There is no doubt that the characters in A Raisin in the Sun are some of the strongest and most resilient people you will ever come across. Despite the many challenges and obstacles they face, they continue to fight for what they believe in and never give up.
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun is a powerful story about a family of African Americans living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. The play follows the Younger family as they struggle to make ends meet and deal with racism, poverty, and other issues.
Despite all of the challenges the Younger family faces, they remain strong and united. They are able to lean on each other for support and never give up on their dreams.
The strength of the characters in A Raisin in the Sun is an inspiration to us all. They remind us that no matter how difficult life may be, we should never give up on our dreams and goals.
In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry depicts a strong family of characters with unique desires and disappointments. Lena, or Mama, is the widowed mother; Beneatha, a medical student; Walter, his brother who is a struggling chauffeur; and Ruth and their young son make up the Younger family. The family hopes for brighter days crammed together in an airless flat. Beneatha knows a lot about her African heritage.
Walter is desperate to provide for his family and become a man. Ruth does what she can to hold the family together. The strength of the characters are evident in A Raisin in the Sun.
Lena Younger, also known as Mama, is the head of the Younger household. She is a strong and determined woman who has had to raise her children on her own after her husband’s death. Lena is fiercely proud of her African heritage and instills this pride in her children. She is a wise woman who provides guidance and support for her family when they need it most.
Beneatha Younger is Mama’s daughter and Walter’s sister. She is a medical student who is very intelligent and independent. Beneatha is proud of her African heritage and is determined to learn more about it. She is also a progressive thinker, who isn’t afraid to challenge the status quo.
Walter Younger is Mama’s son and Beneatha’s brother. He is a chauffeur who struggles to provide for his family. Walter is a proud man who wants to be seen as the head of the household. He is also very ambitious and has big dreams for himself and his family.
Ruth Younger is Walter’s wife and Mama’s daughter-in-law. She does what she can to hold the family together. Ruth is a hardworking woman who loves her husband and son dearly.
During the staging of the play, Lena has “noble bearings” like those of the women of Southwest Africa’s heroes, but she completely disregards her African heritage and cares little about it. Asagai Beneatha’s acquaintance is a huge fan of his culture and heritage and talks frequently about his African history. He was born in Nigeria, which is rife with poverty.
The quietism of A Raisin in the Sun is a celebration of the black family’s significance, African roots, equal rights for women, marital vulnerability, real money’s worth, individual survival, and man’s aspirations.
A raisin in the sun is a play with many symbolisms such as the plant that Beneatha’s character cares for. “The plant is a unifying image, it ties the Younger family together just as their African heritage ties them to Asagai and to their ancestral past” (Cheney 57).
A Raisin in the Sun was Lorraine Hansberry’s first play, which was a great success. It made her the youngest American, the first African American, and the fifth woman to receive the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. A raisin in the sun is not only a story but also an inspiration to people of all colors around the world who have faced racism, poverty and sexism.
Africa is a wonderful aspect of the play because it exposes good and amusing qualities within the Younger family, such as Walter’s exclamations of “Hot Damn!” “Flaming Spear! ” as Beneatha strolls out in her Nigerian robes (Cheney 60). Africa becomes a symbol of heritage and a challenging yet hopeful future (Cheney 56). She wrote A Raisin in the Sun with the aid of Paul Robeson, W. E. B Dubois, and Frederick Douglass. He was a well-known baritone singer. He inspired her to create A Raisin in the Sun. She admired his singing voice and his compositions.
W. E. B Dubois was the first African American to get a PHD from Harvard University. Frederick Douglass was an abolitionist who fought for the freedom of slaves. Lorraine Hansberry used their knowledge to help her create A Raisin in the Sun (Hansberry).
Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930, in Chicago Illinois (“Lorraine”). When she was two years old, her family moved to a white neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. The new neighbors were not happy about having an African American family in the neighborhood. They started to harass the Hansberrys by putting bricks through their windows and putting racist graffiti on their walls. The Hansberrys fought back by suing the neighbors and the city of Chicago. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where they won (“Lorraine”).
Hansberry was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was very interested in politics and she joined the NAACP while she was in college. She also became a member of the Communist Party (“Lorraine”). In 1951, she moved to New York City to become a writer. A few years later, she met Robert Nemiroff, who would become her husband. They collaborated on many projects, including A Raisin in the Sun (“Lorraine”).
A Raisin in the Sun is a play about an African American family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. The play is set in the apartment that the family lives in. The main character is Walter Lee Younger, a man who is trying to provide for his family but is limited by racism and poverty.
Other members of the Younger family include Walter’s wife Ruth, their son Travis, and Walter’s mother, Lena. Lena is also known as “Mama”. The Youngers are awaiting a life insurance check that will allow them to move out of their cramped apartment and into a house in the suburbs (A Raisin).
The play A Raisin in the Sun was first staged on Broadway in 1959. It was met with mixed reviews. Some people loved it and some people hated it. A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by an African American woman to be staged on Broadway (“Lorraine”).
Walter is the main character in A Raisin in the Sun. He is a man who is struggling to provide for his family. He is limited by racism and poverty. Despite these obstacles, Walter is a strong and determined man. He is willing to fight for what he believes in. In the end, Walter learns that he can’t always control everything in his life. But he also learns that he can’t give up on his dreams.
