A Raisin in the Sun Free Essays

â€Å"America has given the Negro people a bad check† , this is thoroughly shown, along with other themes, throughout both A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ’s â€Å"I Have A Dream† speech. We will write a custom essay sample on A Raisin in the Sun or any similar topic only for you Order Now Before the civil rights movement, and for some time after, blacks were given the short end of the stick, they had to fight for their dreams and they had to fight against racism. They were given next to nothing but they were still expected to ask the whites to â€Å"forgive [them] for ever wanting to be anything at all! (p. 27). The ideas between the two works blend together very well and very easily that one of the biggest differentiations is the attitudes of the white people towards the blacks. Dreams are an incredibly monumental part of every person, they are what shapes them and guides them, and Hansberry and King both experienced a time when it was unbelievably difficult for blacks to achieve those dreams because the means necessary to reach them just weren’t available for black people. A Raisin in the Sun is full of dreams, Ruth dreams for a nice house for her family to live in, Beneatha dreams to become a doctor and do one of the most concretely good things that a person can do for another, Walter dreams of owning a liquor store and the financial security and independence he would achieve through that, and Mama dreams that future generations will have a better life. However, people don’t always think of how their dreams can influence them, the Youngers’ dreams and their attainment, or lack thereof, is directly related to the happiness and depression of the family. King’s dream was very similar to Mama’s, better things for the future, more opportunities, that blacks and whites would be able to sit â€Å"at the table of brotherhood†? together. All of Dr. King’s dreams have a common root, the abolition of racial discrimination. â€Å"The Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination†? , and while the chains are merely symbolic they may was well be literal. Fighting racial discrimination is the center of both pieces of literature, the people who support it, knowingly or unknowingly, are oppressing the blacks and making them feel like they didn’t belong anywhere. Around the Civil Rights Movement, black people didn’t feel like they had a home, their families had been in North America for centuries and because of that they felt absolutely no connection to Africa, the place that they were being told was their home, and they were being told and shown that they weren’t American either because of all the basic rights that were being taken away from them. They just wanted to â€Å"rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice†. And that was something that the Younger family was almost deprived of when they wanted to move to Clybourne Park, Mr.  Lindner came and told them that †our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities† (p. 165). White people weren’t even being subtle with their racial discrimination; they had committees to make sure that black people knew that they weren’t welcome. Dr. King’s speech is all about trying to eradicate racism and so that people were not â€Å"judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character†?. In today’s society we are always told to do just that, do not judge a book by its cover, and it almost seems like fiction to think that an entire race was judged merely by how they look. The black people just wanted to be able to enter the â€Å"oasis of freedom and justice† , and the people around them were the ones who were going to have to make all the changes. In A Raisin in the Sun the white people clearly want nothing to do with the black people unless the blacks are doing the menial jobs that very few white people were willing to do, such as be drivers for the rich whites or clean their houses for very little pay, and the white people would get offended if the black people asked for a raise, after all the blacks should be grateful that the whites even considered giving them a job. However, when Dr. King made his speech there were white people in the crowd as well as black people. The white people knew that a change was coming and they were ready for the change because they thought that it would make things better, and Dr. King even acknowledges them while he is speaking, â€Å"many of our white brothers, as evidence by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. †? Between the speech and the play there is only about a decade of time between them, but the attitudes of the white people couldn’t be more different. Dreams, racism, and attitude are all substantially influential components to a society, and are certainly shown in both A Raisin in the Sun and â€Å"I Have A Dream†. And while racial discrimination has not been completely abolished from society, when A Raisin in the Sun first came out it gave incredible insight into how similar blacks were to whites, and when Dr. King gave his speech the Civil Rights Movement took off. Even though the blacks were given a â€Å"bad check†? their refusal â€Å"to believe that the bank of justice [was] bankrupt† made all the difference. How to cite A Raisin in the Sun, Essay examples A Raisin in the Sun Free Essays Lorraine Hansberry was a first black woman, whose play was staged on Broadway. She was born in 1930, and in 1959 her best known play. A Raisin in the Sun, was first staged. We will write a custom essay sample on A Raisin in the Sun or any similar topic only for you Order Now It brought her awards and fame, as the audience liked her style, and the fact that she wrote about individuals, people who had the courage to defend their opinions. The writer died of cancer when she was 34, which cut her promising career. Objective Summary Youngers, an Afro-American family living in Chicago, receive the insurance check for 10,000$. every member of the family has some plans for this money. Mama, who is the eldest in the family, wants a bigger house, Walter Lee, her son thinks about investing a liquor store, Beneatha, Walter’s sister wants to pay for her medical school