A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Summary

A Raisin in the Sun tells the story of the Younger family, a lower middle class family attempting to escape the struggles that come with being African American in the 1960s.  The family consists of Ruth, a housewife, her husband Walter Lee, their son Travis, Walter's sister Beneatha, and his mother Lena (referred to as Mama).  Walter Lee dreams of owning his own liquor shop and Beneatha dreams of succeeding as a doctor, but they are both held back from their dreams by financial struggles.  On top of this, Beneatha struggles with identity when she meets Joseph Asagai, a Nigerian student, who is proud of his heritage and encourages her to embrace her "natural" cultural heritage.  Both Walter and Ruth, who is pregnant, work to make ends meet.  Until, the insurance check from Walter's father's death arrives.  Suddenly, they have a chance at achieving their dreams that have been deferred for their whole lives.  

Mama goes and buys a house in a safer, predominantly white neighborhood, in hopes of giving Travis a safer childhood.  However, everything changes when they are told by a representative of the neighborhood named Mr. Lindner alienates them and suggests that they stay in their current home.  On top of that, they lose all of their money because Walter was scammed by the guy he bought the liquor store from.  Beneatha is devastated, as her money was used by Walter.  She is about to give up when Asagai encourages her to pursue her dreams for the sake of progress and purpose, instead of financial benefit.  He also asks her to move to Africa with him to pursue a medical career in Nigeria.

To redeem himself, Walter decides to step up and (verbally) fight against the white people telling his family to not move in to the neighborhood.  He chooses to move in and deal with the racism that will surely come their way.  They pack up, Beneatha presumably goes to Africa with Asagai, and the rest of the Youngers are finally given a new chance at life.

Themes

*There's a lot of overlap in these themes so bear with me*

The American Dream

    The American Dream is the ideal, promoted in the 1930s, that all Americans have the same opportunity to become successful through hard work and determination.

    A Raisin in the Sun exposes how the American Dream is restricted by systemic racism and classism.  The Jim Crow Laws served to ensure that African-Americans remained stuck in the lowest tier of society by lowering their salary, increasing their house prices, and enforcing segregation into every aspect of social life.  

    The United States was set up to remind African-Americans that they are inferior to White people and conditioning White people to associate these racial minorities with the lower class.  With a singular set of laws they reinforced two ideas : "Black People suck" and "Poor People are ruining the country".

    By doing this, the country systemically denied Black and impoverished people from gaining the reward promised to them by the American Dream.

    The book challenges this notion by giving the characters an opportunity to pursue their dreams.  Although the book starts with the Youngers being an average Black and lower middle class family, where the adults had to sacrifice their dreams to focus on keeping up with the bill, the book ends with the family moving up in society and getting closer to achieving their dream.  The adults — Ruth, Walter, and Mama — already sacrificed their dreams to take care of the family and make ends meet.  Walter had to put aside his dream of opening his own liquor store, and Ruth and Mama had to put their personal aspirations aside to be housewives and work.  All three of them already internalized the belief that the American Dream could not be achieved by people like them.  

    However, by the end, the Youngers defy that belief.  They move to a predominantly white, safer, richer neighborhood in hopes of a brighter future, despite knowing the risks.  This choice to move, is more than a physical relocation for the sake of safety — it symbolizes the refusal to be limited by society's expectation that screams at Black people to stay at the bottom.  It showed how these hopes and dreams that lived inside of Walter, Mama, and Ruth, weren't dead.  They were simply deferred by society.  But by taking the chance to move into a better home, despite knowing the challenges, they were able to revisit those dreams and take a step closer to achieving their American Dream.

Race

    Because whiteness was the norm in the United States and racism was heavily normalized in the Post-War age, Black women were seen as ugly and eccentric.  To be taken seriously in the workplace and seen as beautiful and desirable, Black women were pressured to erase their natural identity to fit in. 

    This theme is evident in the way George Murchison and Joseph Asagai interact with Beneatha.  Asagai believes Beneatha is an assimilationist — a person who adheres to the majority's culture and behavior instead of their own — and encourages her to embrace her Black identity.  When she does, she is criticized by George Murchison, her boyfriend, for wearing her hair "raw", and looking eccentric.  George represents the society that tells Black women that they must adhere to White beauty standards to be valued, as well as the internalized racism and belief that conformity is vital to success that Black women could've felt.  However, Asagai represents a perspective rooted in cultural pride, as he proudly proclaims that natural Black beauty should be valued and celebrated.