The major theme is that families must remain united; when family members act selfishly, as Walter does when he takes his mother’s money and invests it in a fly-by-night scheme to buy a liquor store, the family may disintegrate. At the last minute, however, Walter realizes what he is doing and abruptly rejects my paper today Lindner’s offer . The problem of moving into a White neighborhood lies in the future.
He decides to degrade in his futile efforts to achieve his goals. Racism in A Raisin in the Sun is almost sickening to most people and i hope that more people see this play to help spread the word about how African American people were treated in the 1950s. Racism is still alive today through communities that want one color out of their neighborhood which is not right either.
Indeed, he is like a man sent to this part of the world as a punishment. He admits that at times life on the farm has made him “crazy with lonesomeness” . He is refined in a world that does not recognize that refinement as anything but a weakness. Walter’s understanding of this American dream marks the center of the conflict in the play.
A Raisin In The Sun & The American Dream
These thesis statements for “Raisin in the Sun” offer a short summary of different elements that could be important in an essay but you are free to add your own analysis and understanding of the plot or themes to them. Using the essay topics below in conjunction with the list of important quotes from “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry at the bottom of the page, you should have no trouble connecting with the text and writing an excellent paper. Walter was unhappy having to squash his family into his mother’s small apartment having his son sleep on the couch. Walter struggled with his manhood due to his inability of being the breadwinner in the household.
The Younger household is not a safe haven, especially for women who question male leadership. After years of labor, Walter Senior passed away, but from his hard work came an Insurance check that represented his dedicated life to his children. Mama’s nurturing personality is also represented in the play, this is symbolized by the way she treats the houseplant. Much the same as her family, Mama’s plant does not have the essential assets to prosper.
Raisin In The Sun Essay
Mama’s daughters name is Beneatha younger she is an aspiring doctor and she knows she can do it pay someone to write my essay even with her being an African American woman. Then there’s the youngest which you do not really hear a lot about he is walter and ruth’s son his name is travis all he wants to do is have a real house. In the play and Lorraine Hansberry’s life, there are many connections.
- They live in a two bedroom apartment on the black side of town in Chicago.
- Beneatha wanted to go to medical school and needed the $10,000 to do so but Mama knew using the money towards a house would have been more beneficial.
- “A Raisin In The Sun” was the first drama by a produced African American women on Broadway.
- Except for the face-slap moment, Mama is mostly kind and patient with her family.
- This type of racism is often dangerous because it is more easily hidden.
Walter Lee shows a type of pride that could be called “manly” pride. A Raisin in the Sun realistically presents the struggles of the oppressed class against a privileged majority working to maintain society’s status quo. Hansberry also addresses the personal crutches we sometimes use to justify our own failures. Her main theme focuses on the power of the family structure and the need to stand up to injustice.
A Raisin In The Sun By Lorraine Hansberry: The Story Of One African American Family
Note that when Beneatha’s African suitor, Asagai, is on his way to the Younger apartment, Beneatha gives her mother a hasty briefmg on African history, coaching her mother in conversational protocol. She tells Mama that Asagai is from Nigeria, which Mama immediately confuses with Liberia. After correcting her, Beneatha begs Mama not to make stereotypical comments about Africans and tells her that the only thing that most people seem to know about Africa has been learned from Tarzan movies. Beneatha berates those missionaries who, like Mama, are more concerned with changing the African’s religion than in overthrowing colonial rule. Afrocentrism, or the expression of pride in one’s African heritage, so popular among the black youth of the 1990s, was, in 1959, a little-known phenomenon. But Lorraine Hansberry’s affinity for all things African resulted from the people of greatness that she was acquainted with through her family.
