His actions motivate the entire family to draw upon each other, and rely on each other's common strength to challenge the established racial and social standards. Walter's brave decision to move regardless of the racial and financial problems that they will face exhibits his strong core reliance and attachment to his family. Ultimately, social and political groups show that despite surface level tension between the Younger families, these individuals are dedicated to the family unit at their core levels, especially when confronted by outsiders challenging the strength of their family.
The final aspect we need to examine the impact of gender roles within the Younger family. Gender roles are a fundamental point of tension and conflict within the play. This is because this family nucleus is dominated primarily by the women rather than men. There are always subtle underlying gender tensions being played throughout the plot development. Lena's control of…...

mla

Noelle, J. (2004, December 16). A Raisin in the Sun. Retrieved October 14, 2006 at http://caxton.stockton.edu/brigantine/stories/storyReader$20

NPR. (2005, April). A Raisin in the Sun. Retrieved October 14, 2006, at  http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/raisin/ 

Maxnotes a Raisin in the Sun. (1994). Boston: Research & Education Assoc.

Arthur Miller / Lorraine Hansberry
The idea of the "American Dream," of achieving material success through one's own efforts, is not merely a constant topic in American literature, it seems to be a fundamental archetype of American national mythology. The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and the popular stories of Horatio Alger in the 19th century established this motif as central to the American concept of manhood: we can see the precise motif still at work, virtually unaltered, in the 2006 film "The Pursuit of Happyness" Based on the story of a real man, Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith), who is rendered homeless with his five-year-old son (played by Will Smith's real-life son Jaden), Gardner manages through charm and a few lucky breaks not only to drag himself out of the poverty caused by his unwise investment in bone-density scanners, and back up into success. As Gardner tells his son in…...

aisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry [...] elements of drama and literary qualities of the play. This play was anything but conventional when it debuted on Broadway in 1959. It explored issues of racism, prejudice, and the dreams of others that made playgoers stop and think about what they were seeing acted out on stage, including themes Broadway theatergoers did not expect and it made many firsts on the Broadway stage.
"A aisin in the Sun" became Lorraine Hansberry's first play, and it made a lot of history in the American theater. One literary critic notes, "The first play by a black woman to win the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the first play by a black woman to be performed on Broadway, the longest-running play by a black writer on Broadway for a quarter of a century and a production which launched the career of a number…...

mla

References

Bigsby, C.W.E. Modern American Drama, 1945-2000. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Domina, Lynn. Understanding a Raisin in the Sun: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Ed. Johnson, Claudia Durst. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Hansberry's a Raisin in the Sun." Explicator 52.1 (1993): 59-61.

Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Signet, 1988.

Lorraine Hansberry looks at a variety of themes in her play Raisin in the Sun. These themes include the challenge of upward mobility for blacks, the problem of inequality—particularly when the Youngers find a home they want to buy in a white neighborhood and are pressed by another home owner there to live somewhere else. The themes of dignity and family are also important in the play, as the head of the household Walter has to make a decision about whether he is going to finally give up his get rich quick schemes and put his family first or blow the rest of the money left by Mama for them to get a home. There is also the problem of the unexpected pregnancy for Ruth and what it means for the family. Ruth is scared because they are already so poor and she does not want to burden the family…...

The end of the play is not entirely happy. Beneatha cannot going to go to medical school because of her brother's mistakes. The Youngers will likely face racist in their new neighborhood. They will have to struggle to meet their mortgage payments. (Corley, 1998) Yet alter has become a man, Travis, the new plant under Mama's care will have a better home than his older brother or sister, and even the old plant will have more light and space to grow. Mama's dream, like the life of her plant and children, has not been perfect -- nor are her children perfect. But Mama, like her plant and her entire family that she has cared for, at least as a new home by the end of the play. Thus, the play ends with Mama symbolically taking the plant to the new house in the suburbs, into a better but uncertain future.

orks…...

mla

Works Cited

Corley Cheryl. "A Raisin in the Sun." National Public Radio: Morning Features. March 11, 2002.   Aug 2005]http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/raisin/ [17

Hansberry, Lorraine. "A Raisin in the Sun." 1959.

Kodat, Catherine Gunther. "Confusion in a Dream Deferred: Context and Culture in A Raisin in the Sun." Studies in the Literary Imagination. Spring 1998.

