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Dreams are what give people hope. Dreams are the stuff of imaginings and day dreams. For the Younger family in a Raisin in the Sun, dreams provide each character a motivation and desire. The play shows each member of the Younger family's dream through various instances throughout the text. hat starts off a desire or a whim, evolves into a defining moment for each Younger family member.
The first of the Younger family to reveal his or her dream is alter. alter desperately desires to become wealthy. As a limousine driver, he barely makes enough to get by and plans on investing on a partnership with Bobo and illy, that would produce a liquor store. alter explains the liquor store idea to Ruth demonstrating his zeal to get out of the dilapidates surroundings he lives in. "...this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured…
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun: With Connections. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2011.
FILM -- "A RAISIN IN THE SUN" AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
What is the dream?
Lena is the strong, traditional matriarch of the Younger family. Her dream is for her family: that they will be safe, emotionally and physically well, principled and happy.
Why does it matter to the character?
The dream matters to Lena because she lived through the difficult time in which many blacks left the South and moved North to make life better for themselves. At that point, they were concerned with more basic human needs like food, shelter, safety, employment and dignity. Consequently, she wants basic well-being for her family, even as they pursue dreams beyond hers.
What obstacles does it face?
Lena's dream faces internal family obstacles and external obstacles. The internal family obstacles include Walter Lee's consuming dream to be successful, his loss of 2/3 of her husband's life insurance proceeds through…
By the play's end, Beneatha's basic dream of fulfillment is intact. It appears that she might never be a doctor but she is going to Africa with Asagai and will get to experience a new continent, a government and society run by black people, and an adventurous life.
5. Are all the dreams variations of the American Dream, either the American dream defined up through 1960 or a new American dream in process of taking shape
All the dreams are variations on the American Dream: Lena dreams that her family will be safe, emotionally and physically well, principled and happy, as do many Americans of any race. Walter Lee's dream of becoming an important man who makes big business deals seems to be the dream of many American men of any race. Lena's dream of having their own home with plenty of room and sunshine is also desired by many Americans of any race, who want to own their own homes. Finally, Beneatha's dream for personal fulfillment, however that may be accomplished, is certainly shared by many Americans of all races. Safety, emotional and physical well-being, high principles, happiness, importance, one's own home and one's personal fulfillment: all facets of the American Dream. That is a great film, which might be why it is still powerful more than half a century after it debuted.
Setting in "A aisin in the Sun"
In the play, "A aisin in the Sun," by Lorraine Handsberry, the primary setting is the apartment of the Youngers family. In fact, the majority of the action of the play occurs within the confines of the family apartment. The plot of the play is focuses upon the apartment as well -- what the apartment is, and what the apartment is not. Primary, the apartment is not an adequate domicile for the Youngers family for a variety of reasons, which play out over the course of the narrative. The apartment is arguably a character in the play, just as the Youngers family members and the other assorted characters are in "A aisin in the Sun." The paper will explain how the description of the Youngers' apartment contributes to the mood of the play.
Before describing the internal elements of the apartment, understanding where…
Handsberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York, NY: Random house, 1959. Print.
The two plays A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry are two classical plays that are based on the daily struggles by families trying to live life as best as they know how. There in are several setbacks and obstructions that come their way and work against them in achieving their dreams. Some of the hindrances are from without yet some are from within the family itself. One common factor between the families however is that they are both struggling to cope with the hostile societies that they live in and optimistic that some day things will look up and better days will come.
Langston Hughes in his poem poses the question "What happens to a dream deferred?" And there after gives several suggestions in form of questions to the possibilities that can befall a deferred dream. This poem…
Antonia: Introduction etc.
The landscape of the agrarian lifestyle in Nebraska is such that Mr. Shimerda is the least suited for this type of life. He has the soul of an artist and so longs for a more refined world in which to express himself. He is a man who needs to live among people with ideas who express those concepts in conversation, which is not the world he finds in Nebraska. Indeed, he is like a man sent to this part of the world as a punishment. He admits that at times life on the farm has made him "crazy with lonesomeness" (367). He is refined in a world that does not recognize that refinement as anything but a weakness. This sense of being out of place contributes to his death.
