A Raisin in the Sun: Overview

Lorraine Hansberry was a first black woman, whose play was staged on Broadway. She was born in 1930, and in 1959 her best known play.

A Raisin in the Sun, was first staged. It brought her awards and fame, as the audience liked her style, and the fact that she wrote about individuals, people who had the courage to defend their opinions. The writer died of cancer when she was 34, which cut her promising career.

Objective Summary

Youngers, an Afro-American family living in Chicago, receive the insurance check for 10,000$. every member of the family has some plans for this money. Mama, who is the eldest in the family, wants a bigger house, Walter Lee, her son thinks about investing a liquor store, Beneatha, Walter’s sister wants to pay for her medical school tuition, while Walter’s wife, Ruth, agrees with Mama.

In some time Ruth finds out she’s pregnant, and tells her husband she is thinking about abortion. When Mama hears this, she puts a down payment on a house, which is in the white neighborhood. But when the future neighbors hear, that Youngers are black, they offer them money for staying away, but the family refuses this deal, even despite the fact that Walter loses the rest of the money, as his friend Willy Harris, who persuaded Walter to invest in a liquor story runs with his money.

Beneatha gets the marriage proposal from Joseph Asagai, her boyfriend from Nigeria, who wants her to graduate medical school and move to Nigeria with him. Beneatha can’t make her choice. The family moves out from their old apartment, feeling that they are strong enough to fulfill their dreams by themselves.

Subjective Evaluation

The play is an interesting and useful reading as it tells about people for whom money are not the goal, it’s rather a way to reach their aims. Each of the members of the Youngers family has his/her dream, and they are ready to fight for it, and this dream isn’t having lots of money.

Will Beneatha be able to leave her family and her life in the U.S for to move to Nigeria with Joseph?