Themes And Characters In A Raisin In The Sun Essays

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. best thesis writing service Walter struggled with his manhood due to his inability of being the breadwinner in the household.

Mama’s daughters name is Beneatha younger she is an aspiring doctor and she knows she can do it 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.

a raisin in the sun theme essay

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.

Lee Odom

Being a father to Travis appears to be the role that Walter values the most. He sincerely wants to be perceived as honorable in his son’s eyes. Knowing the family has little money to spare, Walter gives Travis a dollar when he asks for fifty cents. Walter chooses the liquor store investment not just to make more money for himself, but also to be better able to provide for his wife and family.

  • Hansberry noted that her play introduced details of Black life to the overwhelmingly white Broadway audiences, while director Richards observed that it was the first play to which large numbers of Black people were drawn.
  • Then there’s Walter lee Younger which is mamas son he works as a chauffeur and thinks he is head of the household.
  • George was a wealthy black man who tries to ignore the accomplishments of black people and fit into this white-dominated society and a narcissist who shows off in front of Beneatha by talking about intellectual concepts.
  • When Walter lost all of the money in his business venture, Mama is devastated and angry at Walter.

She makes it clear to Ruth that she doesn’t understand how anyone could have married someone like Walter. And she defies her mother on religious points; in fact, Mama has to slap Beneatha before she will back down. However, after Mama has left the room, Beneatha still says to Ruth that there is no God. Pride in “A Raisin in the Sun” In the play “A Raisin in the Sun”, by Lorraine Hansberry, pride is one of the major themes. Several of the characters display their own particular kind of pride.

The Importance Of Family

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 theme essay

The phrase “fluidly adapted” supports the idea that melodramas focus on real issues, their characters caricatures of the men and women of the time in which they are based, a method of commenting on our ever-changing society through entertainment. Before analysing and comparing the genre which links these two films, it is important to note the periods in which they were set and made, and the social constructions behind both their main themes and their characters’ actions. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was made in 1945, the year in which the Second World War talking to ended.

Major Themes In A Raisin In The Sun By Lorraine Hansberry

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.