The relationship between Antonia and Jim in the section "The Shimerdas" is an antagonistic on her part because…
Cather, Willa. My Antonia. New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1954.
Glaspell, Susan. "Trifles."
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun & The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. New York: Signet, 1966.
As J. Charles Washington notes, Mama and Walter have two different versions or ideas what the American Dream means in Raisin in the Sun. For Mama the dream is simply about change and doing what is necessary to protect and preserve one’s family. Her version of the dream “sets her at odds with her son Walter,” whose dream is much more influenced by the white Americans he sees: their opulence and prosperity, their ability to be upwardly mobile (Washington 113). Walter dreams of wealth; Mama dreams of family. The American Dream for them is manifested in different ways, yet, in the end, it is the dream of family that wins out and that shows how the materialistic American Dream is empty if it is not accompanied by the family and the heart
Washington describes Mama’s dream “as a second-class version of it reserved for Black Americans and other poor people.…
Brown, Lloyd W. \\\\"Lorraine Hansberry as Ironist: A Reappraisal of A Raisin in the Sun.\\\\" Journal of Black Studies 4.3 (1974): 237-247.
Hansberry, Lorraine. Raisin in the Sun. http://khdzamlit.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/6/11261956/a_raisin_in_the_sun_-_lorraine_hansberry.pdf
Matthews, Kristin L. \\\\"The Politics of “Home” in Lorraine Hansberry\\\\'s A Raisin in the Sun.\\\\" Modern Drama 51.4 (2008): 556-578.
Washington, J. Charles. \\\\"A Raisin in the Sun revisited.\\\\" Black American Literature Forum. Vol. 22. No. 1. School of Education, Indiana State University, 1988.
Raisin in the Sun: Travis and Important Themes
In Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun, the themes of identity, materialism, pride, heritage, family, upward mobility, equality and even life and death all play a part in the story’s development and plot. The play’s main characters the Youngers—an impoverished African American family living in a one bedroom apartment. After receiving an inheritance, Mama puts a down payment on a new home that the family can expand into—but the home is in a white neighborhood, which leads to a tense scene between Walter and a man who offers to buy him out of his purchase in order to avoid conflict in the white community. Travis is the son of Walter and Ruth and set to become an older brother (so long as Ruth does not have an abortion). In one regard, Travis, as a child in a poor family, represents the financial…
Hansberry, Lorraine. Raisin in the Sun. http://khdzamlit.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/6/11261956/a_raisin_in_the_sun_-_lorraine_hansberry.pdf
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…
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Robert Nemerhoff. Random House: New York. 1958.
.. 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,…
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
She misrepresents the proposal of marriage of Asagai and is unable to provide the man who loves her so much and who understand her well. The complex character of Beneatha demonstrates another hidden quality towards the end of the play. The confrontation of Walter with Mr. Lindner reveals the arrogant statement of Mr. Lindner, "I take it then that you have decided to occupy." The easiness of Beneatha's reply illustrates in the statement, "That is what the man said." Beneatha implements an ironic return where she indicates Walter as 'the man' and not the white Mr. Lindner. Hansberry points out that with the prior statement that Beneatha has the capability to acknowledge greatness in others as well as the capability to react with warmth and love to words and actions of family pride and dignity. Beneatha still involves some immaturity, but she reveals great potential for good. Beneatha Younger indicates…
Advanced Exemplar for an Untimed Writing. Retrieved at http://bls.org/doc_content/E9Untimed.htm . Accessed on 24 May, 2005
Raisin in the Sun: WebQuest. Retrieved at http://www.writeonill.org/raisinwebquest.htm . Accessed on 24 May, 2005
Boyle, Leryn; Rogers, Gardner. The American Dream. 9 March 2004. Retrieved at http://www.eotu.uiuc.edu/pedagogy/grogers/Narrative/S1/Leryn_Narrative_Final.htm. Accessed on 24 May, 2005
Evans, Tritano. A Raisin in the Sun. 9 May, 2004. Retrieved at http://www.theaterscene.net/ts/articles.nsf/BP/B698D3C9E3935CF785256E90002C1536Accessed on 24 May, 2005
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…
"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
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.
