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A Raisin In The Sun Literature Essay Samples

Generational conflicts are apparent through the characters of Mama, Walter Lee, and Travis, all members of the same…

Generational conflicts are apparent through the characters of Mama, Walter Lee, and Travis, all members of the same family, but very different in their own right. A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, was written perhaps with some personal experience. However, racial prejudice is just one of the themes discussed in the play. However, the climactic theme of the story is Walter’s selling out point. Bennie felt like low class, and didn’t feel she could order research paper online be a doctor anymore .

  • However, she gives the rest of the money to Walter for the business investment on the condition of reserving three thousand dollars for her daughter’s education.
  • In her autobiography, she says, “At his funeral I at last, in my memory, saw my mother hold her sons that way, and for the first time in her life my sister held me in her arms I think”.
  • The character Mrs. Johnson and a few scenes were cut from the Broadway performance and in reproductions because of time constraints.
  • As the money is expected to arrive, all the family members are presenting their individual ideas on how to spend the money carefully not to let it go wasted.
  • Whereas Joseph, a Yoruba student teaches Beneatha the rich culture and heritage of her ancestors in Africa and embraces her identity as a black woman.


In the play, “A aisin in the Sun,” by Lorraine Handsberry, the primary setting is the apartment of the Youngers family. In fact, the majority of the action of the play occurs within the confines of the family apartment. The plot of the play is focuses upon the apartment as well — what the apartment is, and what the apartment is not. Primary, the apartment is not an adequate domicile for the Youngers family for a variety of reasons, which play out over the course of the narrative. For the Younger family in a Raisin in the Sun, dreams provide each character a motivation and desire. The play shows each member of the Younger family’s dream through various instances throughout the text.

By Lorraine Hansberry



Besides the thesis statements for “Raisin into the Sun” above, these quotes alone can behave as essay concerns or learn concerns since they are all relevant to the writing in an essential method. Go through the base for the web page to recognize which edition of “A Raisin within the Sun” by Loraine Hansberry they truly are referring to. A Raisin in the Sun Essay Often in works of literature a character’s life is affected by a single act or mistake In the play, “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry , the character Mama is affected by a mistake. One portion will go to purchasing a new house for the family, the second to her daughter Beneatha’s school and the…… This sample essay on A Raisin In The Sun Research Paper reveals arguments and important aspects of this topic.

a raisin in the sun theme essay

The main conflict in A Raisin in the Sun is the skirmish the Younger family partakes in over how to spend the ten thousand dollars. This conflict lends to its continued popularity because it reflects ordinary people’s desire for money and the confrontations that obtaining money often leads to in real life. In the play, almost every member, including Mama, Ruth, and Walter are headstrong in their decisions for how to most effectively spend the money. Ruth is thrilled at Lena’s news, and she asks Walter to be glad, too. Lena describes the house, to Ruth’s great joy, and Lena turns to Walter Lee and tells him, “It makes a difference in a man when he can walk on floors that belong to him” .

Hopes And Dreams In A Raisin In The Sun



In Act Walter even teaches his son Travis about the benefits of being rich. Mama sees money as a way to help her family succeed, Walter believes money is life, Beneatha sees money as a way to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor, and Asagai views money as a method to help others. Although money seems to be so important to the characters, by the end of the play Lorraine Hansberry shows us that money isn’t everything. A central character and matriarch of the Younger family, Mama, is not as concerned about material wealth as the other characters. She views money to be a means of achieving her dream of buying a house and helping her family move up in the world. The Youngers are a poor African-American family living browse around this website on the South Side of Chicago.

She was born to an African American family who at this time were perceived as better off than others in the African American community. He used his education and his achievements as a platform to uplift and speak out for the Black community who at this time, especially in the South, were being mistreated. Despite Hansberry’s father’s educational and academic accomplishments, he was still mistreated by society. In A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry reflects on events that actually took place in her life, things she witnessed her father and family experience. In the play, a family gains financial stability and decides to move into a more suburban community. They receive opposition from the community when a community representative personally offers the family more money than they intend to pay for the house in exchange for not moving there.

a raisin in the sun theme essay

Although the play did not address whether or not Beneatha became a doctor or if she marred, it certainly presented the likelihood that these issues would present obstacles for Beneatha. Anyway, I think that this man’s memory – of how cruel and brutal life was back in the 1960s when the Civil Rights Movement was just getting some momentum – would lead him to believe that life is a lot better now for blacks. And he would be right, because no sheriff can behave like that and get away with it anymore. But what this Caucasian man in his 50s may not know, after watching a Raisin in the Sun, is that hundreds of thousands of black families struggle every day to survive.



This is a biblical allusion of when Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and the path to Jesus’ crucifixion – also relating to Walter Lee’s downfall. Thirty pieces of silver was the price Judas was paid to hand Jesus over to Pilate’s soldiers. Just like Walter Lee, Judas made an ultimate betrayal to Jesus and returned the money out of guilt after Jesus was arrested. It wasn’t until he saw the consequences of his actions then he realized not that enough money in the world would justify his action to make such a betrayal. Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.