Feminist Perspective In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

A feminist perspective is describing the role and equality the men and women have in a story, play or movie. In the “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry the roles are quite reversed. In the Younger family racial tensions between the blacks and whites makes up a big part of their life. Lena Younger, a single mother (and grandmother) of Beneatha and son Walter along with Walter 's wife Ruth and son Travis all live in a run-down two bedroom apartment. A chance at a new beginning lies ahead of them. A life insurance check for $10,000 dollars was given to Lena Younger for the lose of her husband. Lena decides to go and purchase a house in a white neighborhood. All the people within the house have a thought on what to do with the money. Beneatha wants tuition money, Walter wants money to open a liquor store, and Ruth just wants her family to be happy. The women in the “A Raisin in the Sun” are portrayed as strong and independent. This is the time where women were supposed to stand behind a man and not stand up for themselves. But in this play it just so happens to be the other way around. All the women have jobs and work hard to provide for the family. Lena Younger …show more content…
At this time in history feminism was revolutionary. Mama is the strongest head of the household even though she gets down sometimes. Beneatha is determined to be a doctor but is still trying to find the path she should go down. Ruth is not a feminist on the other hand but she does not hurt the cause at all. Walter is surprisingly the character that advances feminism the most theroy. A critical point to point out is that even though the women are independent from the men, Hansberry 's gives the women such wonderful characteristics that they can be strong and independent without being rude or abrasive to get what they want. The feminist perspective describes the role and equality the women in the story, play or