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…
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
The climax opens alter's eyes to the wickedness of people. He realizes he cannot trust everyone. Life is full of those who take and those who are taken. He admits to being "mixed up bad" (2258). His dream was short-lived and so was the money. He learns to keep his "eye on what counts in this world" (2258). This experience is good for alter because it forces him to grow up. It forces him to realize the fly-by-night ideas he had are generally bad ideas and hard work may be the way to get what he wants from this world. At least with that, he can have the satisfaction knowing he worked hard and tried to earn an honest living. alter becomes a man when he realizes illy swindles him. This is important to the play because up until this point, alter is not a likable person. He wants to…
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Vol. II.
Lauter, Paul, et al., eds. Lexington D.C. Heath and Company. 2202-63.
alter's desire for financial success and his stories of rich white people are a metaphor for the self-respect he lacks in himself. It's easy to say that alter should pay more attention to what is really important in life: family, respect, love, etc., but what Hansberry is illustrating is that when one lives in a society that looks down upon a group of people, those people have a much more difficult time seeing themselves in a positive light. This makes it difficult for alter to develop as a character.
alter struggles to get ahead in any way he can. He comes up with the idea of getting the insurance money from his father's death so that he can start a business -- even though the money should go to alter's mother who is desperately in need of retirement. She loves her son, though, and decides to give him a chunk…
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Vintage. November 29, 2004.
Raisin in the Sun: alter Lee's Dream Deferred
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun chronicles the struggles of the African-American Younger family to gain a foothold in American middle-class society. One of the most poignant characters is the elder brother, alter Lee, who works as a chauffeur but dreams of owning his own liquor store. Although racism has clearly limited alter's dreams of social mobility, Hansberry also makes it clear that alter's psychology has also been a source of his frustrations and limitations. alter is constantly looking for a 'get rich quick' scheme, which results in him losing part of the inheritance his father worked so hard to obtain. Instead of investing in his education like his sister Beneatha, alter invests in a liquor store instead: he claims he is a 'giant surrounded by ants,' but the actual scope of his ambitions is actually very small.
The beginning of…
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. 24 Nov 2013.
My personal response to the play is I loved reading it and the more I thought about families (not just black families) when I read through it again. The oldest son in the play was trusted to deposit the money from the check (to buy a better home), but he turned out to be unable to follow through with his responsibility. That's sad. Also, in the play it was brought home to me that the neighbor was willing to pay the family NT to move into his neighborhood. It still is that way today. White folks fear that black folks will bring loud parties into their neighborhood, and that black folks won't take good care of their property and it will devalue the neighborhood. That's not fair to assume such a thing about blacks, but unfortunately, a lot of white people still believe those things. That's why the play is…
Okay, what would he say, how would he react, to seeing a Raisin in the Sun, if he were to see it today on Broadway? I can imagine he would enjoy it a lot, but he would probably think to himself, there aren't that many black folks who have to live in squalor like that anymore. Thank God, he would say to himself, life has gotten better for most black families. There is now a huge black middle class, he would think, after watching the play, and blacks send their kids to colleges, they buy homes (and are able to get mortgages easily), they drive decent cars, they have high speed Internet and digital cable TV and are a lot like all the rest of the middle class.
I think that he would think about life for blacks, though, and probably wonder how many people have to live with cockroaches around in families where mom is the head of the household because dad left or he died. He would remember the television news coverage of how sheriff Jim Clark behaved in Selma on March 7, 1965. That was the day when sheriff Clark, his vicious dogs, and other officers on horseback just went into a crowd of black demonstrators (who were peacefully marching to protest no voting rights and other Jim Crow laws in place in Alabama). They beat women, boys, girls, older men, with their nightsticks and the TV showed the whole ugly situation. This was the Selma to Montgomery march let by Rev. Martin Luther King.
