A Raisin in the Sun | Lorraine Hansberry

A Raisin in the Sun | Lorraine Hansberry | Pretty good

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A Raisin in the Sun

	A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry Vintage, 2004 - 160 pages average customer review:based on 140 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Pure Genius

This is truly a work of genius about a family in which each member has his/her own big dream of what he/she wants to do with his/her life. However, each of their dreams requires money, which this family is very short on. The way they deal with this is what makes this story so vital. This play is a definate must-have for your collection.

Pretty good

But not great. The character's are interesting, with their fight to move into a nicer neighborhood. This play didn't really resonate with me that much, though.

"A Raisin in the Sun" as an American Dream

"A Raisin in the Sun" is a required read to anyone who wants to learn more about the true meaning of the American dream. It not only relates to African Americans, but it also can be related to by other minorities, the lower class society, and basically anyone who seeks the pursuit of happiness in America.

The play is about a hard-working lower class African American family who is trying to get out of their crumy little apartment. Lena Younger (Mama) is getting a ten thousand dollar check from an insurance company for her husband's death. She wants to use this money to buy a house for the family to live in and pay for her daughter's (Beneatha) college tuition, but Mama's son, Walter, has other plans with her money. Walter wants to open a liquer store with a couple of his no-good friends. The family's anticiapation of using Mama's money ends up tearing them apart. Everyone wants spend the money differently. The Younger family has to hit rock bottom before they notice the mistakes they have made and agree on a common goal.

I especially liked the character, Mama. She is the strong willed head of the household. While reading this play I often thought about the old saying, "mama knows best." Mama is the character who brings the family together and gives the play its life. Reading Mama's character was worth reading the play alone. I actually learned a great deal about life from reading this play and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in reading it.

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good story

I really enjoyed reading this story. It was filled with much meaning, and the emotional drama held my attention easily.

The story, a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, is centered on the Younger's, a poor African-American family living in a small apartment on Chicago's Southside sometime after World War II. The dynamic characters of the family, their relationships, and their conflicting ideas of what should be the fate of a ten-thousand dollar insurance check, combine to make a very rich, realistic, and unforgettable story.

From the first scene, the tension in the family is obvious. All of the adult characters want to use the money to help achieve their dreams. Walter, Lena's son, wants to use the check to open a liquor store which he believes will help him become a man of higher class. Beneatha, Lena's daughter, wants to use it to become a doctor which will help her overcome many of the racial and sexual stereotypes she experiences as a young black woman. Lena and Ruth, Walter's wife, want to use the check to buy a house so they can be free from their wretched apartment and so that Travis, Walter and Lena's son, can grow up in a rich environment. The eventual fate of the money, their dreams, and their relationship with one another at the end of the story is surprising and it gives the story a realistic value that makes it worth reading.

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Civil Rights and Wrongs: An American Drama

Some might call the Youngers black; I call them black and blue. All the rage of the minority experience in America has found its way into one household, and the characters of this drama burst on stage with the sheer weight of it. The American Dream has been placed within the hearts of a people who have not the resources to make that Dream a reality -- so what do they do?

What else? They fight about it.

Hearts are bared; hearts are broken; hearts are emptied. And the playgoer is left there to pick up the pieces. After hearing the moving story of Walter Younger, should he give up his dream? After watching the despair of Lena Younger, should he give up his history? After watching the transformation of an American family on stage, should he sing for the exuberance of life or smash tables for its injustices?

And yet, fifty years later, "A Raisin in the Sun" has wilted -- if only imperceptively. Segregation, time has proven, cuts both ways. The problems of injustice in America have not let up one bit, even as our problems of racism have steadily improved. Hansberry was not shortsighted, but this marvelous play of the 1950s does not apply quite as brilliantly to the problems of a new millenium.

Nevertheless, this play should be required reading for any American who wants his rights to be respected, and occasionally has a wrong idea of how. (In other words, pretty much any one of us.)

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