Essays on Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry's play is one of the most famous literary works of the late 50s, which raises the issues of racism, racial discrimination, and cultural identity of African Americans. The author touches on the social problems of the postwar period, and most of these problems relates to the African-American cultural heritage. Hansberry describes the life of an ordinary African American family living in the south of Chicago. The family members' relationship and the response to the opportunity to achieve something more reveals the basis of the plot and the perspectives of the play. The play's problematics affect mainly the ...

Many Americans tend today to believe that a realist drama A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry is a brilliant example that clearly opens up and brings to public such important themes as economic hardship and racial prejudice. The author did perfectly her job, as she portrayed not only how important the family is, but also send the message to society that every individual should value and reach the set goals in life, despite racial discrimination, troubles, and obstacles on his way. First and foremost, a united family is the most precious thing that every individual may ...

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. ...

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 ...

The plight of the African American woman is a subject of critical concern in the modern world. In practice, the African American woman faces diverse challenges in the dynamic and complex information society. Key to note, the changes coming in because of world paradigm shifts and developments have continued to redefine and shape the position of women in the society. Developments such as industrialization, globalization, and urbanization have brought unique challenges to the modern family set-up. Precisely, the rising cost of living among other economic factors continues to redefine the role of the women. Practically, women are increasingly adopting the ...

Character analysis of Lena Younger (Mama)

Introduction The character of Lena Younger in the drama A Raisin in the Sun in the year 1959 won the awarded of the New York Drama Critics Circle to be the best character that portrays the most Interesting and one of most important visions of women. The character of Lena Younger evolved from the images of female protagonists in Hansberry’s plays. This character was created to portray a female character during the 1950s that evolved from the African and White American plays that confirmed the standards of American stage prior to 1950. During that period the character of ...

‘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 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 ...

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 ...

‘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 “ ...

Fiction and drama often deals with how characters deal with their dreams and aspirations; often, characters sabotage themselves and prevent themselves from achieving their dreams, while other times the world they live in keeps them from having what they want. The American Dream means many things for different people, but its common conception is the idea that people can achieve social mobility and prosperity no matter what they start with, if they work hard enough and seize opportunities (Cullen 191). For African-Americans in the 20th century, the American Dream itself was much harder to achieve than for whites - ...

While Michelle Gordon analyses the themes presented in Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun”, Zachary emphasizes on the setting of the play and how it is presented to the audience. Both critiques have a common ground that although “A Raisin in the Sun” has a racism dimension, its success as a play which presents the prevailing Chicago conditions at that point in history. In the setting of a Chicago ghetto where a black family resides, the play reveals the level of poverty and suffering experienced by the large family with Beneatha’s shortage of school fees among other issues that unfold in ...

“Instructor’s Name’

The Raisin In the Sun A Raisin in the sun is a play that epitomizes the struggle of the African American community in America, during the Jim Crow era. The slavery shackles had been removed and many rights were bestowed on the Blacks during that period, but all those legislations and laws could not erase from the hearts of the people the racial disparity, which had grown strong roots over centuries. This play written by Lorraine Hansberry, won the award for the Best American Play and Hansberry went on to become the first American writer to get this award which ...

Introduction

Empowerment can be defined as the process of increasing or raising the capacity of an individual to make choices that will help them realize their goals or outcomes. Empowerment can take the role of a whole organization where the different individuals’ capacity is increased to make better choices that will transform to better lives and desired actions. Increasing the efficiency of an individual to perform a task better means empowering the named individual to realize his/her set out goals. Fairness in organizations is one of the means of empowering the individuals as there is collective improvement in service delivery. Monitoring the ...

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’ 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. ...

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 ...

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 ...