Anyway, I think that this man's memory - of how cruel and brutal life was back in the 1960s when the Civil Rights Movement was just getting some momentum - would lead him to believe that life is a lot better now for blacks. And he would be right, because no sheriff can behave like that and get away with it anymore. But what this Caucasian man in his 50s may not know, after watching a Raisin in the Sun, is that hundreds of thousands of black families struggle every day to survive. The mom may have three or four kids; the boys in the family may be involved in gangs because they don't have a dad in the house; and mom may have two jobs because she only makes the minimum wage and can't buy enough food on just one job. There are a lot of people (black people and Latinos too) who just barely make it from paycheck to paycheck. So don't be fooled, I would say to that man, because even though life is a lot better than it was in 1959, there are still a lot of problems and many black families still struggle.
This is the essence of true faith. It never leaves you forever. You can curse your life but you must not abandon it or dreams will be deferred for good. Walter for example gives up his dream of becoming his own boss. He wants to be financially secure- enough to at least raise himself above the servant class. He wanted Travis to have a better future. But all his dreams vanish when he makes the unwise investment and loses money. His dreams have not vanished however from his spirit, they have only started consuming him. this results in extreme frustration as he turns to alcohol for some consolation. George describes him as someone "wacked up with bitterness." (85) Mama cannot see her son consumed by failed dreams and the situation becomes alarming when Walter doesn't take his wife's threatened abortion seriously. Walter becomes a bitter lost soul.
Beneatha on the…
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Signet, 1987.
Hansberry, Lorraine. "A Raisin in the Sun." Plays of Our Time. Random House, New York, 1967. pg 540-635.
The development of the character of his sister is in direct defiance of his personality. It is interesting to note that it is the sister who wants to have the family return to their African roots and Walter who seems to want to join the white capitalist society. In the era that the play is set it was usually the men who wanted to hold fast to their heritage while the women were content to stay home, raise children clean house and have the men make the political and societal decisions for the family.
The audience gets to know the character of mama through her discussions with her children and her daughter in law. Mama makes it clear that her deceased husband's wishes should be an important consideration in the decision about what to do with the money. The audience sees mama, initially as a weak woman who is going…
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…
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…
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.
Raisin in the Sun
Reading this play carefully, a person can see that while the characters and setting -- and dialogue -- are related to African-Americans, this play has a universal tone to it. The problems facing this family and the way children interact with their parents are not unique to black folks. Certainly the issued presented in the play relate to African-Americans and to their culture in the 1950s, but the interaction and the conflicts and tension are not unique to one culture. In the Journal of Black Studies scholar Richard A. Duprey points out that A Raisin in the Sun is "…full of human insights that transcend any racial 'concerns'" (Brown, 1974).
Examples that illustrate the truth about life found in the play's passages
omen's practicality: hen alter is discussing one of his dreams, owning a liquor store, he mentions the cost of the investment and then adds…
Brown, Lloyd W. "Lorraine Hansberry as Ironist: A Reappraisal of A Raisin in the Sun."
Journal of Black Studies, 4.3 (1974): 237-247.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York, New York: Vintage Books, 1958.
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.…
Corley Cheryl. "A Raisin in the Sun." National Public Radio: Morning Features. March 11, 2002. http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/raisin/ [17 Aug 2005]
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.
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…
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage (Reprint edition).
November 29, 1994.
Jones, LeRoi. Dutchman. New York: Morrow, 1964. 4.
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 causes,…
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 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…
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
Although treated unjustly by her older sibling, Beneatha has begun to question her desire to become a doctor, and is considering trying to get more in touch with her African roots instead. She wants to fix things in a more meaningful fashion than merely physically.
The end of the play is bittersweet, because it is uncertain if the family will be happy in the all-white suburb, or safe, and because so many of the character's individual aspirations still remain unfulfilled. The type of dream endorsed by the play is the type of real dream that holds fast, even in the face of adversity. That is why the dream of a home is the most durable of all dreams, because Mama has fought for this dream for so long, and because her husband gave his life for the dream to become a reality. Walter's dream of a liquor store and even…
Raisin in the Sun Casting
The author of this report is asked to pick actors for A Raisin in the Sun using the actors and actresses of the author's choice. The characters that will be cast will be the main ones in the movie. These would include the roles of Walter Lee Younger, Ruth Younger, Lena Younger, Beneatha Younger, Bobo, Moving Man, Travis Younger, George Murchison, Joseph Asagai, and Karl Linder. The rest of this report will be dialog created by author of this report that will set the stage for the established and pre-existing content from A Raisin In The Sun.
