.. Don't understand nothing about building their men up and making 'em feel like they somebody. Like they can do something" (Hansberry, I, i.). It is clear that Walter Lee still believes it is the woman's role to support the man in his endeavors, and not to make decisions or act on them. In her responses to him, Ruth displays her growing frustration with and rejection of this belief, which was also largely typical of the time -- as the fifties wore on and moved into the sixties, many women began to demand the same rights to money and work that they had experienced during the war (Learn History).
But though both Ruth and Mamma are quite telling about the role of women in the play and in society at large, Beneatha is arguably the most symbolic of the women. Her struggle is much more rooted in the upcoming 1960s, when both the women's rights and Civil Rights movements would really take off ("Women's History"). In the play, Beneatha struggles with the old and traditional desires of her family, especially as they get in the way of her dream of becoming a doctor. As an African-American female, this was a highly non-traditional dream, and is the clearest example the play provides of a woman -- and a person of color -- casting off the shackles of the identity society has pegged her with and attempting to define herself.
It is unclear whether or not this attempt was successful at the end of the play, which is fitting given that it appeared in 1959 and the issues of gender and race still aren't fully...
Some early critics of the play complained that it was merely another tale of the struggling African-American family, but the character of Beneatha truly shows that it is about much more (). Yet along with her liberation comes a certain selfishness and desire for isolation that does not appear altogether healthy, for her as an individual or for society at large. In a sense, the roots that the other tow women have in traditional maternal and wifely roles help to bring the play to its shaky yet optimistic conclusion; without the strength of the family bonds which the women are the keepers of, the Younger family might have been destroyed. Beneatha holds the promise of the future, but it shoudn;t come with an ignorance of the past.
All of the women take on increased financial roles, or at least attempt to, and they each also show signs of increased agency. This reflects the changing roles for women in society during this period. A Raisin in the Sun is truly a complex play, to be understood on many levels.
Works Cited
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1989.
Learn History. "USA - a Divided Union 1941-80: Women and Families in the 1950s." http://www.learnhistory.org.uk/usa/women1950s.htm
Washington. J. Charles. "A Raisin in the Sun Revisited." Black American Literature Forum, 23(1), 1988.
"Women's History: Sixties/Seventies." About.com. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/60s70s/Sixties_Seventies.htm