tuition, while Walter’s wife, Ruth, agrees with Mama. In some time Ruth finds out she’s pregnant, and tells her husband she is thinking about abortion. When Mama hears this, she puts a down payment on a house, which is in the white neighborhood. But when the future neighbors hear, that Youngers are black, they offer them money for staying away, but the family refuses this deal, even despite the fact that Walter loses the rest of the money, as his friend Willy Harris, who persuaded Walter to invest in a liquor story runs with his money. Beneatha gets the marriage proposal from Joseph Asagai, her boyfriend from Nigeria, who wants her to graduate medical school and move to Nigeria with him. Beneatha can’t make her choice. The family moves out from their old apartment, feeling that they are strong enough to fulfill their dreams by themselves. Subjective Evaluation The play is an interesting and useful reading as it tells about people for whom money are not the goal, it’s rather a way to reach their aims. Each of the members of the Youngers family has his/her dream, and they are ready to fight for it, and this dream isn’t having lots of money. Will Beneatha be able to leave her family and her life in the U.S for to move to Nigeria with Joseph? How to cite A Raisin in the Sun, Papers A Raisin In the Sun Free Essays Mama’s Dream Dreams are fantasies made up of images from your mind. Everybody has their nightmares, and dreams that sometimes come true in A Raisin In the Sun , by Lorraine Handlebars. The Younger family are African Americans, who struggle with economics. We will write a custom essay sample on A Raisin In the Sun or any similar topic only for you Order Now Mama’s American Dream is she wants to use her husbands insurance to help her family. Mama’s dream is affected by her personality traits of being caring, religious, and determined. One personality trait that affects her dream is her compassion. When mama says, â€Å"Come on now, honey. You need to lie down and rest a while†¦ Then have some nice hot food (pig PAGE). Mama shows her compassion to help her daughter feel better. Compassion affects Mama’s dream by Another trait that strongly affects Mama’s dream is her being religious. When Mama says, â€Å"Now don’t you start child. Its being too early in the morning to be talking about money. It anti Christian, Mama ( pig 41 She illustrates how she feels money should not be more important than family. Mama’s religiousness affects her dream by Walter said, † Where did you go this afternoon? † and Mama replied, â€Å"l went downtown to tend some business I had to tend to. † (pig 90) Mama demonstrates that as a mother she is devoted to always work so, the money earned can help the Younger and to buy her dream house. Mama’s determination affects her dream by not ever giving up to strive for her goals. Without Mama’s personality traits she would not have gotten her dream. How to cite A Raisin In the Sun, Papers A Raisin in the Sun Free Essays The play and the production of A Raisin in the Sun are comparable in multiple ways. After reading the play and watching the movie, there are many things that don’t exactly match up to one another causing the audience to develop a bias about several things that could use some reviewing. With all intentions, Hansberry worked delicately to choose the right actors to fit the parts in the movie production. We will write a custom essay sample on A Raisin in the Sun or any similar topic only for you Order Now Although Hansberry had good intentions when choosing the actors, acting is one of those things that she should consider reviewing for some characters in the movie. Mama is one character that had great acting qualities. She was the typical grandmother in both the play and the movie. She carried all the right qualities in her acting. In the movie she was dressed appropriately as a grandmother wearing a dress, an apron, a hat with a flower on it, and her hair tied up â€Å"old timey†. She was a somewhat large framed woman and had all of the traits one would think of when thinking of a grandmother at this time. Not only did Mama’s appearance fit the description, so did her voice; literally and symbolically. She had her heart in place for the good of the family, especially Travis. Mama also spoke from wisdom and the heart. She had been through a lot throughout her life and not only spoke from the heart but, acted from the heart. Mama presented herself in a â€Å"grandmotherly† way by acting from the heart and portrayed the true actions of a grandmother, just as she was depicted in the play. Ruth is another character who presented herself in the movie production as she was presented in the play. Ruth was very constant in her acting and transitioned smoothly throughout her lines. Her acting ways and appearance also fit her character nicely. Just as a housewife and a mom in the 1960’s, Ruth wore a dress and an apron, just as Mama did, she was up before anybody else in the house was, and she cleaned, cooked, and fulfilled every responsibility as a housewife and mother. Many times, Ruth had to bite her tongue although there were many things she wanted to say. She moved through these lines just as if it were a real situation between a mother-in-law and daughter-in –law. Ruth’s acting was just as society would expect it to be and just as Hansberry intended for it to be. Unfortunately, the same characteristics of Mama and Ruth cannot be described in Walter and Beneatha. In the movie production, Walter and Beneatha gave the audience the impression that they were just reading their lines and performing their parts. They did not put their hearts into performing and give the audience the intuition that the play was an actual situation. Walter’s voice had a mechanical tone to it, giving no emotion, just as if it were recorded. When walking and moving throughout the apartment, Walter moved as if he were a robot with the exception of when he was dancing and jumping on the kitchen table. Although Walter didn’t put hardly any emotion into his performance, Beneatha had some emotion behind her performance. With the little emotion Beneatha did have, she did not do much with it. She too, sounded mechanical. Her peak of