Context and the Central Theme in the Play A Raisin in the Sun - Research Paper Example

A raisin in the Sun A Raisin in the Sun is referred to as a ‘black play’, given its context and central theme. The play, written by Lorraine Hansberry, portrays the life of a few week of an African-American family which lives on the Southern side of Chicago during the 1950`s. The play opens with a situation where the Youngers are expecting an insurance cheque worth $10,000 on the death of Mr. younger. The family members have differing views on how the money should be spent. The entire text of the play boils down to the idea of dreams and not just one central dream shared by the characters of the play, in fact distinct dreams which each member for the family aims at achieving. However, the end product of the dream of each member is to improve their social status in the society they live in. During the era when the play was written, the black members of the society were figuratively forgiven to dream for acquiring a higher social status. Thus, while analyzing the text of the play, keeping the social, historical and the political context is quite crucial since all these factors contribute in shaping the context of the play. The element of dreams in constituted throughout the text in many different ways, and the entire text has been thoroughly analyzed to synthesize the elements and come up with a coherent argument. The main characters of the play are going through an eternal struggle where oppression and aggression against the class and race they belong from. Even the title of the play reflects the conjecture expressed throughout the text, where the dream are overpowered like the raisin in the sun. Contextual analysis of the title indicates that it has been referred to in a line from the poem ‘Harlem’ written by Langston Hughes. In that particular dream, Hughes asks what happened to the dream, and did they dry up like raisin dry in the sun. For this reason, despite the mention of raisins in the title, there isn`t even one single mention of raisins throughout the text, rather the text focuses on dreams unfulfilled. Similarly, the members of the Younger family have separate and distinct dreams. Beneatha, for instance, dreams of becoming a doctor one day whereas Walter is interested in utilizing the money to buy things for the family (Domina & Hansberry 1998). Throughout the play, techniques have been employed to stress on the dreams of these family members, where the expressions indicate that the feelings of happiness or anguish are associated directly with their dreams. Thus, the failure to attain those dreams is quite crucial to the Youngers who see a hope to change their lives with the insurance money. Also, the textual analysis indicates that the family gets content only when their dreams are amalgamated in the form of attaining the dream of their house. As the play further progresses, conflicting views are exhibited by dreams. The texts reflects tension in Ruth`s expression while she fears that bringing her child into life would pose financial burden on the already burdened family. Also, Walter is also supportive of Ruth with the idea of abortion, where his expressions also exhibit that he is willing to give up one of his dreams with the hope that another one will be fulfilled. However, Mama stresses on buying a house for the entire family, since she hopes for a brighter future for the entire family and dreams that the family will finally get over oppression inflicted upon the blacks and embrace a better lifestyle. However, the house which Mama dreams of buying is situated in Clybourne Park which is a white neighborhood (Bloom 2009). Mama is so keen on pursuing her dream that she doesn’t back out even when the white neighbors are unwelcoming, and not even when Walter loses money. On the other hand, Walter is persistent about his dream of opening up a liquor store with his friend, who runs away with his money. Yet, the text of the play indicates the significance of the dream for Walter, where he is willing to risk everything to ensure that his raisin doesn’t get dried up under the scorching heat of the sun. The critiques often question the ignorance of the text of the play in anticipating the chaos emerged after the civil rights movement. However, historical analysis indicates that a few events had occurred prior to the emergence of the script of the play. The Supreme Court issued rulings against segregated neighbourhoods during the 1949, white in 1954 the Brown v. Board of Education ruled out the possibility of segregated education (James 1992). Thus, Hansberry`s writings were clearly influenced by minority empowerment and advocacy for equality in America. Also, the text indicates the inherent gap between the American dream and the reality being faced by African Americans. Thus, for Hansberry the focus via text on owning a dream and the hope to achieve it was merely relying on social status and race. Furthermore, Hansberry (1994) has managed to portray the Younger family with a sense of pride and honor where they had the courage to stand up for their rights and challenge the status quo by having dreams to change their current social status. However, the text of the play doesn’t only revolved around unfulfilled dreams, rather the scenario prevalent during the time along with the deterrence in the way to achieve the dreams have also been narrated effectively. The play takes an ironic perspective when on one hand the family considers the realization of its dream of fighting oppression when it decided to move to a completely white neighborhood. However, the neighborhood has an unwelcoming attitude towards them, the newspaper stories indicate that the black houses are being bombers, also there are rumors on the attacks inflicted on the black families which Mrs Johnson along with the crudeness of a few people from the new families. Thus, Hansberry was quite impressive in incorporating the irony between dreams and the inherent issues coming in the way of achieving those dreams. In other words, Hansberry has not only narrated the concept of dreams owned by the black family but also has managed to effectively touch upon issues of racism and discrimination (Maitino & Peck 1996). Also, the end product of Hansberry`s effort is a thoughtfully narrated story of a family struggling against poverty and racism. Thus, not only is the story a timeless piece of work, rather it turned out into a lasting work on social criticism. Thus, conclusively, textual analysis of the ‘Raisin in the Sun’ signified the concept of dreams, where a story about a black family is narrated. The text implies that each family member has a distinct dream of his/her own, where they are struggling to achieve these dreams in their own different ways. The contextual analysis on the text reflects that history and the advocacy for minority rights, especially the rights of the blacks have been the focus of study in the story. During the 1950`s, the blacks were struggling to achieve equality and an enhance social status by fighting poverty and racism. In this context, the Youngers see hope and they start dreaming of achieving a higher social status when they receive $10,000 on the death of Mr. Young. One of these members dreams of opening up his own liquor store while the other wants to buy things to enhance their social status. However, Mama stresses on buying a house in the White neighborhood which she eventually succeeds in doing. The entire text revolves around the strength of their unfulfilled dreams, and finally the text narrates how the realization of their dreams in achieved after having a united dream of a new house for their family. Not only is the text supportive of the idea of dreams, but also the title reinforces the same idea, which has been borrowed from another poem which questions on why the dreams have not been fulfilled. Thus, the entire text can be placed back to the drying up of the raisins of dreams under the scorching heat of the sun. Works Cited: Bloom, Harold. Lorraine Hansberrys a Raisin in the Sun. New York: Blooms Literary Criticism, 2009. Print. Domina, Lynn, and Lorraine Hansberry. Understanding a Raisin in the Sun: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1998. Print. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Print. James, Rosetta. A Raisin in the Sun: Notes, Including Life of the Author, List of Characters. Lincoln, Neb: Cliffs Notes, 1992. Internet resource. Maitino, John R, and David R. Peck. Teaching American Ethnic Literatures: Nineteen Essays. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. Print Read More