A Raisin in the Sun - Essay Example

Drama analysis Introduction Drama is a major genre in the field of Literature. This study involves action and performances by characters. The s and directors of plays formulate fictional characters to convey messages to the audience. Characters perform and execute diverse themes in the events of a play. Therefore, the play has major roles of educating and entertaining the audience. There have been diverse play writers around the globe. Lorraine Hansberry is a major voice in Literature’s drama (Morrin, 1). A Raisin in the Sun was one of her creation under the genre of drama. This piece of art communicates outstanding themes and it entertains the audience due to the stylistic devices and the story line. There are diverse characters in this piece of art. They interact and act to attain the objective of educating and entertaining the audience (Morrin, 5). This play traces its geographical setting within the USA. It gives an outline of an average immigrant family in a foreign nation USA. This protagonist family has its ancestral link in Africa. The family negotiates through challenges of poverty and racism across the events of the play. This play has gained elevated popularity since 1959 to date. The play also has different and exclusive impacts on the white and black dominated localities. A Raisin in the Sun is a play that has attained elevated popularity from 1959. This has a key reason that the play tackles recent problems. As time passes, the challenges addressed in the play recur persistently in the recent society. In this case, the play is not outdated. It provides reference and information to address the persistently recurring social issues (Morrin, 3). The themes of this play manifest the social challenges that dwell within society. Family conflict is a major theme that reflects in the course of this play. At the same time, it is a major concern in modern society. In contemporary families, conflicts take an elevating trend (Brown, 33). Differences in opinions and interests propagate the domestic conflicts. Since 1959, subsequent years have recorded domestic disputes in an elevating trend. Hansberry’s play is therefore relevant to contemporary societies regardless of its antique creation. Hansberry’s play engrosses the Youngers family which manifests enduring domestic conflicts. This family was expecting check from the insurance company in compensation of their father’s demise. The family expected a total of ten thousand dollars from Insurance (Morrin, 7). Every member of the family had diverse objectives towards the funds. Consequently, their interests and objectives were highly conflicting. Walter Lee is the protagonist in this play. He has burning ambitions to relieve his family from poverty. Poverty had brought immense magnitudes out of the involved tribulations. Walter Lee had ambitions to relieve his family instantly from the shortages and additional tribulations brought by poverty. Therefore, Walter had decided to invest all the money from the insurance in a liquor store (Morrin, 8). He had collaborated with his friends such as Willy Haris to accomplish the establishment of the liquor store. Lena Younger (Mama) also had a different opinion towards the expenditure of the compensation. Mama wanted to make a down payment to a descent house. She had passion to own a house with a backyard (Morrin, 8). According to her, paying for the house would secure the future of her family. Mama was a conservative and her belief system was quite impermeable. Therefore, she would not support Walter’s idea of the liquor store. Evidently, the interests and thoughts of Mama differed intensely with those of Walter. Beneatha Younger is an educated lady pursuing her academic ambitions in college. She is youthful and her mentality differs with that of Mama. Mama is a conservative of African perspectives and cultures (Morrin, 8). Her daughter shocks her in her thoughts and ambitions in academics. Beneatha was the most educated person in the entire family. In this case, her intellectual thinking was not congruent with Mama’s domestic perspectives. It is therefore evident that Mama and Beneatha were in constant conflicts as they debate about conservativeness and intellectual liberation. Her ambition disagrees with that of Walter and Mama. Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor. She has an ambition of becoming a well-educated black woman in the locality (Morrin, 8). These are ambitions that are not welcome in Walter’s and Mama’s calendars. Evidently, each person’s ambition in the family varies substantially. The conflicting trend within this family conveys a message to majority of contemporary families. The direct affiliation of the domestic conflict theme with the modern society creates much popularity of the play, regardless of its initial production. A Raisin in the Sun has immense impacts on society. However, the effects of the play differ from one ethnic group to another. Black dominated societies and white dominated societies will view the play differently. The bias presented by the producer of the play accounts for the differing perspectives in black and white societies. Hansberry is biased in the manner of presenting the two races in her play. The play portrays the whites as superior and discriminative. Social relations within the USA are entirely white chauvinistic (Powell, 3). The whites employ tireless efforts to manipulate the lives of the immigrants. In this play, the blacks are victims of racial discrimination from the whites. The flow of events within the play exhibits racial discrimination. Beneatha is a black youthful lady in the American society. She is the only educated person in her family. She also has ambitions to pursue academics further and become a doctor (Morrin, 8). Beneatha also asserts that she anticipates being a black lady with education. This is an apparent implication that education was a scarce resource within the blacks. Her assertion to become an educated black lady indicates that fellow blacks in her community were semi-literate. Beneatha’s position is an induced bias from the producer of the play. Her position portrays the black race as a vulnerable cluster in American society. This revelation also manifests in the shifting process of the Youngers family. They moved to a white dominated neighborhood. Whites even prepared incentives for them not to move into the vicinity. Mr Karl Lindner was the only white character in this play (Morrin, 8). He hails from Clybourne Park Improvement Association to offer money to the Youngers family. This deal was to motivate them not to move into the whites’ neighborhood. Due to the evident bias, the whites and blacks will take a different message from the play. Blacks may take a message of anticipating more excellence and resilience due to the inferiority attached to them in the play. Whites may take a message of humanity towards the blacks since racism is a rampant social concern in the American society. Conclusion A Raisin in the Sun was a masterpiece play produced by Lorraine Hansberry. This play has exhibited an elevating trend in its popularity since 1959. The relevance of its themes accounts for the elevating popularity of the play. For instance, the theme of domestic conflicts remains relevant even to the modern society. This play also has exclusive effects on the black and white societies. The producer’s bias through the characters dictates the diversity of the play’s effect. Hansberry’s bias manifests the blacks as vulnerable people to the whites. Work cited Brown, Michael E. The International Dimensions of Internal Conflict. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1996. Print. Morrin, Maxine A. Lorraine Hansberry's a Raisin in the Sun. Piscataway, N.J: Research & Education Association, 1994. Print. Powell, Thomas. The Persistence of Racism in America. Lanham, Md: Littlefield Adams Quality Paperbacks, 1993. Print. Read More