emotion was when she wore her African dress she received from a friend. There was not enough emotion acting between to the two to be equivalent to the emotion behind Mama or Ruth’s acting. There are multiple things that Hansberry could do to improve the quality of Walter and Beneatha’s acting. Mama and Ruth gave the audience a sense that the play was taking place in real life. Walter and Beneatha on the other hand, gave an impression that it was just another play that they had to perform. To make better characters of Walter and Beneatha, Hansberry should consider adding some emotion in their acting. A little bit of tone changing is all that it would take to give the audience an entirely different impression of their characters. Their voices stay at a constant tone almost throughout the entire play. Also adding more movement throughout the apartment and easier transitions would make the play flow smoother. With all of the elements that Hansberry could work on to improve the quality of the characters, tone of voice would be one overall element that would change the movie tremendously. Hansberry had many intentions when choosing the characters for the movie production of A Raisin in the Sun. Regrettably; I have to say that Walter and Beneatha are the ones that did not meet the quality in acting that Mama and Ruth did. Small things like tone of voice and transitions are elements that could be changed to improve their acting qualities vastly. When choosing actors for a movie production after presenting a written play, a producer has to look for certain qualities. After reading a play, an audience develops certain expectations for the movie production and to be successful, a producer has to follow through with those expectations. Unfortunately, Hansberry didn’t quite follow through with the expectations in the movie production that she set in the written play. Even though Walter and Beneatha’s acting didn’t quite meet the standards of Mama and Ruth’s acting, a little review of their acting skills could change their characters to boring to the most interesting and enthusiastic characters. How to cite A Raisin in the Sun, Essay examples A Raisin in the Sun Free Essays Lorraine Hansberry’s play â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun,† was a radically new representation of black life, resolutely authentic, fiercely unsentimental, and unflinching in its vision of what happens to people whose dreams are constantly deferred. I compared Act One, Scene 2, in the play and the film. The setting in the play is on a Saturday morning, and house cleaning is in process at the Youngers. We will write a custom essay sample on A Raisin in the Sun or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the film, the setting is the same as play, with lighting and costumes. The plot in the play is when Mrs. Younger gets the insurance check of $10,000. In the film, the plot is the same, but includes music not mentioned in the play. The dialogue in the film has some deletions from the original text, with new dialogue added throughout the scene. Some film techniques used are: the film cuts back and forth to different characters, the room is well lit with the sunshine coming in through the window, and music is added throughout some parts of this scene. Perhaps the biggest difference between the play and the film in this scene involves dialogue. Much of the dialogue is deleted, however, new dialogue is added through some parts of this scene. Also, in the play, the mailman comes up to their apartment and rings the door bell unlike the film, Travis runs up to him outside the building and gets the mail from him right away and runs back to give it to Mrs. Younger (his grandma). I also compared Act Two, Scene 1, in the play and the film. The setting in the play is later, that same day at the Youngers. In the film, the setting is the same as play, with lighting and costumes. The plot in the play is when Mama, Mrs. Younger, buys Travis a new house for when he gets older to be a man. In the film, the plot is the same as play with music added to parts of this scene. The dialogue in the film has some lines rephrased and also has some deletions from the original text; new dialogue is added throughout parts of this scene. Some film techniques used in this scene are: the room is brightly lit with lamps and other light fixtures, the film cuts back and forth to different characters and the camera seems to move alone with the characters as they did, and music is added throughout parts of this scene. Perhaps the biggest difference between the play and the film in this scene involves dialogue. Much of the dialogue is rephrased and not said as the author has written it in the play. And also, some of the dialogue from the original text is deleted, however, new dialogue is added. And also, unlike the film, a lot of the actions the author has described in the play did not happen in the film. Such as, on page 91 as Ruth says â€Å"Praise God! the author describes that she raises both arms classically, and as she tells Walter Lee to be glad, the author describes she has laid her hands on his shoulders, but he shakes himself free of her roughly, without turning to face her, these actions did not happen in the film. I also had compared Act Two, Scene 3, in the play and the film. The setting in the play is on a Saturday, moving day, one week later. In the film, the setting is the same as the play, with lighting and costumes. The plot in the play is Linder tries to buy back the house from the Younger family. In the film, the plot is the same as the play. The dialogue in the film has some deletions from play; new dialogue is added in replacement of the deleted dialogue. Some film techniques used in this scene are: the film cuts back and forth to different characters, and the room is well lit with the sunshine coming in through the window. Perhaps the biggest difference between the play and the film in this scene also involves dialogue. The dialogue in this scene is mostly faithful to the play but has some deletions. On the other hand, new dialogue was added in replacement of the deleted lines from the original text. How to cite A Raisin in the Sun, Essay examples