Lorraine Hansberry's play "A Raisin in the Sun" is a play about three generations of an African American family, the Youngers, all living in a small Southside Chicago apartment in the late 1950s. In addition, the play explores a larger theme of how the fact of their race, specifically in the 1950s, serves to prohibit them from accomplishing their American dreams. Furthermore, there are many elements Hansberry employs in order to push forward this message, but in my opinion, none serve more as a catalyst then the setting of the play, the home where the entire play takes place.
First and foremost, Hansberry foreshadows the significance of the apartment by setting the scene with a five paragraph vivid description of the three room home, creating a symbol of oppression, the oppression that holds back the Youngers. Here, Hansberry creates the image of a room that has been far overworked, one that has been taken for granted by the family it strives to be a part of. …show more content…
In Act I, Scene II, Ruth Younger, due to her impecunious and incommodious living circumstance, finds herself forced to consider aborting what would be her second child. In addition, it's important to remember that in these times, abortion is not only illegal, but also very dangerous. Such a decision is so out of character for Ruth that her husband, Walter, doesn’t even believe she would think of it. "You don’t know Ruth, Mama, if you think she would do that" (951). Consequently, we learn from Mama that Ruth's harsh living situation, which is forced on her by a culture that limits her families opportunity to progress forward, which forces her to abandon her character and moral discipline was not an uncommon occurrence in the 1950s: "When the world gets ugly enough__ a women will do anything for her family. The part that is already living"
First and foremost, Hansberry foreshadows the significance of the apartment by setting the scene with a five paragraph vivid description of the three room home, creating a symbol of oppression, the oppression that holds back the Youngers. Here, Hansberry creates the image of a room that has been far overworked, one that has been taken for granted by the family it strives to be a part of. …show more content…
In Act I, Scene II, Ruth Younger, due to her impecunious and incommodious living circumstance, finds herself forced to consider aborting what would be her second child. In addition, it's important to remember that in these times, abortion is not only illegal, but also very dangerous. Such a decision is so out of character for Ruth that her husband, Walter, doesn’t even believe she would think of it. "You don’t know Ruth, Mama, if you think she would do that" (951). Consequently, we learn from Mama that Ruth's harsh living situation, which is forced on her by a culture that limits her families opportunity to progress forward, which forces her to abandon her character and moral discipline was not an uncommon occurrence in the 1950s: "When the world gets ugly enough__ a women will do anything for her family. The part that is already living"