So far so good

It's been years since I read a play and I found it very interesting to read character and stage directions along with the dialogue.

So much depth in this short play. It captures family, social, and race dynamics. The scramble and fight for the American dream, the feeling of being trapped, and the struggle to define yourself are so powerfully described you feel it in your gut. Written over 50 years ago and still resonates. I highly recommend.

I love this play so incredibly much. I love the play, I love the written work and I love the film portrayal with Poitier. Beautiful.

A Raisin in the Sun was written as a play about a black family, the Youngers, who are about to move into an all-white neighborhood in post-WWII southside Chicago. Despite being written as a script, it reads with a novel’s completeness and narrative continuity. The main characters are Mama, the matriarchal grandmother, her two children Walter Lee and Beneatha, Walter’s wife Ruth and their son Travis. Big Walter, the late grandfather, is also key in the development of the story. Each character’s personality, family role, and dreams are revealed in their conversations with one another. This dialogue sensitizes the reader to who each person wants to be and what conflicts their dreams have with segregation and the perspectives and dreams of their fellow family members. The family itself is relatable. The siblings get into silly fights, Mama does everything she can to support her children, and everyone is trying to make a way for themselves. The story is also rich in symbolism and metaphor, some of it obvious, but some subtle and requiring an understanding of the characters and their perspectives. Similarly, much of the superficially ragtag dialogue is rich with metaphor and symbolism. The Youngers’ daily conversations carry both a passion for life and a permeating sadness at its hardship. A Raisin in the Sun isn’t exactly new - it’s been out for six decades. Yet it is still read and analyzed as part of school curriculum. In a simple plot, Hansberry vividly captured setting, tangible emotions, characters that the reader can sympathize with if not empathize with, and an acute sense of the influence of segregation on the lives of black citizens when this story was published. A Raisin in the Sun is a dense, savorable read for middle grade all the way up to adult readers who enjoy rich historical fiction. Adults may be able to read much deeper into the story, particularly those with personal memories of this time in history, but it is a valuable story for any reader.

D. K. Nuray, age 13

Not just a civil rights play. A humanity play.

Glad I read this historic screenplay. Powerful and moving dialogue. Perspective.

Great story. I think I like the play version better than the screenplay. I'll have to add in a more detailed review later . . . I'm going to bed.

I still really don't have much to say during broad daylight. Walter and Mama are very complex and fascinating. Although, I don't think Ruth gets enough credit as a character. She just seems so classy and abused all at the same time.

I love teaching this; plays are a great way to end the year. And nothing beats having some of my most masculine grown men stepping up for Mama's role. Some students were able to let out year long sexual (and otherwise) frustrations with each other as they fought through character. It really was fun to see my rowdiest classes come to life.

*NOTE: This review is solely for my benefit, read at your own discretion.*

Question:

Why is Beneatha so intent on learning about Africa?

My Answer:

First, obviously Beneatha is searching for herself, as we all are. As all youths are, especially. She goes from hobby to hobby, possible career to possible career. In this sense, I think that Beneatha is so intent on learning more about the African culture because she believes that the more she learns about her heritage, it will help her find herself.

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Analysis:

Mama’s dream of the world is much different from that of her children. At different parts of the first act, Mama’s views of the world conflict with that of Walter, Ruth, and Beneatha.

GEORGE: You read books -- to learn facts -- to get grades -- to pass the course -- to get a degree. That's all -- it has nothing to do with thoughts.

George and Beneatha have a major disagreement about the purpose of education.


I believe that both of them are right; however, I do not share the same views as George. It is partly true what George had said, "you read books -- to learn facts -- to get grades -- to pass the course -- to get a degree. -- That's all. It has nothing to do with thoughts." The part where he is wrong is his idea that you don't think about anything, that you simply retain what you are taught and never build on it with your own thoughts. That is being a very narrow minded person, and someone like that will always be working at the back of the train to progression in society. I personally take Beneatha's side in their argument because I believe that it is very important to have thought, planning, and heart in everything you do. Without thought you'll forever be stuck in a circle going around and around, but if you put hard work and contemplation into whatever you do, you will get somewhere in life and move forward. You will also find yourself waking up happier each day rather than those that stay in one place in life.

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I do believe that there was much more to Mama's anger. In fact, I think that it wasn't as much the loss of the money that infuriated her to her breaking point but the very fact that the money was all that was left of her husband. That money was all that had been left to them from him and that money was all that was left of what he had slaved and wasted away for. Another factor would probably be that Walter had betrayed her trust and used the money that she wanted for Beneatha's tuition and then he lost it to a scam artist.

