‘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, and Hansberry became the first African –American woman and the youngest American writer, to receive this award. In this essay, we try to explore how the author has employed various literary devices such as plot, motif, dialogues, characterization and symbols, to convey the theme of racial discrimination.
The beauty of the plot is that, the author is able to maintain the theme of racism, while narrating an interesting story about a poor family, and their relationship with each other and their collective struggle against poverty. The members of the Younger family, Lena, Ruth, Walter Lee, Beneatha and Travis, are a bunch of dreamers.
The Matriarch of the family Lena (Mama) has a dream, to have a decent house to accommodate her family. Her son Walter dreams of Liquor business which would make him rich, while her daughter Beneatha dreams about a medical career. Ruth, the wife of Walter, too has her dreams of having a home, where her son Travis can grow comfortably. The plot then goes on to say, how each of these family members try to achieve their American dream.
While each of them chases their dream, they have to face many obstacles most of them based on their race. This family typifies a mid-twentieth century African American family. Though slavery was outlawed, the African Americans of that period were struggling to come to terms with the, ‘equal but separate’ segregation that existed in the then American society. Most of them endured a life of poverty, and had to fight both their financial constraints and the societal discrimination.
The character of Walter Lee espouses all the bitterness and aspirations of a young Black patriarch. He wants to invest the insurance money, which Mama is entitled through the death of his father, in a Liquor business. He is desperately seeking a way out from their poverty. He says to his wife
“I have a boy who sleeps in the living room —and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live”. (10)
He sees the poverty that is prevalent among American Blacks, and compares it with the affluent life lived by the Whites. He feels bitter about it, which is explicit in his characterization and dialogues. He not just resents the financial gap between the Blacks and Whites, but also regrets the way in which an average Black American is looked down by the society. His ultimate aim is to attain that status and dignity, and he sees money as medium to achieve those values.
“Walter Lee say colored people ain't never going to start getting ahead till they start gambling on some different kinds of things in the world—investments and things”.(15)
Beneatha’s characterization typifies the crossroads in which the Black community found itself in that period. They can either try to assimilate with the White community by imitating their ways, or they can cling on to their cultural values and assimilate without disowning their past. Her two suitors George Murchison and Joseph Asagai denote the two different struggles of her inner self.
George, who is nonchalant to his race’s problems and acts as if he is a part of the White society, typifies the part in Beneatha which wants to assimilate into the American society by disowning her African heritage. Her straightening of her hair is a part of the act she puts up to look more ‘American’ like, but in reality she is just imitating the Whites of her society. Joseph on the other hand, is more like the part of her which is proud of her ancestry and seeks recognition for what she is. In the end by rejecting George, she denounces her pretences and embraces her identity as an African American with pride.
The receipt of the insurance check by Mama acts as a catalyst that fuels the individual dreams of the family. The ambitious Walter Lee wants Mama to help him start his liquor business with his street-smart friend Willy. Walter is a Limousine chauffeur who has dreams of changing the fortunes of his family. He thinks that Blacks cannot achieve social progress unless they take risk and invest in big schemes.
But Mama aspire a decent house which she thinks would hold the family together and give them a moral boost. Their present dwelling, which is described in detail in the initial scenes, is one that had endured years of wear and tear, and highlights the deprived condition of the family even more.
Her dream is similar to the stereotypical American Dream of the 1950s, which is to have a house with a yard and a garden, with a car and a happy family. Mama finds a compromise that would fulfill all of their dreams. She gives a part of the money to Walter for his business, with a provision that he will use a portion of it to fund Beneatha’s education, and invests the rest of the money in a house which is located in a predominantly White neighborhood.
The small yet crucial character of Lindner, typifies the general attitude of the White community towards the Blacks. Even after many laws being passed, the White community still had reservations about having Black Americans among them. Lindner, a representative of the Younger family’s new predominantly white neighborhood, offers the family money to reverse their decision.
I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn't enter into it. It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities. (68)
People of that era were not ready to accept colored people into their community life. Lynches and violent behavior were common during that period, which is reflected in Hansberry’s personal experience, whereby her mother had to carry an armed vigil outside their house to protect her children. Bombings, assaults and demonstrations against Blacks, trying to move east into better neighborhoods, were common in Chicago during that time.
The plant of Mama is a symbol/motif, used by the author as a representation of the resilience of the Younger family, and their American dream. In the first scene Mama takes care of the plant, the plant does not get adequate sunlight in the dark dwelling of the family, but it manages to survive. This is a symbolic representation of how the family’s dream of having a dignified life is not able prosper in the shattered old house they are currently living in, yet the dream is alive in their hearts.
When the family shifts to their dream house, the final act of Mama in their old house is to retrieve the plant. It is much like the dream, the family conceives, which is not able to take form in their present dwelling, but does not die and linger in their hearts. Finally by moving to a better house they give the plant a better surrounding. Likewise the new house also provides Younger family an impetus towards fulfilling their dream. By refusing the money offered by Lindner and moving to their new house, the Younger family sends a strong message to the society, that they will not allow anyone to say to them that, they are not fit to walk on the same earth.
‘A Raisin in the Sun’ is a bold play by Hansberry, who had the courage to take on the social issue of the racially charged home ownership politics of the 1950s. The play is not just about a Black family’s struggle to buy a house in a White neighborhood, but also their fight for acceptance. It is about how an average American family was not allowed to pursue its dream because of race.
The family’s quest for decent housing is impacted heavily by the discrimination of the society. Walter’s initial inclination towards accepting the offer, further delineates how the economic conditions of certain families, force them to compromise on their dreams, and settle for the supposedly ‘practical’ solutions. Race is used by Hansberry as a latent backdrop for an engaging and emotional story, and she has succeeded in strongly conveying the evils of racism by expert use of various literary devices.
Works Cited
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. 1959. Web. 10 February 2014.
