Literary choices: Title

        Why is the book titled A Raisin in The Sun? After doing some research, it is discovered that the title is derived from a popular Langston Hughes poem, "A Dream Deferred". After more research, I unearthed that Langston Hughes was a Harlem Renaissance writer. While the play is not literally about a dried grape basking in sunlight, it certainly holds quite a few deferred dreams. I found it quite witty to have a title that can not be deciphered with mere observation, but one that takes effort to discern.

        The word defer literally means to put off or postpone, so a deferred dream is referencing the idea of putting something off until tomorrow because maybe the time wasn't right or the situation didn't allow for it. Each character has deferred dreams, to those of home-ownership to education. "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" is the question posed by Hughes. A Raisin in The Sun tells of dreams that were not possible that dry up in hopes of a better tomorrow.

Langston Hughes

Symbols

The most overt symbol in the play is Mama’s plant. It represents both Mama’s care and her dream for her family.  She confesses that the plant never gets enough light or water, but she takes pride in how it nevertheless flourishes under her care. Even without the luxury of having more than needed but at least the necessary she is able to keep alive this plant. Her care for her plant is similar to her care for her children in a way, unconditional and unending despite a less-than-perfect environment for growth.
The plant also symbolizes her dream to own a house and, more specifically, to have a garden and a yard. With her plant, she practices her gardening skills for when she will eventually needs them.Her success with the plant helps her believe that she would be successful as a gardener. Her persistence and dedication to the plant fosters her hope that her dream may come true some day.

Feminism in A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry comprises of a myriad of representations of feminism. The female characters of the play are not completely the traditional, American types of women.  Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha each manifest feministic qualities that venture away from the stereotypes that many individuals have about females in 20th-century America.  

Beneatha, an aspiring medical school student, boldly states  “Listen, I’m going to be a doctor. I’m not worried about who I’m going to marry yet-- if I ever get married” (50). Unlike the average view of an American woman, Beneatha takes on the challenge of completing medical school to become a doctor. Although she has Asagai in her life for some time, her choosing to earn an education supports the argument that women do not need men to be successful in life and that women can do the same things as men. Her view on opportunity can be linked to Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/ows/seminars/tcentury/FeminineMystique.pdf

Ruth is an individual who portrays the typical role of a woman in a relationship as she sits home and cooks and cleans for the Younger’s household. In contrary to the homemaking role that she is labeled with in the play, Ruth is also a house servant to wealthy people: “I can’t stay home…. I got to go in. We need money,” (42-43).  This defies the view of women not being capable of performing jobs outside of their household.

In terms of Mama, her assertiveness serves as an accurate example of how Hansberry uses feminist representations in her female characters. When talking about Beneatha’s future, she puts her foot down and ensures the family that money would be put away for her tuition: “...ain’t nothing gonna touch that part of it. Nothing” (44).
                                                     
                                                     

Theme: Pride

        Pride is portrayed in an extremely strong sense in A Raisin in the Sun. Since the play is illustrating a family with little else to their name, pride is a means for them to hold on to their dignity and promote their worth as human beings. When the neighborhood representative comes to their door and offers to buy out their house, the family is not resilient to kick him out. This decision is showcased as a conflict between pride and money. In the end, pride wins out in the Younger family.

        "The furnishings of this room were actually selected with care and love and even hope" (1.1), showing that even their furniture radiated a sense of pride at one point. Age is a respectful thing, and the Younger family is no exception to this principle. They see the value in what things once were; in furniture and people.Through unhappiness, poverty, selfishne
ss, fighting, the Younger family will always have their pride, and that shows their strength.

The Maturation Process of Walter

Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry constructs Walter’s character in a complex way. Early in the play, Hansberry portrays Walter as a selfish, narcissistic man who wants to lead his family but cannot fathom his personal weakness: immaturity.

Sean "Diddy" Combs as Walter Younger

Walter has ample opportunities to support his family but is oftentimes blinded by his overzealous goals. His lack of concern for the Younger’s desires’ are displayed through his actions. He possesses an uncanny ability to shut the goals of his family members down. To reciprocate this, Beneatha sarcastically implies that Walter, like many other men, will “lead [them] out of the wilderness [and] into the swamps” (38).

Walter’s clash with his family resembles a lack of experience. Replacing the role of his father, which seems to be his intent, is not a simple task. Walter struggles with gaining the acceptance of his family because of his varying wishes for the Younger’s.

Toward the end of the play, readers have a chance to evaluate Walter as he molds into the man that he always expects to be. Upon receiving a housing opportunity in an unaccepting, predominantly-white neighborhood, Walter expects to “put on a show” and accept Mr. Lindner’s offer (142). After losing the insurance money with his investment partner, he exemplifies maturity by declining the offer. This is the first time Walter makes such a pivotal decision without being harassed by his family. Walter displays the qualities of a real leader.

Walter, ultimately, put his dreams for riches aside, and his family’s interest first, by declining this offer. Mama finally recognizes the authority of Walter. She says, “ My son said we was going to move and there ain’t nothing left for me to say” (148-149). Walter Younger was able to acknowledge his family’s wants without placing emphasis on his own.

Connecting link: http://allpoetry.com/Maturity

(This is a link to a poem by Philip Larkin that poetically describes a common maturation process)

Biblical Allusion

Mr. Lindner comes to the Younger residence to tell them they are not wanted in Clybourne Park and offers them more than what they paid to not take up residence in the neighborhood. When he says this, Beneatha replies saying, “Thirty pieces and not a coin less!” (118). This is a biblical allusion to when Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane. His arrest sealed by Judas’ kiss was the beginning of the path that lead to His crucifixion as prophesized. Thirty pieces of silver was the price Judas was paid to hand Jesus over to the Roman Empire. To make matters worse, in that time period, thirty pieces of silver was around the price that one would pay for a slave thus suggesting that He was worth that of a slave rather than the Messiah. As one of Jesus’ disciples, Judas made the ultimate betrayal and returned the money out of guilt after Jesus was arrested. It wasn’t until he saw the consequences of his actions that he realized not enough money in the world was enough to make such a betrayal. In the same way, Beneatha believes that there is no offer nor monetary amount large enough to convince them, or her at least, to leave Clybourne Park and move to a predominately black community. Making such a deal would be underestimating the Younger family’s worth and thus encouraging discrimination and the idea that whites should live with whites and blacks should live with blacks.

Standing Up to Racial Discrimination

The Younger’s family perseveres through all the discrimination that they are faced with and that has evidently been a theme towards the end of the story. Mr. Lindner tries to talk the Younger’s family out of occupying the house because the “majority of our people out there” (the people of Clybourne Park) do not want Negroes living in their neighborhood. “Our association is prepared… to buy the house from you at a financial gain to your family.” (118). Lindner tries to bribe the Younger’s family to not move in their house by offering more than what they had paid for the house in the first place. Although this would be beneficial financially to the Younger’s family, they shut it down and they don’t even consider the offer; hence Walter firmly stating, “Get out of my house, man.” (119), shortly after Lindner had proposed the deal.

            The Younger’s displayed their strength to fend off discrimination and take deep pride into their race. “I come from five generations of people who was slaves and sharecroppers… ain’t nobody in my family never let nobody pay ‘em no money that was a way of telling us we wasn’t fit to walk the earth.” (143). The Younger’s defiance to stand up against the racial discrimination resembles Martin Luther King Junior’s  idea of Civil disobedience to stop racism. They do not give in and show weakness to the “crackers” because that will only prolong the means of discrimination.

http://theindependent.ca/2014/01/20/dr-martin-luther-king-strategies-and-tactics-of-civil-disobedience/