A prime example is his decision to buy a house out in the white neighborhood and plan to flip it for a profit. His inexperience causes him to be cheated of the money from his real estate agent, causing Walter to become understandably angry. While being angry is more often than not an irresponsible emotion, it can serve as a source of change when directed at injustices that exist. A stronger reason supporting this claim is found by looking deeper into the history behind A Raisin In The Sun.
The play was written during a time where there were many civil rights demonstrations happening across the country, particularly in Alabama and Mississippi. Racial tensions were escalating with every passing day due to incidents concerning peaceful demonstrators being attacked or arrested by police officers responding violently towards black youth with their weapons, or even attacking black adults themselves. A Raisin in the Sun was created to portray the story of a struggling black family fighting for equality and justice for their race.
While Walter may be going about his frustration in an irrational manner, it is understandable given the circumstances he is facing. A Raisin In The Sun displays a very important message: Sometimes, acting irrationally can lead us to make decisions that will improve ourselves and/or others around us.
Lorraine Hansberry is most known for A Raisin in the Sun, which was the first non-musical play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. A Raisin in the Sun was not only the first play of its kind but also won many awards and nominations, including a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. A Raisin in the Sun takes place during an eventful time period: it begins on Walter Lee Younger’s twenty-sixth birthday, and ends with his death (aged thirty) less than two months later.
Lorraine Hansberry uses this temporal setting to demonstrate how young blacks were treated at this time; she includes several character monologues as well as interactions between characters throughout A Raisin In The Sun to show how some individuals’ goals are compromised by the color of their skin. A Raisin in the Sun is a play that deals with many important issues, including racism, gender roles/stereotypes, and socioeconomic status. Walter Lee Younger’s masculinity is often questioned throughout A Raisin In The Sun due to his job prospects being inferior to men who are white or lighter-skinned than he is.
Another crucial, recurring conflict in A Raisin in the Sun is Walter Lee Younger’s financial struggle; A Raisin in the Sun takes place shortly after World War II ended, when jobs were scarce for everyone but especially for African-Americans. Even though Walter Lee is willing to work hard and be persistent, most employers do not consider him because he is black. A prime example of this issue occurs when Walter Lee states, “Them people out there on that labor board, who all they do is push us around!
They might just as well police us with billy clubs and bullwhips, the way they hurt you trying to get a job” (Lorraine Hansberry). After being unemployed for so long, Walter Lee finally gets employed by Mr. Lindner; his employment turns out to be short-lived due to his new boss’s racism. Walter’s mother Lena uses A Raisin in the Sun to demonstrate how racist actions can impact an individual’s socioeconomic status. A constant battle for Lena throughout A Raisin In The Sun has been her decision to buy a home in an all-white neighborhood, which she finally does after A Raisin In The Sun ends.
A Raisin In The Sun takes place shortly after World War II ended, when few African-Americans owned their own homes. Even though Lena has little extra money saved up, due to A Raisin in the Sun ending with her purchasing of a house means that she is financially stable for the remainder of her life (even if buying the house meant having to use Walter Lee’s insurance money without his knowledge. ) A prime example of this issue occurs during A Raisin in the Sun when one of Lena Younger’s monologues states:
LENA You’d be surprised how long you can live on hope and faith alone. A long damn time if you’re a woman and got children. A man lives from day to day too. But not on hope and faith. A man gets to thinking about things he wants, or should have, or feels like he’s gonna get-which is the same thing. So when it comes his time to pick up all those little bits of paper he’s been dropping along the way and add them up at the end of his life, why there ain’t nothing in this world but what he had when he came into it (Hansberry).
This monologue shows that even though many African-Americans were poor during A Raisin In The Sun due to systemic racism, Lena Younger was able to live off her hope and faith for her family. A lot of people were financially unstable during A Raisin in the Sun, including Walter Lee Younger’s best friend who was killed while trying to rob someone. His character is only seen once in A Raisin In The Sun when he asks Walter Lee to help him get a job with Lindner so that they can be employed together.
A Raisin in the Sun was originally a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. A Raisin in the Sun was one of the first Broadway plays to be written by an African-American woman, thus making it also one of the most significant theatrical pieces in American history. A Raisin in the Sun is set in A Black family’s apartment in the south side of Chicago. A Raisin in the Sun takes place during the 1950s, when racism was very prominent.
A lot of Lorraine Hansberry’s inspiration for A Raisin in the Sun came from her own personal life experiences and social prejudices that she experienced growing up. A Raisin in the Sun follows a young woman named Beneatha Younger who is struggling to find her identity while being caught between traditional values and new ideas about black culture, which was quite common among African americans after World War 2 because many came back with completely different views on how they should live their lives compared to before they left.
A Raisin in the Sun follows one specific family through these struggles, and how they overcome them at the end. A Raisin in the Sun is a controversial play because of its content. A lot of people think A Raisin In The Sun has too many mature themes, but others believe it’s a great example of social commentary. A raisin in the sun was originally Lorraine Hansberry’s own family struggling with similar issues, which adds to why it has so much personal significance to her even today along with its historical value.
