The Employment and Housing Inequality In “A Raisin in the Sun”
America is known as the land of the opportunity, and dreams. The people of this country believe that with hard work they can achieve their goals and become successful. However, the American dream, was not always free or easily obtainable for Black Americans. Play write Loraine Hansberry, through her literary work, A Raisin in the Sun, builds an argument that Chicago was not a safe for African Americans but rather that it was socially and culturally influenced and controlled by whites. A Raisin in the Sun highlights the psychological stresses of the Younger family in the 1950’s. It tells the life of a poor black family that is looking to upgrade their living status but unable to because of the oppression that held blacks down from progressing and earning enough money to own homes and not live in poverty. A Raisin in the Sun is set in an area where racism was …show more content…
Blacks were the first to be hired for these types of positions because servitude was considered a job for those of lower status. Higher wage jobs were seldom made available to blacks because businesses maintained their all-white companies (Nowrouzi,Sohila and Esmaeil). In her play, Hansberry gave each of her character’s jobs that would represented the job discrimination. Walter worked as a chauffeur for a rich business man, Ruth does laundry and cleans kitchens, and Mama worked as a housemaid for a white family. Walter’s father also worked as a chauffeur, further portraying the pattern in their family (Hansberry). Hansberry deliberately points this out in order to bring attention to the inequality in employment and how the confinement to domestic servitude oppressed the black Americans in Chicago. Walter anger and demeanor is a sign of the oppressiveness of working for a rich man for low
America is known as the land of the opportunity, and dreams. The people of this country believe that with hard work they can achieve their goals and become successful. However, the American dream, was not always free or easily obtainable for Black Americans. Play write Loraine Hansberry, through her literary work, A Raisin in the Sun, builds an argument that Chicago was not a safe for African Americans but rather that it was socially and culturally influenced and controlled by whites. A Raisin in the Sun highlights the psychological stresses of the Younger family in the 1950’s. It tells the life of a poor black family that is looking to upgrade their living status but unable to because of the oppression that held blacks down from progressing and earning enough money to own homes and not live in poverty. A Raisin in the Sun is set in an area where racism was …show more content…
Blacks were the first to be hired for these types of positions because servitude was considered a job for those of lower status. Higher wage jobs were seldom made available to blacks because businesses maintained their all-white companies (Nowrouzi,Sohila and Esmaeil). In her play, Hansberry gave each of her character’s jobs that would represented the job discrimination. Walter worked as a chauffeur for a rich business man, Ruth does laundry and cleans kitchens, and Mama worked as a housemaid for a white family. Walter’s father also worked as a chauffeur, further portraying the pattern in their family (Hansberry). Hansberry deliberately points this out in order to bring attention to the inequality in employment and how the confinement to domestic servitude oppressed the black Americans in Chicago. Walter anger and demeanor is a sign of the oppressiveness of working for a rich man for low