Racial Identity and A Raisin in the Sun 3

Race Identity and A Raisin in the Sun

Crystal Roby

African-American Psychology

Dr. Katrina Hood

April 3, 2014, Thursday

Mississippi State University

The A Raisin in the Sun is a Broadway play written by Lorraine Hansberry, about the Younger family, a poor working class family in Chicagos Woodhawn neighborhood. The Younger family is made of Walter and Ruth and their young son Travis, Walters mother Lena aka Mama and his sister Beneatha. The family is struggling, because Walters job as a limousine driver is not providing enough income to support the household. Walter is the dreamer of the family; he wants to achieve the American Dream, which means to become wealthy. He is so desperate, that he plans to invest money into a liquor with his hustler friend Willy who is never seen. His wife Ruth is content with their way of life. When the play starts, Mama is expecting an insurance check. Walter sees the check as an opportunity as a way to better is his and his family lives, but his sister tells him that it should be Mamas decision as the best to spend the money, so she decides to put the money down on a new house for the family. Walter eventually loses some of the money, but the family is still able move into a new home in an all-white neighborhood, mostly because its cheaper. It just seems that Walter is only concerned about his needs and want, whether than his familys. The characters of George Murchison, Beneathas rich boyfriend and Joseph Asagai, a medical student from Nigeria who is attending school in Canada are metaphors for racial identities of Black Americans. George is an accomplished black man who has rejected his black roots to better himself in the white world, this thinking does not sit well with Beneatha, who is somewhat rejected her heritage by straighten her hair. Joseph is completely the opposite of that. He in embraces his heritage, and teaches Beneatha to embrace hers. I would say the Walter leans towards Georges way of thinking. Walter wants to unshackle himself from his culture as a way to achieve his dream. Its as if Walter doesnt see himself as a black man, even if the world does. By the end of the play Walter realizes and accepts his black culture. He realizes he should be embrace his blackness.