At the time these issues were groundbreaking topics. The play explored the decision that uth had to make because her economic conditions dictated that she could not afford another child. In addition, Beneatha's prospects of becoming a doctor and getting married were also explored in the play. This issue was extremely relevant at the time as some women were beginning to work outside the home. Although the play did not address whether or not Beneatha became a doctor or if she marred, it certainly presented the likelihood that these issues would present obstacles for Beneatha.
Overall a aisin in the Sun was a critically acclaimed play that still has certain parallels with today's society and the treatment of minorities. The play is studied throughout the various levels of academia and has become a classic American play. It has experienced long runs on Broadway and Phylicia ashad became the first African-American…...

mla

References

Context. 21 Dec. 2007  http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/raisin/context.html 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Hansberry's a Raisin in the Sun." Explicator 52.1 (1993): 59-61

Hansberry L., 1959 a Raisin in the Sun

Plot Overview. 21 Dec. 2007.  http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/raisin/summary.html

This is similar to the specifics of the legal case that Hansberry's father became engaged in over their house in an all white neighborhood. In the real-life version of events, however, things were far less polite. Hansberry's father was actually breaking a legal covenant between property owners of the area that they would not sell to African-Americans, and Carl Hansberry was actually sued for $100,000 -- a huge sum of money in 1937 (and not bad now) (SocialJusticeiki). Hansberry countersued, claiming that the covenant had denied him his right to be heard, and the Supreme Court agreed, allowing his family to stay in their home on a legal technicality, but not ending the discriminatory covenant (SocialJusticeiki). In the case of the Youngers, alter is given a temptation of money, and his ultimate refusal of it -- " e don't want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no…...

mla

Works Cited

Atkinson, Brooks. "A Raisin in the Sun: Theatre Review." March 12, 1959. The New York Times. Reproduced online by the publisher. Accessed 6 December 2008.  http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?html_title=&tols_title=a%20RAISIN%20IN%20THE%20SUN%20 (PLAY)&pdate=19590312&byline=by%20BROOKS%20ATKINSON&id=1077011428967

Biography of an Intellectual." Social Justice Wiki. Last modified January 2006. Columbia University. Accessed on 6 December 2008.  http://socialjustice.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/index.php/Biography_of_an_Intellectual 

Brantley, Ben. "THEATER REVIEW: A Breakthrough 50's Drama Revived in a Suspenseful Mood." April 27, 2004. The New York Times. Reproduced online by the publisher. Accessed on 6 December 2008.  http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9E02E6D7103AF934A15757C0A9629C8B63 

Hansberry v. Lee." Social Justice Wiki. Last modified January 2006. Columbia University. Accessed on 6 December 2008.  http://socialjustice.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/index.php/Hansberry_v._Lee

At the same time Bernice doesn't tell her daughter the history of the heirloom, in fear of waking the spirit. This means that even Bernice is not using her legacy positively, but is afraid of it. Both characters are able to embrace their history with pride by the end of the play, as Boy illie comes to understand the Piano's significance and Bernice begins to play it again (Sparknotes.com)
3. The Little Foxes

a. Significance of the Title

Lillian Hellman was born in New Orleans and educated at New York and Columbia University. Her first success was the play 'The Children's Hour'; she was an active part of political activities and spoke openly about her ideals. 'The Little Foxes' brought her greater fame and reflects her opinion of and her remembrances of the South (kirjasto.sci.fi).

The play is a satire or a criticism of the machinations of capitalists who live to feed of…...

mla

Works Cited:

Bradford, W. The Piano Lesson: Study Guide. 2012. 11 June, 2012.  http://plays.about.com/od/plays/a/pianolesson.htm 

Cannon, J. "Local Women's History Celebrated." "The Dernopolis Times." 2011. Web. 11 June, 2012.

Cliffnotes.com. A Raisin in the Sun. 2012. Web. 11 June, 2012.

Enotes.com. The Little Foxes: Introduction. 2012. 11 June, 2012.  http://www.enotes.com/little-foxes

hile Baraka's play Dutchman ends in fatal violence against a young black male endeavoring in vain to assert his individual identity and manhood, Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, which takes place in the 1950's, on Chicago's South Side, ends with alter Younger Jr. being defeated in his quest for individual independence, autonomy, and a sense of authentic manhood apart from his race by a crooked partner and supposed coordinator of alter and his friends' liquor store plan, who instead runs off with the money from alter's mother's life insurance settlement that alter has invested.

ithin this play, alter's sense of manhood depends, like Clay's in Baraka's Dutchman, on his ability (or not) to realize his dreams and aspirations autonomously, apart from race. Like Clay's in Baraka's Dutchman, these are no different from any man's dreams, white or black: autonomy; respectability; the right to pursue and create his own desired…...

mla

Works Cited

Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage (Reprint edition).

November 29, 1994.

Jones, LeRoi. Dutchman. New York: Morrow, 1964. 4.

