Hansberry College Essays Samples For Students

A Raisin in the Sun – Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun was first performed in 1959 and was an immediate critical and commercial success. It is justly celebrated for these reasons. Ray and Kundu (31) describe it as
...a milestone in women’s drama. It was the first play to be written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway, and the first play by a black woman to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.
The play is based on Hansberry’s own experience as Adams (9) makes clear: “She ...

Hansberry’s famous play “A Raisin in the Sun” premiered to an enthusiastic crowd on Broadway in 1959. The play was timely, as it premiered amidst the growing tension regarding the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, and it dealt extensively with many of the issues that black families faced in the United States at that time. However, race is not the only important thematic idea that Hansberry’s famous play dealt with; inequality between genders, classes, and even generations is examined extensively throughout the play. Within “A Raisin in the Sun,” the issues of gender and racial ...

‘A Raisin in the Sun’ is about an African American family who struggle against racism and poverty to get out of the ghetto they live in and move into a white suburb. However Hansberry’s play is also filled with other themes such as pride, family, dreams and there are also many characters who dare to dream beyond their current life. The play focuses on racism, but on poverty as well. However, the beauty of the play lies in the fact that the central theme is family bondage. The poverty in their lives affects every member of the Younger ...

Because Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun takes its title from Langston Hughes’ poem about the dangers of deferring dreams due to racism, many people assume that the primary theme of the play is the corrosive effects of racism on the souls of African Americans. Indeed, this play is about a family of African American extraction who runs into racism as they try to move from the inner city projects of Chicago to the suburb of Clyborn Park. However, there are other themes at work in the play as well, such as the ins and outs ...

Introduction

A Raisin in the sun is a play written and directed by an African American woman and produced on stage. The play was produced for the first on stage in 1959 to depict the struggles of African American in the struggle to claim the American dream of the 1950s. The cast is made up of a young family living in Washington Park of Chicago’s neighborhood. The main characters in the play are Walter Younger, Ruth Younger, Travis Younger, Lena Younger, Beneatha Younger, Joseph Asagai and George Murchison among many others. The plot is a mixture of African American culture and the ...

‘A Raisin in the Sun’ on the outset is about the Younger family, an African American family who struggle against racism and poverty to get out of the ghetto they live in and move into a white suburb. However Hansberry’s play is also filled with other themes such as pride, family, dreams and full of characters who dare to dream beyond their current life. The beauty of the play lies in the fact that it not only focuses on racism but also on poverty. The poverty in their lives affects every member of the Younger family albeit in ...

‘Instructor’s Name’

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Written in the year 1959, ‘A raisin in the sun’ by Lorraine Hansberry, premiered during the early stages of the Civil Right movement. Hansberry had experienced discrimination in her life, when her father moved their home outside the Chicago ghetto, and had to file a lawsuit to have his house protected. Influenced by these events, she wrote this play which talks about a poor Black family, and the financial and racial obstacles experienced by them.
The play won the Best American Play award given by the New York Drama Critics Circle, ...

“A Raisin in the Sun” is a luminous book by Lorraine Hansberry. The book is some of rare books that describe everyday life of African Americans and also hint about their oppression and civil rights. This paper intends to discuss the character, Walter Lee and different aspects of his personality including his masculinity.
One prominent characteristic of Walter Lee’s personality that appears very prominently is his masculine nature. Walter Lee always tries to impose his own decisions in his family. He wants his family members to follow his suggestions and to act in accordance with whatsoever he says. ...

“A Raisin in the Sun” is a highly acclaimed play by Lorraine Hansberry. Hansberry has portrayed the life of an African American family in a realistic manner. The portrayal of characters is something that attracts readers and also gives a glimpse of African Americans life in the mid twenties. This paper analyzes the character of Walter Lee, and also talks about different facets of the character.
Walter Lee is the most popular character of the play that has been portrayed as a masculine, caring, ill decisive and confused man. Walter Lee is not satisfied with his current life style and stature in ...

‘A Raisin in the Sun’ is a play written by the Lorraine Hansberry in year 1959. The play is inspired by Langston Hughers’s poem “Harlem”. The play focuses on experiences of a black family. The poem also inform readers about the irrational and illogical world. The poem informs about the truth and reality of the real world. All the characters and story of the play is driven by the poem. One can easily find powerful connection between the circumstances and selections made by the characters in the poem and in the story. This paper intends to discuss the similarities between “ ...

