Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

A Raisin in the Sun Essay The American Dream is an ideal that all Americans hope to achieve during the span of their lives, and is described as a life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals (Dictionary.com). This ideology is what effectively contributed to an American’s drive to achieve prosperity, especially in the twentieth century. In A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family strives to reach their own American Dream, but struggles to do so as a result of the continuous setbacks they face in society, such as racism. Racism creates a seemingly unbreachable wall between the Younger family and their wish to climb up the social ladder. More importantly, racism is the driving force that causes the African
The one character who wholeheartedly embraces the black power movement is Beneatha Younger, who is the only Younger that is being educated to be a professional worker, a doctor. Beneatha, like her brother Walter, is a conflicted character in the book due to her hesitance about her future. According to Hana' Khalief Ghani’s article, “I Have a Dream —Racial Discrimination in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun”, “Racial discrimination in America, in fact, must be understood as a daily living experience. It caused black people to hate themselves and their culture. They are torn apart between maintaining their racial and cultural identity or surrendering to the dictates of the white-dominated society” (3). Beneatha is a character that fit this description until one of her love interests, Asagai, comes into the play. He teaches her to love her culture and to take pride in her African roots. The black power movement took place at around the same time as the Civil Rights movement had taken place, and it added even more encouragement for African Americans to stand up for their equality and fair treatment in society. As a result, Asagai’s influence is able to take over Beneatha, and show her how to express herself through her African origins. In the play, after she reveals her natural close-cropped haircut, Beneatha declares, “. . . I hate assimilationist Negroes! . . . It means someone who is willing to give up his own culture and submerge himself completely in the dominant, and in this case oppressive culture!” (Hansberry 527). Beneatha utilizes what she learns from Asagai to resist assimilation to white American culture. Furthermore, after she started to stand up for her African origins, Beneatha started to feel like herself, and she gains confidence in her