Raisin in the Sun
Beneatha is ahead of her time in a Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Beneatha is the daughter of Lena Younger and younger sister of alter Lee who is married to Ruth. alter Lee and Ruth have a ten-year-old son Travis, who gets his way often being the only grandson. Beneatha is a college student who desires to attend medical school. Though this is a poor African-American family that has just lost the breadwinner, Beneatha and alter Lee's father, alter Sr. who has died and left the family $10,000 in insurance money. Beneatha is in need of money to attend medical school while her brother wishes to invest the money in a liquor store. Their mother, Lena desires to buy the family a home in a middle class neighborhood where all the residents are Caucasian (hite). Beneatha clearly will…...

mla

Works Cited

Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Robert Nemerhoff. Random House: New York. 1958.

It is the last thing Mama carries out of the apartment when the family moves, symbolizing the family's failure to thrive in their neighborhood. Both the plant and the Younger family are expected to blossom in their new surroundings.
alter Jr. wants to use the money to buy a liquor store with his friends. He believes that owning a business will give the family the financial freedom that will make a better life possible for all of them. alter's sister, Beneatha, attends college and dreams of being a doctor. She very much wants the money to attend medical school. In a way, her dream distances her from her brother and the rest of the family. She is better educated than they are and her dream, if fulfilled, would take her much farther than a new home or a family business ever could. She is eager to forge her own identity…...

mla

Works Cited

"A Raisin in the Sun." Wikipedia. 1 May 2011. Web. 6 May 2011.

Ardolino, Frank. 'Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.' Explicator. 63.3 (2005): 181-183. Online. 5

May 2011.

Gordon, Michelle. "Somewhat Like War": The Aesthetics of Segregation, Black Liberation, and 'A Raisin in the Sun.'" African-American Review 42.1 (2008): 121-133.

He needs this chance, Lena" (Hansberry 26). uth dreams of rekindling the love that used to exist between them, and she knows that it has changed or altered somehow, and that something is missing in her relationship with him. She believes in him enough to stand up for him, even though they do not share the same dream, which shows that she is a supportive and caring woman, and that Walter has chosen his wife wisely and well. She also dreams of a home of their own, so Mama is fulfilling at least some of uth's dreams as well as her own with the purchase of the house.
Finally, the theme of dreams fills this play and its characters lives. When Joseph Asagai, Bennie's boyfriend talks to her about her dreams he says, "Then isn't there something wrong in a house -- in a world -- where all dreams, good…...

mla

References

Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Modern Library, 1995.

Hughes, Langston. "Montage of a Dream Deferred." University of Texas at Austin. 2000. 4 Feb. 2008. http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~daniel/anderson/amlit/raisin/samantha/raisin.html

' But now he said nothing" (Faulkner). In contrast, the Younger family members also grow and change. Most notably, Walter Lee takes on the role of leader in the family, and makes the right decision for the rest of his family members. Critic Domina notes, "He must become the acknowledged head of his family, and he must also interact with other adult males as an equal" (Domina 113). These two characters gain personal growth and awareness, and the two stories' conclusions depend on this growth and awareness. The young boy will probably never see his dysfunctional family again, while the Youngers will probably face more discrimination and hatred. However, they have both attained their own measure of happiness, and both stories end on a somewhat hopeful note. Critic Ford continues, "Sarty will survive 'the terrible handicap of being young,' will surpass his beleaguered childhood and mature into a worthy human…...

mla

References

Cooper, David D. "Hansberry's a Raisin in the Sun." Explicator 52.1 (1993): 59-61.

Domina, Lynn. Understanding a Raisin in the Sun a Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.

Faulkner, William. "Barn Burning." Northern Kentucky University. 2007. 18 July 2007.  http://www.nku.edu/~peers/barnburning.htm 

Ford, Marilyn Claire. "Narrative Legerdemain: Evoking Sarty's Future in 'Barn Burning'." The Mississippi Quarterly 51.3 (1998): 527.

.. 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 alter 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…...

mla

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

Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" also uses a heightened situation to illustrate a greater human truth. In realistic terms, Bartleby's refusal to work is absurd, at least to the lengths which the title character carries his impulse to "prefer not" to do anything. Also, the level of bureaucratic intransigence of Bartleby's colleagues also seems ridiculous, as they obsess over their fellow worker's refusal to endorse the practices of their offices by toiling away and useless endeavors. But Bartleby's tale illustrates the soul-crushing nature of modern life, and the purposeless of much of the paperwork that human beings are forced to plow through, simply to make a living. Bartleby wants out of the 'rat race,' and by seeing Bartleby's reaction, and the reaction of others to Bartleby's denial of the value of work and government regulation, the reader is able to see the more muted, but still absurd truths of his…...