Several other motifs are also successfully intertwined into this drama. Hansberry’s avant-garde concerns, her prophetic political vision, and her ability to perceive the future importance of events that few people in 1959 were even aware of are used as lesser motifs or minor themes throughout the play. Beneatha, a young feminist college student, is the least tolerant of society’s unequal treatment and expectations of women. Beneatha constantly challenges Walter’s chauvinism, and has no time for shallow men like George Murchison, who do not respect her ideas.

The play ends with the Youngers moving out of the tenement, heading for the suburbs, despite every indication that their fellow Americans will not welcome them. Mama Lena is the last to exit the apartment, and her pensive farewell serves as a prelude to a future of offstage malevolence. Insulted by this “civil” effort to keep his family out of the neighborhood, Walter Lee declines. However, he later realizes he has been swindled out of every penny entrusted to him, having given it to an acquaintance who promised to speed up the liquor license process and then skipped town. He invites Lindner back and rehearses a speech to accept the humiliating offer. The progress of each character’s thinking in ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ by the end of the play.

Report & Essay

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.

Mama would rather spend that money on a new and better house for the family to live in. Walter has a new idea that Mama’s family had never thought of in the past. Later in the play, Walter then realizes that his mother is right and he did not invest in a liquor store.

Top kafka on the shore explained 28 A Raisin In The Sun Essay Topics & Ideas

He feels that investing money plays a huge role in gaining money, which is why he wants to invest in a Liquor company, which ultimately fails, and he loses all… Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Since this would have given a negative impression of the natural look, both Hansberry and Sands decided to omit the hairstyle change from the Broadway opening. At the beginning of the play, Ruth serves eggs — but not without getting into an argument with Walter over the eggs — which again accentuates the importance of this symbol of fertility to the play. In addition, toward the end of the play, we learn that Mama’s maiden name was Lena Eggleston, a name that underscores the theme of fecundity as much as the argument over eggs at the beginning of the play. Hansberry’s play is timeless because she is able to make contemporary political issues part of the very art of the stage, drawing her audience into a conversation that continues to be relevant even today.

Lena represents the old woman, while Beneatha represents the new. A Raisin in the Sun – WomenA Raisin in the Sun – Women A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry presents many themes that are found in everyday life. This is shown through the differences in opinion about religion, marriage, and their d…

• Many of the characters in this play have hopes and aspirations; they all strive towards their goals throughout the play.
• Also related to the theme of race and racism as well as to the theme of prejudice and tolerance is the theme of Civil Rights.
• When watching a film, such as A Raisin in the Sun, one has to go into it with an open mind and a little skepticism.
• This is correct, but upon further examination one finds there is a deeper, more universal message among the prose…personal empowerment.
• Theme – The theme of this book is the importance of having a dream; each member of the Younger family is obsessed with their dream.

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.

Character Summary

In the play, Beneatha is presented as hope against the oppression she is suppressed by which reinforces her central theme. However, Petrie minimizes her role in establishing the central theme. Beneatha embraces her ethnicity in the play, however Petrie removes this aspect in his film. Daniel Petrie’s directorial decisions in the movie adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun portrays Hansberry’s central message of oppression however he fails to reinforce society’s responsibilities for this oppression. In the film Petrie alters the setting of the Youngers’ living room thus revising Hansberry’s intent to present the family as impoverished.