Walter Lee Younger -- I think a good choice for this role would be Forrest Whitaker. He is very flexible actor and absolutely has the range to portray someone with aspirations but perhaps is aloof and unaware of the pitfalls and risks that exist in something like a…
Uncle Tom characters were common in both white and black productions of the time, yet no director before Micheaux had so much as dared to shine a light on the psychology that ravages such characters. By essentially bowing to the two white men, Micheaux implied that Old Ned was less than a man; an individual whittled down to nothing more than yes-man and wholly deprived of self-worth. At this point in the history of black films, with some of the most flagrant sufferings of blacks exposed to the American public, the only logical path forward that African-Americans could take was to begin making cogent demands to improve their collective social situation.
Slowly, black characters in film took on greater and more significant roles in film. Sidney Poitier was one of the most powerful film stars of the mid twentieth century. In roles like the 1950 film by…
Finlayson, R. (2003). We Shall Overcome: The History of the American Civil Rights
Movement. Lerner Publications Company, Minneapolis, MN.
King, Jr., M. And Jackson, J. (1963). Why We Can't Wait. Signet Classic, New York,
Every step of the African-American journey was a small one but it took a great of steps to make any headway. Mama knew this and wanted alter to realize it and be proud of his past so he could be proud of his future.
Dreams help us define people. e can see how the pre-civil rights mindset affected alter's mother as she understands the difficulties of her people and when she sees an opportunity to improve her family's situation, she takes it. She fights with alter because she watched her husband work long days. She knows what alter cannot and when he begins to whine she tells him, "e was going backward 'stead of forwards -- talking about killing babies and wishing each other was dead . . . hen it gets like that in life -- you just got to do something different, push on out and do something…
Bernstein, Robin. "Inventing a Fishbowl: White Supremacy and the Critical Reception of Lorraine Hansberry's a Raisin in the Sun." Modern Drama. 1999 v.1. Gale Resource
Database. Site Accessed April 23, 2010. http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com
Cooper, David D. "Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun.'" the Explicator. 1993-52.1 Gale
Resource Database. Site Accessed April 23, 2010.
hile the other characters wonder why Othello, once so strong and noble, acts horrifically to his wife before murdering her, the audience knows why: it is partially the mechanics of Iago's plot, but also Iago's cunning words and attitude that enable him to prey upon Othello's vulnerable mind. Othello has experienced slavery and discrimination from a young age, and although he tries to create the impression that peoples' racist attitudes do not matter to him, the fact that he is so easily swayed to become jealous and angry suggests that such attitudes do have an influence in shaping his mentality. "Is this the nature/hom passion could not shake?... Could neither graze nor pierce?" wonders those who observe Othello after Iago has used his deceitful persuasive strategies upon Othello's vulnerable psyche (IV.1).
alter Lee is similarly vulnerable because of his insecurities. He works all day in the service to rich individuals…
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Vintage, 2004.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Shakespeare Homepage.
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/othello/index.html [February 8, 2011]
The 1950s was a time when the last of the generation of slaves were beginning to disappear from communities but their first generation children were attempting to make sense of the lives they led and the cautionary tales they had applied to their lives as a result. The work shows that for the 1950s African-American family it was a time of remembrance and resolution as well as a time to reflect on change and hope for even greater change in the future, with the inclusion of the fact that defacto segregation and suppression was still occurring in a rampant manner all over their lives.
Jewell, K. Sue. 2003. Survival of the African-American Family: The Institutional Impact of U.S. Social Policy. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Jewell develops a social history that demonstrates all the many disparities of the African-American vs. majority culture and how these disparities, legal, social and economic…
McLoyd's work brings to mind the manner in which the 1950s conservative slant echoed the discrimination of the past and present. The work demonstrates that during the 1950s academic work began to be even more direct with its assassination of the individual as the source of limited progress. In other words the period demonstrates an extreme prejudice, where African-American Families themselves were in short blamed directly for their inability to succeed in the American landscape, regardless of the fact that the social, legal and economic conditions were almost completely against them.
