her appreciation for money on page 145, “(Beneatha) ‘He’s no brother of mine.’ (Mama) ‘What did you say?.. You feeling like you better than he is today?.. Well, who give you the privilege?.. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is.’” Mama refers “hills and valleys” to challenges in the quote. When she says, “..who gave you the privilege?”, Mama is questioning …show more content…
By saying “You feeling like you better than he is today?”, Mama is reminding Beneatha that she was consuming money from the family too, and has no right to criticize Walter whatsoever. Asagai also questions Beneatha's actions on page 135, “(Asagai) ‘Was it your money?’.. (Beneatha)‘It belonged to all of us’.. (Asagai) ‘But did you earn it? Would you have had it at all if your father had not died?’ (Beneatha) ‘No.’” When Asagai introduces the word “earn” into Beneatha’s vocabulary, he is emphasizing the fact that Beneatha was consuming money that did not belong to her. This greatly affects her view of the topic. Beneatha is used to just accepting things
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