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 of marriage and family relationships, the importance of dreams, pride and masculinity and the courage that it takes to have goals far beyond one’s present state in life. One thing that is clear, from beginning to end, is that the Younger family’s poverty plays a crucial role in the outcome of their lives. If it were not for Mama’s big insurance payday, the family might never have escaped the generational cycle of poverty. As it stood, they almost lost their chance out anyway when Walter Lee lost all of that cash in the liquor store scheme to his conniving friend. Poverty is the antagonist in the play, because as people have seen in the decades since World War II, African Americans who have the means can find their way out of the inner cities into the suburban havens that whites have established to escape what they view as the chaos and other undesirable aspects of living in the middle of the big city. The ones who are left behind are the ones who do not have the money to follow.
Five people – a grandmother, her two children (and a daughter-in-law), and her grandson all live crammed into in a two bedroom house in the ghettos of South Chicago. They dream about being able to move into a bigger house away from the crime of the inner city, but they are poor and lack the resources to bring this change into their lives until the grandmother loses her husband and a giant insurance payday is about to come in. Walter has dreams of starting a liquor store so he can provide more for his family. Lena wants to buy a house so they can move into a better neighborhood and Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor. However, their dreams are difficult to achieve because of their socioeconomic and racial status. In a sense, the Younger family is not only constrained by physical space but also by the position they occupy in society due to the color of their skin and lack of money. Poverty affects the characters in different ways. Walter suffers the most because he is the man of the house and sees himself as the provider for the family. When his son asks for money for class and Ruth tells him there is no money, Walter says, “In fact, here’s another fifty centsBuy yourself some fruit today – or take a taxicab to school or something (Hansberry1.1.59).” Walter does not pay attention to the realities of his family’s economic situation and instead wants to indulge his son whenever possible. This lack of practicality is, in part, what leads to his losing the investment money to his swindling friend. He had trusted that friend to invest in a liquor store, but the suspicions that his wife and mother have about the whole situation prove to have been correct.
Walter dreams of being able to provide more for his family and does not want his son to be constrained by the lack of money. His wife Ruth however has a different attitude towards money and poverty. When her son asks her for fifty cents for class, she says, “Well, I ain’t got no fifty cents this morningI don’t care what teacher say. I ain’t got it. Eat your breakfast, Travis (Hansberry1.1.28).” Although she loves her son as much as Walter does, she has a more practical nature. Unlike Walter who is constantly worried about money and wants to change his situation, Ruth is content with what she has and tries to make ends meet with what is given to her. She wants her family to be happy and does not dream big because she is at peace with her situation.
Contrary to the stereotyping of black women, the women in the play are all strong, hardworking and try to do everything that is good for the family, working to make the best out of a situation bedeviled by poverty. Even though Walter is not kind to Ruth all the time and at times is downright rude to her, she not only puts up with him but supports him in whatever he does. Lena Younger is also affected by the poverty around her. She is practical, like Ruth, but she is also determined to get out of their poverty once the insurance money comes. She goes ahead with it by buying a house in a more affluent suburb. Moving out of their current home is not only about the change in a physical location for her but also about a change in their socio-economic status. She no longer wants her family to be at the bottom of the social class. She wants them to move out and her children to have a better life than the one she had which put her at the position of being the member of the working class. Lena has a plant that grows in spite of the lack of sunlight because she tends it with care. The plant is a symbol of her resilience and the growth the family will make out of poverty. Just as the plant has little sunlight to grow, her children have little money to realize their dreams. But Lena does not let the lack of money come in their way and nourishes them as well as their dreams. She is another character who does not want for poverty to stand in their way. When Lena learns about the money coming in, she immediately makes plans for a better future for Walter as well as for Beneatha. When Walter loses the money in a liquor scam she gets angry like any mother would. She bothers him about it but later on, the family stands united. Lack of money again does not come in between them. Beneatha seems to be the least affected by the poverty in her house. She is a dreamer and flits between making choices in life. She tries horse riding, photography, drama, but her main goal is to become a doctor. Her family, however, finds it hard to support her in her progressiveness because she seems to have forgotten the realities of her poverty stricken life. Her various interests cost her family money but she is determined to follow her heart and decides to do what she wants. Even when Walter asks her to do nursing, she is determined to become a doctor. For a while it seems that Beneatha tries to be something that she isn’t. She sees a young man who is rich and she also tries to assimilate into the white world by doing her hair like them and dressing up like them. It is only towards the end of the play that Beneatha goes through a transformation. She finds her true identity and becomes more responsible. She understands that her family is willing to struggle again if it means getting out of the place they were in earlier.
