Racial Discrimination In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun
A Raisin in the Sun (1959) by Lorraine Hansberry was produced in 1959 and foresees many of the issues that the African American populations were facing regarding their own identity. The Youngers are an extremely poor African-American family living on the South Side of Chicago that suffer from the racial tension between black and white in their everyday lives. Lena Younger, her daughter Beneatha, her son Walter and his wife Ruth and their son Travis squeeze into a dilapidated two-bedroom apartment. Not only do these characters feel confined by their physical home space, but they also feel limited by the societal roles they are assigned to such as racial, class and gender discrimination. However, the Youngers have a chance at a new beginning,
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Racial discrimination is an important part of Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun. The explicit issues concerning race that stood out in one’s mind from the play is the conflict when the Younger’s purchase a house in an all “white” neighborhood. Walter Younger Sr. and his dedicated wife Lena were living in a tiny, cramped apartment on the South side of Chicago while they dreamed of a better life in a beautiful home with a backyard in the suburbs. However, Walter Sr. died suddenly of a heart attack after many years of hard work to support his family. With the death of Walter Sr. comes an insurance check of $10,000 allowing the Younger family to purchase their dream house in the suburbs. With that money the Younger family was able to put a down payment on their dream home in an all “white” community. However, Karl Lindner, a white man who comes to “welcome” the Younger family into the white neighborhood, tries to make the Younger family go back to where they came from. First, Karl Lindner starts by explaining the purpose of his visit, but he refers to the Youngers as “you people” in such a way that he is obviously classifying them in an undesirable manner. Lastly, Lindner finally gets to the point of the visit, where he discourages them from moving into their new home. An example of this is when Lindner states “… It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or
Racial discrimination is an important part of Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun. The explicit issues concerning race that stood out in one’s mind from the play is the conflict when the Younger’s purchase a house in an all “white” neighborhood. Walter Younger Sr. and his dedicated wife Lena were living in a tiny, cramped apartment on the South side of Chicago while they dreamed of a better life in a beautiful home with a backyard in the suburbs. However, Walter Sr. died suddenly of a heart attack after many years of hard work to support his family. With the death of Walter Sr. comes an insurance check of $10,000 allowing the Younger family to purchase their dream house in the suburbs. With that money the Younger family was able to put a down payment on their dream home in an all “white” community. However, Karl Lindner, a white man who comes to “welcome” the Younger family into the white neighborhood, tries to make the Younger family go back to where they came from. First, Karl Lindner starts by explaining the purpose of his visit, but he refers to the Youngers as “you people” in such a way that he is obviously classifying them in an undesirable manner. Lastly, Lindner finally gets to the point of the visit, where he discourages them from moving into their new home. An example of this is when Lindner states “… It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or