Beneatha's explanation to Asagai as to why she no longer wishes to become a doctor tells me that she was once a dreamer that wanted to fix broken people back up. That she had wanted to do what, despite what everyone wished for God to do, he didn't and will never do. Beneatha wanted to be a kind person, an admirable person, a hero so that nobody will go unsaved. But life has already began to jade her, and her brother giving away all that money was the last thread to her dreams.
She thinks now that healing people's bodies isn't enough to change the world. It isn't enough to cure them. It isn't close enough to the core. She sees that there will always be the kind and foolish that are taken advantage of- and the scheming terrible people that will take and destroy. Beneatha sees no end to this circle spinning.
She is still a youth.

Mama's speech about love really moved me. Everything in her speech I have learned this over the course of this year to be true, mostly this past summer. When measuring a person take into consideration what they've been through, what challenges they have faced, and if you know nothing of what they have been through you are still entitled to your own opinion of that person but you hold no right to persecute against them in any way. And if you love that person, don't stop loving them and don't be cruel to them when they've done everything wrong and are at their lowest, because when they're at the bottom, no matter what they've done, because you love them it is your own responsibility to love them the most at that time. No, not a responsibility. It is a privilege, a right. Your right to love them and console them, and their right to be held.
I believe that this speech fits well into the play because what the world really needs is to get over the giant mountain to equality is love.

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1. What can you do in your own community to help battle prejudice?

2. Have times changed since the 1950's and 1960's? Has the American people evolved into the "colorblind" society Dr. King envisioned?


What I can do in my community to help battle against prejudice is simply be kind to all races, not judge them by their skin color by but who they are as a person. By doing this, I will be one of what will become many that do not stereotype against those with different skin colors and many more people may even follow my, and other people like me, example.

Times certainly have changed since the 1950's and 1960's. We have come a long way for such a short time but we still have a long ways to go if we can ever actually attain Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s envisionment of a colorblind society.
All that we have evolved into is a much more equal community, however, in quite a few places we are still off balance as to who is more in power. Sometimes it is the blacks, sometimes it is the whites. Even so, blacks are still at times persecuted against only because of their skin color and I do hope that one day we all will truly be able to stand on the same ground.

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Questions:

What does Mama mean by her comment about catching up with dreams? How is this important to the overall theme of A Raisin in the Sun?

Has Walter Lee caught up with his dreams at the end of the play? Explain your answer carefully, by tracing his actions and his development throughout the play.

What kind of dreams do you have? How to plan to "catch up" with them?


My Answers:

I think what Mama was thinking when she said "yes, a fine man - just couldn't never catch up with his dreams, that's all," about her deceased husband was that he tried hard, he worked hard, he dreamed big of good dreams, but he died before he was able to accomplish any of them. He died, working himself to the bone before he could reach any of his dreams that were all set too high. I believe that this is crucial to the theme of the play because every character in it are trying to achieve their own dream. Mama's comment shows that sometimes there are still people that never do achieve their dreams, but they can still leave behind something to help those they had left behind achieve their dreams.

I believe that Walter Lee has indeed, at last, caught up with his dreams. But not all of them, and not the dream he had in the beginning of the play either. Walter struggled throughout the entire play, trying hard to achieve his goal, to open a liquor store and provide a wealthy lifestyle for his family.
He was tearing at the seams, trying so hard to obtain this goal while at the same time none of the important people in his life were supporting him, but rather, they were putting him down for his dream.
In the end he lost all the money he had to a scam artist that skipped town, and he broke. When he rose back up again, however, Walter saw what his deepest dream was and that was to spend the rest of his days with his beautiful family in the beautiful house that Mama had bought and raise his son, the sixth generation of their family in America. This was the dream that Walter had achieved, with the help of those around him.

What is a dream? If I already have my dream then what is a dream deferred? I do not know my dream or what a dream really is, but something that gives me pleasure and that I strongly want to do is to paint and draw freely and that if someone or many people saw my artwork that it would brighten their day if not open their mind. That it would make them feel, make them feel what I'm feeling. Allow me to share my happiness through these fingertips of mine.
It is not a career, because I can't make one out of it with pressure on me from a manager. I do not wish to become a professional artist. All I want is to make something of my own out of my soul and show and share it with many people. Perhaps that is what my dream is, or perhaps I have not yet found it. One day I shall see.

The story of the Younger family a black family living in a too small apartment on the South side of Chicago in the 50's as they try and decide what to do with an insurance payout from the death of their grandfather/husband. Dealing with the topics of racism, assimilation, education, and feminism and how those things affected the characters and their views on the world around them and the choices that they and others made in the short play format. Reading plays isn't my favorite, and it's not the best way to experience them most of the time but A Raisin in the Sun was one that could be more easily read.

A play edition of A Raisin in The Sun! With reviews by Spike Lee...

I cant believe the amount of depth to such a short play. So much so that I can’t decide which characters I hate, pity, or love.