Since the family has had to suffer for so long with very little money, it is easy to imagine them collapsing when Walter loses his money in the liquor store scam. They come to a situation where Beneatha has no money for college and they need to sell the house to have money. But even amidst their poverty and the disappointment of losing money, they maintain their dignity. They do not collapse as individuals or as a family. They stay together, decide to move into the new house and face life head on. The poverty in their lives is just about the lack of finances and not a poverty of spirit or the willingness to fight and face challenges.
Dreams are the focal point of the play and the name of this play alludes to Langston Hughes’ poetic visions of the consequences of dreams that stay too long unfulfilled because there are no adequate circumstances for their realization. A raisin hardens when left for too long in such a place and this is what happened to their dreams as well. “Hansberry, too, emphasized the importance of education in improvement of Blacks. Walter, as it is explained, cannot find a better job due to her lack of education and skill. Ruth, similar to Walter suffers from somewhat similar problems” (Nowrouzi, Faghfori and Zohdi 2275). The realization of the dreams is related to having a good education, which is related to having financial support to pay for the school tuition. Both Ruth and Walter come from a working-class background and it defines them. Walter dreads the fact that he might end up like his father, while Ruth believes that the man is the head of the family and she accepts her role of the cleaning-lady and of the housewife. This does not mean that Ruth is unwilling to challenge Walter, though, when she thinks that he is leading the family into error, as in the instance of the liquor store. Walter’s sister Beneatha appears to have the fastest road out of poverty available to her, as she has both a successful lawyer (George Murchison) and a physician from Africa (Joseph Asagai) wooing her. That ties in to the fact that, for women at that time, accepting life with a man was the primary way to move into wealth. In modern times, there are more avenues to economic and financial freedom for women than there were when Hansberry was writing. Poverty has many ways to entrap those who fall into its clutches.
Beneatha can choose to spread her wings beyond this poverty and she will be able to fulfill her dream because she has the intellectual capacity and determination and such a young age. She embraces her cultural and racial heritage although she has never been to Africa. It is obvious that her interests define her in the best possible way because she wants to become a doctor and heal people. She wants to show the world that black people can be intellectuals and are that they can have unstoppable dreams. “Mama and Ruth are domestics; Walter lee is a chauffeur. It was common in the north that black worker was confined to domestic and personal service” (Nowrouzi, Faghfori and Zohdi 2274). This is what the next generation will escape from and Beneatha will be the first member of this social group who will rise above the racial issues and above the constraints of poverty.
The whole system which oppresses the majority of black people has to be changed and the Young family makes the first step by moving into a white neighborhood where they are overtly unwelcome. Hansberry was aware of this problem and “Her first play, A Raisin in the Sun (1959), directly engages segregation struggles in Chicago as a penultimate symbol of black oppression and resistance” (Gordon 121). This family is fighting back and it makes them the winners in spite of the difficult financial position in life. They are willing to show resistance and to realize their dreams no matter what. Walter has the opportunity to make something big and realize the American dream after so many failed attempts and Beneatha is sure to become a role model for other oppressed African-American women who are looking for their identity. They even have a hard time to accept that they are called African because they were born and raised in America which is their homeland. The color of their skins cannot define them and that is exactly Hansberry’s point.
The play showcases the reality of racism in the lives of the Younger family. Their problems aren’t over even after buying a house. But aside from the racism, Hansberry also talks about the effects of poverty on a family. Together with race, it is also a lack of money that affects these characters deeply. Their dreams are different versions of trying to get out of their poverty. Hansberry’s play has a positive note as the main characters do not let poverty get the better of them. Lena and Ruth are the ‘fighting women’ who are practical and work hard to nourish their family in spite of the poverty that surrounds them. Walter is a dreamer and also a hard worker who wants his family to have a better life. And, finally, there is Beneatha who has never let poverty come in between her and her dreams. Even while dealing with universal themes of racism and poverty, Hansberry also talks about a family and its struggle on their way to make dreams come true.
Works Cited
Hansberry, Lorraine. “A Raisin in the Sun”. taghawaii.net. n.d Web. 31 Mar 2016.
Nowrouzi, Tayebeh, Sohila Faghfori, and Esmaeil Zohdi. "In Search of Equality: A Dream
Deferred for African Americans in A Raisin in the Sun." Theory and Practice in Language Studies 5.11 (2015): 2269-76. Print.
Gordon, Michelle. ""Somewhat like War": The Aesthetics of Segregation, Black Liberation, and
"A Raisin in the Sun"." African American Review 42.1 (2008): 121-33. Print.
