The plays Disgraced and A Raisin in the Sun are about two men and their families going through a time of racial tension, the Younger Family, the family in A Raisin in the Sun, faces discrimination towards the African American community of the fifties while Amir, the protagonist in Disgraced, and his family face the prejudice against Muslims in the modern era. They face different type of hardships, but are more similar than they may appear. They both struggle with the concept of cultural identity and heritage. Though each of the plays demonstrates different ways their characters deal with heritage they deal with different aspects of dealing with it. Disgraced deals with a character who is ashamed of his heritage and identifies with the American
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Amir in the beginning of the play has all but abandoned his Islamic Heritage while Beneatha is trying to rediscover her African heritage. The main characters’ view of their heritage differs, as Amir is ashamed of his and will happily assimilate into American culture, while Beneatha hates those willing to assimilate into it, even though she is an American raised with American values and culture. They are two different people trying to deal with being the outcasts of the society in two different ways. Amir attempts to deal with discrimination in a realist way, by accepting it as a fact of life. While Beneatha is training for one of the most respectable jobs in American society she rejects it in hope of finding her African heritage. Beneatha even exhibits anger when her friend Asagai from Nigeria teases her about her hair, “I am not an assimilationist!” (Hansberry 63). The mere thought of assimilation is so offensive to her that a mere joke by a friend angers her. These two characters are opposites, Amir seeks to assimilate into American society and views assimilation positively, while he considers his own culture as inferior. Beneatha on the other hand views assimilation as disgraceful and views her African heritage as superior. These two plays display both the positive and negative aspects of heritage and assimilation into another
Amir in the beginning of the play has all but abandoned his Islamic Heritage while Beneatha is trying to rediscover her African heritage. The main characters’ view of their heritage differs, as Amir is ashamed of his and will happily assimilate into American culture, while Beneatha hates those willing to assimilate into it, even though she is an American raised with American values and culture. They are two different people trying to deal with being the outcasts of the society in two different ways. Amir attempts to deal with discrimination in a realist way, by accepting it as a fact of life. While Beneatha is training for one of the most respectable jobs in American society she rejects it in hope of finding her African heritage. Beneatha even exhibits anger when her friend Asagai from Nigeria teases her about her hair, “I am not an assimilationist!” (Hansberry 63). The mere thought of assimilation is so offensive to her that a mere joke by a friend angers her. These two characters are opposites, Amir seeks to assimilate into American society and views assimilation positively, while he considers his own culture as inferior. Beneatha on the other hand views assimilation as disgraceful and views her African heritage as superior. These two plays display both the positive and negative aspects of heritage and assimilation into another