"A Raisin in the Sun"

Paper Summary:

The paper describes the Younger family who, although they each have different goals, dreams and ambitions, ultimately work together as one character to achieve the dream of home ownership. The paper shows how the author uses the entire family as a type of larger-than-life protagonist, indicating it takes more than one family member to fight the white "system" and attain the dreams of the entire family.

From the Paper:

"At the beginning of this emotional play, all the Younger family characters are introduced in the first act. At first glance, it would not seem as if the playwright had the idea of altering the traditional protagonist role to include the entire family. Each member of the family seems to have a different agenda at the start of the action. Walter wants to buy a liquor store, Mama wants to buy a house, Ruth is afraid to bring another child into the world, and Beneatha wants to go to medical school. In the 1950s, when they play is set, all of these are lofty goals, especially for a struggling black family living on the South Side of Chicago."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Domina, Lynn. Understanding a Raisin in the Sun A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.
• Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Hansberry's a Raisin in the Sun." Explicator 52.1 (1993): 59-61.
• Hansberry, Lorraine. "A Raisin in the Sun." The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing, Sixth Edition. Ed. Michael Meyer. 1731-1793.

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