Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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After spending part of the summer of 2016 and the first semester of my junior year reading The Scarlet Letter, I was thrilled to learn second semester that our class would be reading a play: A Raisin in the Sun. As the reading progressed, I grew to love the characters, the authentic dialogue, and how poignantly their situation was dramatized by the masterful Lorraine Hansberry. I especially related to the family dynamics, with each character reminding me of someone in my family. I think Beneatha was my favorite. If the play was written today, the themes might have been similar. Family values, dreams, assimilation, and racism are all themes and issues that are prevalent in today’s world. Hansberry’s intention was to convey those ideas and …show more content…
In doing so, she immortalized the poem in a brilliant literature crossover. One of the most important themes of the play is dreams, and throughout the play, each perspective of each character holds a different dream. Mama dreams of a family united. Her prioritization of family above all else intrigued me. I had not seen before in a work of literature how unconditional love, or how raw selflessness materializes. Although the generation gap is gapingly present between Mama and her children, she acknowledges the importance of each of their dreams, and is willing to sacrifice hers for her children. The poem’s central question asks what happens to dreams that are put off? Mama knows the importance of this and makes sure that Beneatha’s dream of going to medical school and Walter owning a liquor store are not inhibited. Interwoven into the theme of dreams is family, and the Youngers are close-knit. They learn at the end that in order to achieve their respective dreams, they need to work together. I was surprised at the ending, that it did not tell what happened to the family’s struggle to integrate into a white neighborhood. It also gave hope for a new future. After their shared ordeals, the family grew stronger under the forces driving them apart. The turning point for me was when Walter refuses the money and changes the course of the

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Lorraine Hansberry’s popular play, “A Raisin in the Sun” is a story of a family that faces hardship, yet never backs down from their dreams. Though, you would not assume that is what the play was about, according to the title, but there is a different unseen meaning behind the title. Hansberry choose to name her play “A Raisin in the Sun” for a simple reason. First, the story’s theme is achieving a dream, so what better way to correlate the theme of the story, with a poem from a famous poet, Langston…

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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Book Notes: “A Raisin in the Sun” “A Raisin in the Sun” was written by Lorraine Hansberry. Lorraine was born on May 19, 1930 into a family with four children, her being the youngest. The Hansberry’s had always struggled with discrimination. In 1938, the family moved to a white neighborhood, where they were violently attacked by their neighbors. The Hansberry’s refused to move out of their house until a court ordered them to do so. Their case made it to the Supreme Court as Hansberry vs. Lee. The…

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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

In the article, “The Art of Social Criticism: Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun,” the author status about an African American family that had been struggling to get out of Chicago Southside ghetto. Hansberry wanted to be a revolutionary person because she wanted to tell the truth to the people about discrimination. Because being born in the middle class and being African American make them not to have many privileges. Her father wanted to buy a house in a white neighborhood, but the white…

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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

for a stage performance. This final project highlights the author, Lorraine Hansberry, the creator of A Raisin in the Sun. She writes a family drama that places the audience inside the home of the Younger’s an African-American family living on the south side of Chicago in the…

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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

A Raisin in the Sun is one of the best works of Lorraine Hansberry. Hansberry talks about the vital issues such as poverty, gender, and racial discrimination through a black family, the Youngers. Hansberry’s play focuses primarily on the dreams of the main characters Mama, Walter, Ruth and Beneatha. The title 'A Raisin in the Sun' has been taken from the poem "Montage of a Dream Deferred" written by Langston Hughes in which he talks about the consequences when dreams are put off for later. The…

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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

moreso of how far does it consume there being and there way of life. This takes center space in the amazingly play of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun. Hansberry was the first black female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best known work, the play A Raisin In The Sun highlights the lives of Black Americans living under racial segregation in Chicago Hansberry's family had struggled against segregation, challenging a restrictive covenant and eventually provoking the Supreme Court…

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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Marshall's describes the racial aspects in the play "A Raisin in the Sun" in her work, "Race in a Raisin in the Sun". People are separate but not equal because of the housing, education, and other types of discrimination. Also she explores the effect of "blackness" which is the difference between black Americans and black Africans. She is relating this to Asagai, a black African and George, a black American. Both men tear Beneatha apart while trying to search for her identity as black American…

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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

throughout the play A Raisin in The Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry. Symbolism is the use of an thing, character or situation to represent an idea or quality. One item used as a symbol in the play is Mama's plant. Another object used as a symbol in the play is Beneatha's hair. Hansberry uses symbolism throughout the play to impart the message through the themes of the value of having a dream and the importance of fighting discrimination. One symbol in A Raisin in the Sun is Mama's plant. She…

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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

There are may lessons and ideas that one can learn from life, and several of those can also be found in books. Lorraine Hansberry portrays a variety of themes throughout her play A Raisin in the Sun. She uses several characters and relationships portray these themes. One such relationship is the extreme change of heart between Walter and Ruth. These two have been married for around 10 years by the time the play opens and their relationship is beginning to lose its youthful infatuation. The reader…

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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Walter Lee Younger is a major character in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in The Sun. People learn from his actions and try to prevent themselves from making the same mistake. He kept on trying his hardest to get a portion of the insurance money mama received, and tried to invest it on a liquor store. Walter’s lack of an education and common sense causes him to make a serious mistake, which not only affects him, but his family as well. However, Walter was still portrayed as a round character, because…

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