April 2, 2015
Ms.Mazaheri
A Dream to Come True Lorraine Hansberry was an African American Playwright and civil rights activist. Ms. Hansberry was also the first African American women to write a play that were performed on Broadway. “A Raisin in the Sun” can be considered a significant milestone for African American in the United States. Lorraine Hansberry attains the title “A Raisin in the Sun” from the poem “Dream Deferred” written by Langston Hughes. Both poets Lorraine Hansberry and Langston Hughes were tired of the stereotypical roles for African Americans. They both wanted to see African Americans portrayed in positive roles. Focusing on the dream that one day an African American family would be able to purchase a house. …show more content…
It did not matter if African Americans were wealthy, there was race inequality. She translated many of the events that happened to her on to the stage. What makes the play so significant that it’s from Lorraine Hansberry own childhood where she experienced discrimination in Chicago. This was an era where segregation was still legal and forced separation of blacks and whites. Hansberry’s family in 1938 brought a house in a white neighborhood in a restrictive covenant stopping black buyers from buying houses in Englewood, Illinois. This conflict deeply affected her childhood in which twenty years later she wrote “A Raisin in the Sun “to show the struggle it played upon her life. Lorraine Hansberry addresses to young black writers that “what I write is not based on the assumption of idyllic possibilities or innocent assessments of the true nature of life, but rather, on my own personal view that the human race does command its own destiny and that that destiny can eventually embrace stars”(Edythe M McGovern). Hansberry personnel experience is portrayed in her play as she tells the story of a family “The Youngers” encountering many obstacles and facing adversity having them left to …show more content…
They can make or break you in the long run. Langston Hughes wrote a play about dreams that goes unrecognized and put on pause. He wonders what happens to the dreams and ask does it dry up like a raisin in the sun. The Younger family receives a check in the make for 100,000 dollars. Each family member has their own individual dream to do with the money and causes tension between the Youngers which may not fulfill everyone’s dream. They struggle to make these dreams come true throughout the play and base their happiness and failures to attain their dream. Towards the end of the play they learn that the real dream was the family house and not their individual dreams because family is all you have at the end of the day. Hansberry also focuses on the theme of racial discrimination with the character Mr. Linder to show the issues the Youngers couldn’t escape. The neighborhood committee sent Mr. Linder from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association to the Youngers neighborhood to persuade them not to move in the all-white neighborhood. The neighborhood committee and Mr. Linder only see the skin of the Youngers family, and the offer to bribe the Youngers to keep them from moving which tears the family apart and the values they stand for. The Youngers answer to the racial discrimination with rebellion and unity. The play signifies that the best way to deal with discrimination is to stand up