A Raisin In The Sun Theme Essay

In the play, Beneatha is presented as hope against the oppression she is suppressed by which reinforces her central theme. However, Petrie minimizes her role in establishing the central theme. Beneatha embraces her ethnicity in the play, however Petrie removes this aspect in his film. Daniel Petrie’s directorial decisions in the movie adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun portrays Hansberry’s central message of oppression however he fails to reinforce society’s responsibilities for this oppression. In the film Petrie alters the setting of the Youngers’ living room thus revising Hansberry’s intent to present the family as impoverished.

a raisin in the sun theme essay

Their pursuit will lead them to many sacrifices and risks that affect themselves and their family. Individuals with strong determination to pursue their dreams such as Walter and Beneatha depicts how dreams can interfere with reality, which causes them to detach from their lives and sacrifice everything. In A Raisin in the Sun, the power of money regarding social stature and dignity is also presented. This is demonstrated when Beneatha talks to Ruth about one of her suitors, George Murchison. George is an anomaly regarding black men in this period, for he is rich and lives in the luxury which is normally attained by white people. Beneatha tells Ruth that George is offensively snobbish and rude due to his higher class.

Essays Related To Themes On Raisin In The Sun

People have dreams that they pursue, but sometimes the pursuit of their goals can take a dangerous precedence over what is truly important to them. Depending on the goals of these dreams, people will change themselves and their lives in order to live up to the standards of that dream. The changes one does to make their dream come true can affect their reality, which includes family, friends, and work. Everything in their current life is put in jeopardy, just to attain a fictional life that they have dreamt. How many people can say they have put in the effort and time it takes to grow a garden?

a raisin in the sun theme essay

However, she conveys the message that money is not life, as Walter claimed it was. Rather, family, pride in yourself, and pursuing your dreams are the things that are really important. The character that seems to express this view the closest is Mama. In Act I Mama tells Beneatha, “There is always something left to love. Even after all the mistakes Walter has made, Mama shows that love for your family, not money holds greater value.

The play ends with the Youngers moving out of the tenement, heading for the suburbs, despite every indication that their fellow Americans will not welcome them. Mama Lena is the last to exit the apartment, and her pensive farewell serves as a prelude to a future of offstage malevolence. Insulted by this “civil” effort to keep his family out of the neighborhood, Walter Lee declines. However, he later realizes he has been swindled out of every penny entrusted to him, having given it to an acquaintance who promised to speed up the liquor license process and then skipped town. He invites Lindner back and rehearses a speech to accept the humiliating offer. The progress of each character’s thinking in ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ by the end of the play.

The Great Gatsby Movie Analysis

She becomes willing to sacrifice anything for her children’s future. However, one can argue that the catalyst for her family’s success is money, wealth. A Raisin in the Sun is a play telling the story of an African-American tragedy. The Younger family lives in the ghetto and is at a crossroads after the father’s death. Mother Lena Younger and her grown up https://writemyessaytoday.us/write-my-assignment/ children Walter Lee and Beneatha share a cramped apartment in a poor district of Chicago, in which she and Walter Lee’s wife Ruth and son Travis barely fit together inside. Lena’s husband, the family’s father died and his life insurance brings the family $ 10,000.

  • The central civil rights issue in this play is, of course, the idea of segregated housing.
  • It touches on the “Black family” with big dreams but not “Big money”.
  • Raised in the South during an era where blacks’ very lives were in danger because expository essay writing” of the prevalence of lynching, Lena moved to the North with the hopes of leading a better life.
  • She wanted them to live a better life and so she moved them into a house that was spacious and were Travis didn’t have to sleep on the couch and were they didn’t have to take turns for the shower with other people outside their family.

Money became a necessity to get them out of their current situation. Once the family received the insurance check from the father’s death it formed a wedge in the family. They began to debate on who deserved the rights to use the money, who needed the money. Money was the answer to all of the conflict in the play likewise it caused more conflict.

More North American Essays:

The phrase “fluidly adapted” supports the idea that melodramas focus on real issues, their characters caricatures of the men and women of the time in which they are based, a method of commenting on our ever-changing society through entertainment. Before analysing and comparing the genre which links these two films, it is important to note the periods in which they were set and made, and the social constructions behind both their main themes and their characters’ actions. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was made in 1945, the year in which the Second World War ended.

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