The conflicts found in the art of the Harlem Renaissance are not a conflict of white between black, instead it is a conflict within the African American as they try to make sense of their place in the world and society. Laura Barrette speaks in her of a concept originally introduced by W.E.B. DuBois’s theory of a “double-consciousness” within African American texts. In her essay, “’Mark my words’: Speech, Writing and Identity in Three Harlem Renaissance Stories” she writes of this double consciousness, saying, “African American texts are “mulattoes,” struggling between two parallel discursive universes” (Barrette, 1). This idea of double ...

‘A Raisin in The Sun’ is an excellent literary work by Lorraine Hansberry that touches very emotional aspect of human life. The story moves around a poor family who lives on south side of Chicago. The story is very impressive and easy to understand. The family described in the story struggles for their daily needs and maintains dignity along with a dream of better future. The story very effectively describes relationship between family members. The story depicts how conflict arises in a poor family and how different family members react to those conflicts. The story successfully spread its magic on human emotions. ...

Langston Hughes’ in his poem "Harlem (A Dream Deferred)" and Lorraine Hansberry’s "A Raisin in the Sun" look at the impact of racial prejudice in the lives of African-Americans. The main idea of both writers is show how the economic effect of how racism leads individuals to dream about a better life. Both writers describe the psychology of having dreams and ambitions, and the how living in a society built on racism conflicts with the success of dreams.

The link between the both pieces is far more intricate than just an individual facing racial prejudice. It is about risky ...

Introduction

A raisin in the sun cannot be complete without the influence of people who are outside of the Younger family. Every character that is introduced ion different scenes in the book has a fundamental part to play in how the different themes are developed. They make the themes in the book have a real effect, and the audience can tell that the themes are universal concepts that happened to the people in the society. The book reverberates around an African American family that struggles to have their mark in a world that is full of atrocities and adversaries that threaten their very ...

The 1961 movie “A Raisin in the Sun” is was adapted from Lorraine Hansberry’s play “A Raisin in the Sun.” It portrays themes that highlight the life of the Younger family after the demise of Mr. Younger. The movie starts after the death of Mr. Younger, and the family pursues Mr. Younger’s life insurance payout of $10,000. Mr. Younger’s widow, Lena, her son, Walter, her daughter in law Ruth (Walter’s wife), her daughter Beneatha (Walter’s sister) and her grandson, Travis, all have some plan on how to use the $10,000 insurance payout. ...

Introduction

Discrimination against blacks by whites is a theme that has been explored on various levels and Langston Hughes’ poem ‘Harlem’ is no exception. Here, the poet seems to be bemoaning the fate of the young black man who can never achieve his dreams – they are always deferred, if he is not unlucky enough to end up hanged from a tree in an all too common lynching. The theme of dreams deferred is also strongly present in Lorraine Hansberry’s play, ‘A raisin in the Sun’ that also follows the Hughes poem liberally, even taking its title from a line in the poem.
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“A Raisin in the Sun” is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. It tells the story of a 1950’s African-American family, the Youngers, living on the South Side of Chicago. As the play begins, many themes could arguably be considered the most important. Each one speaks to an important part of sociology, and even American history. Dreams are coming to fruition for many members of the play, and the characters show how important it can be, throughout their discourse, to follow those dreams. The importance of family is also evident throughout Hansberry’s play, as we see Walter Younger struggle ...

Questions and Answers Based on Hansberry’s, A Raisin in the Sun.

Walter enquired about Ruth because he could see that she was looking fatigued. It is arguable that his concern towards her was fueled by the knowledge of her physiological situation. The fact that Ruth was pregnant means that her new physiological state might have contributed to the concern expressed by Walther in enquiring about her condition.

Why is Ruth upset when Walter gives Travis the money?

There are to plausible reasons as to why Ruth is angry at the decision of Walter to give some money to Travis. Firstly, Walter’s actions are irresponsible given the financial situation in the household. They did not have surplus from which they ...

Loraine Hansberry’s iconic play A Raisin in the Sun tells the story of the beleaguered Younger family, who face racism and interpersonal strife in their life on Chicago’s south side. Given the title’s status as a line from a Langston Hughes play, “A Dream Deferred,” A Raisin in the Sun is itself about dreams, and the ways in which they are denied to people of color in America. The dreams of Walter, Benethea and Mama Younger are ‘deferred’ in this way throughout the play, showcasing the unique struggle that black families have to get ahead in ...

Introduction

The family is the basic social unit of any group of people or community. It is held in high regards thus it is somewhat sacred. A family consists of people related by blood to be precise. There are two types of families which are nuclear and extended. The nuclear family is made up of father, mother and the children. On the other hand, an extended family comprises of people from the nuclear family as well as cousins, uncles, aunts and grandparents. In A Taste of Honey, a play by Shelagh Delaney it portrays the family in a different aspect together with ...