Araby

Eng 193

8 Mar. 2007

“A Raisin in the sun”

March 11,1959 the play “A Raisin In The Sun” made it’s debut , it was a landmark event in social history. The play was received by the public and critics in award winning form, as well as regarded as a great insight into the real world issues of African Americans at that time. The play “Moved and captivated it’s largely white audience at New York’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre.“(Peerman, Dean pp.71). Lorraine Hansberry, the writer of the ground breaking play, used her own childhood for inspiration for the plays origination. The characters in the play portrayed many different aspects of the struggle of the African Americans of the time. The longing for success, and the oppression of racial discrimination looming over them at every turn. The play “A Raisin In The Sun” was a riveting look into real life struggles of African Americans in the 1950’s .

In 1959, Lorraine Hansberry made history as the first black woman to write a Broadway play. When Lorraine Hansberry penned “A Raisin In The Sun” she was using her own childhood experience as motivation for the play. When Hansberry was eight years old, “her family moved into a neighborhood that was legally designated whites only.”(literary cavalcade 5/2005). It was with this experience that she received the motivation to write about the Younger family’s struggle in Chicago during the 1950’s.

Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin In The Sun” was awarded the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for “The best play of the year“.(Baldwin, James pp.xvii) Lorraine Hansberry also addressed fellow black writers in 1959 stating “I wish to live because life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful and that which is love…I wish others to live for generations and generations…”(Baldwin, James pp.xvii). This statement was made before the release of the play “A Raisin In The Sun”, and it shows a love for everyone that was very rare at that time in America.

The racial overtones in “A Raisin In The Sun” are obvious through the entire play. Walter constantly longs for the respect that the whites get, and the fact that Karl Linder came to see the Younger family was the most racism drawn scene in the play. Karl Lindner is a member of the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, “special problems committee” which is aimed at improving the living conditions for the people of Clybourne Park. Lindner comes to the Younger apartment with concerns about the new house they have just purchased. Lindner tells Walter that the people of Clybourne Park believe that “people get along better... when they share a common background” (Hansberry A.2 Sc.7 ). Mr. Lindner offers to buy the Youngers home for “more than you paid for it” (Hansberry A.2 Sc.7) which, in the riveting ending of the play, Walter turns down. As it turns out the “welcoming committee” is not a welcoming committee at all. It is another attempt to keep African Americans where the white majority feels they should be.

Walter Younger Want’s the better things in life, he longs for financial freedom. Walter is a chauffer. It is a low wage job, but he goes to work everyday with the dream of being able to be regarded as the rich whites are that he works for. The money he makes hardly provides enough for his family to survive. He is always thinking that money will solve