Lena Younger

Essay # 64516

African-American Studies
English
Literature > American

Lena Younger

An analysis of the character of Lena Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun".

1,250 words () | 10 sources | MLA | 2005 United States

Paper Summary:

Mama Lena Younger is a domestic worker and matriarch of the Younger family in Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun". This paper examines how Lena is characterized as the stereotypical image of the asexual, self-sacrificing mother. It also attempts to show how Lena is not only the matriarch, but is also the revolutionary who sends her children do battle in the civil rights movement.

From the Paper:

"The strength of Lena as a matriarch is her blessing as well as her curse. Mama cleans house and never complains about it. She knows that it is something that needs to be done and wants her family to feel comfortable. She would do anything for her family at any cost. The strength enables her to endure the indignity of domestic work, in caring for her family, but it also frequently the cause of conflict within the family. The zeal she has for making sure that her family is morally upright carries the risk of stunting the emotional growth of all of them. She dominates her adult children, all of whom live under her crowded roof, and decides, without consulting them, to purchase a house with the $10,000 insurance benefit paid on her husband's death."