A Raisin in the Sun
Background Information
American Dream
• What is it?
• Is it an idea or does it involve material
things?
• Ethnic, social, economic implications
“A Dream Deferred”
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
- Langston Hughes
Performance Task
A Note on the Title
• Lorraine Hansberry took the title of A
Raisin in the Sun from a line in Langston
Hughes’s famous 1951 poem “Harlem.”
• “Harlem” captures the tension between the
need for black expression and the
impossibility of that expression because of
American society’s oppression of its black
population.
• In the poem, Hughes asks whether a
“dream deferred”—a dream put on hold—
withers up “like a raisin in the sun.”
More on the title
• His lines confront the racist and dehumanizing
attitude prevalent in American society before
the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
• Hansberry’s reference to Hughes’s poem in her
play’s title highlights the importance of
dreams in A Raisin in the Sun and the struggle
that her characters face to realize their
individual dreams, a struggle tied to the more
fundamental black dream of equality in
America.
Civil Rights Movement
• What was the Civil Right Movement?
• What was the goal of this movement?
• Were there any other movements during the
period?
Social Background
• Published in 1959, four
years after Rosa Parks’ was
arrested for refusing to give
up her seat to a white
person on a bus, sparking
the Civil Rights Movement,
Hansberry’s play illustrates
black America’s struggle to
gain equal access to
opportunity and expression
of cultural identity.
Sentiments in A Raisin… will be echoed by MLK
in later speeches, marches, and rallies
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Civil-Rights Leader
1929-1968
I have a dream… a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the
true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident:
that all men are created equal.’
Cont’d dreams represented in the play and
later echoed by King
• I have a dream that my four
children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be
judged by the color of their
skin but by the content of
their character.
• I have a dream…where little
black boys and black girls
will be able to join hands
with little white boys and
white girls and walk together
as sisters and brothers.
MLK
• How does King help to develop the idea of
the American Dream?
• What does he do to the existing American
Dream?
Lorraine Hansberry
• Born May 19, 1930 in Chicago
• Died of cancer at the age of 34
• Daughter of a prominent realestate broker and the niece of a
Harvard University professor of
African history
• A Raisin in the Sun - first play
A Raisin in the Sun
• Originally title “A Crystal Stair” from
another Langston Hughes’ poem
• First production in 1959
• Known as the "movin’ on up" morality
play of the 1960s
– Morality play - It uses allegorical characters to teach
the audience moral lessons
Plot Basics
• explores the struggles of ordinary people to achieve
their desires
• the story of the Youngers, a Southside Chicago family
trying to survive in cramped quarters.
• When Mama gets a $10,000 check from her
husband's life insurance, they consider moving to a
larger house in a white suburb.
Cast of Characters
• Lena Younger (Mama) –
God-fearing mother of
Walter, refuses to give up
in the face of adversity
• Beneatha – Walter’s 26year-old sister, articulate
and ambitious college
student, hopes to become
a physician
• Walter Lee Younger –
35-year-old chauffeur who
longs to improve himself
to reap the same rewards
that white people enjoy
• Travis – Walter and
Ruth’s son, friendly boy
of 10 or 11
• Ruth – Walter’s humble
and devoted wife
• Mr. Lindner - white man
who attempts to prevent
the Youngers from moving
into his neighborhood
Cast of Characters
• Joseph Agasai –
cultured, well-spoken
Nigerian who courts
Beneatha
• George Murchison – rich
Chicagoan who also
courts Beneatha
• Bobo – Walter’s friend,
they plan to open a liquor
store
• Willy – Walter and Bobo's
business partner, runs off
with Walter and Bobo's
money (Willy has no
speaking part in the play)
• Furniture Mover – comes
to the Youngers'
apartment to move their
belongings to their new
house
What is a theme?
Themes
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Faith
Family
Compromise
Evils of racial prejudice
Money can’t buy happiness
Importance of dreams
What is a symbol?
Symbols
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Mama’s plant
Kitchen window
Fifty cents, one dollar
New House and garden