Itagaki, Lynn M. 2003. Transgressing Race and Community in Chester Himes's if He Hollers Let Him Go. African-American Review 37, no. 1: 65.
Itagaki's work is a literary and social criticism of the works of Chester Himes, an African-American man who moved his family to Los Angels in the late 1940s and through the 1950s and 60s experienced contradictions in the ideal and the actions of those living there. The white community rejected and repressed the African-American family with all the same and worse segregation and discrimination when they were attempting to grow and become stronger, many by leaving the south. The work describes the volume of Himes' works but looks most closely at his beloved novel if He Hollers Let Him Go. The message of the work is distinctly responsive to the 1950s as a period of social transition for the African-American families, as they are told one thing and treated in a manner altogether different.
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…
Gertrude Stein, The Gentle Lena
The most obvious thing about this story was that nothing really happened. At the start, continually reading about the "patient, gentle, sweet and german" Lena and her "peaceful life" I was expecting there to be some twist to the story, perhaps with Lena snapping and becoming something other than patient, gentle and sweet. However, this twist did not come, which is probably what makes the story work so well. It is a simple and sad story about a life lived without consequence. Having Lena resolve the situation in some way, would not be true to the story, since any action would mean Lena's life did have some meaning.
Overall, it is a story of a woman accepting her life without questioning it. Lena does not appear either content or happy, instead it is more like she is numb. This is emphasized by the fact that…
She has a simple dream for her family and it is that they may live in a decent home that sits in a decent neighborhood. She tries to explain this to alter by indicating that they should always be attempting to move forward and "do something different, push on out and do something bigger" (Hansberry). Lena is worn by life. She expresses her frustrations with Ruth but she has a big heart and wants the best for her family L.M. Domina asserts, "Mama cares for all living things, even those that do not seem to thrive" (Domina). This does not always include being on everyone's good side as demonstrated in the issue over the money. The fact the turns out to be right and offers forgiveness to alter demonstrates her strength. Domina adds, "Throughout the play, Mama has been trying to lead alter into the realization of his own dignity,…
Domina, L.M. "An overview of a Raisin in the Sun, in Drama for Students." 1997. GALE
Resource Database. Information Retrieved April 10, 2009.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Making Literature Matter. 3rd Ed. Schilb, John, Ed.
Befford: St. Martins. 2005.
" The drying up of the dream like a raisin suggests that the spirit of someone who is the victim of prejudice experiences a kind of living death, with all vital forces sucked away from his or her sprit like dried fruit. The dream can also "crust over" like something sweet, implying the false face that African-Americans must put on to live in America. (a Raisin in the Sun, the Lorraine Hansberry play that uses a line from the poem as its title, portrays one of the central characters, a chauffer named alter Lee, as a man filled with rage who must smile and cater to whites in his job).
This contrast between sweetness and reality is even more dramatically depicted in "Strange Fruit," where images of the old, genteel South of Magnolia trees are starkly juxtaposed against the image of a dead, African-American male: "Scent of magnolias, sweet and…
Allen, Lewis. "Strange Fruit." Lyrics Freak. October 14, 2009.
Hughes, Langston. "Harlem." Teaching American History. October 14, 2009.
Though Antigone is certainly the protagonist of the play, she makes her decision very early in the action -- she chooses to bury her brother despite the civil disobedience and disrespect of the State that it shows. Ismene, on the other hand, wavers between the two duties. hen Antigone is caught, her sister tries to take the blame with her: "But now you're in trouble, I'm not ashamed / of suffering, too, as your companion" (Sophocles, 540-1). Though Ismene's motives might be somewhat questionable, she is at least claiming a sense of duty and companionship with her sister -- and a desire to honor her brother -- by joining in the guilt of the act against the State. Antigone will not let her, again for reasons that could be put under debate. One possible explanation for Antigone's refusal to let Ismene share the punishment for the act would be her…
Sophocles. Antigone. Ian Johnston, trans. Accessed 5 March 2009. http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/sophocles/antigone.htm
This play, the first by a black playwright to show on Broadway, was a moving reflection of black family life that had great popular appeal (Sidney pp). Poitier's performance was such a critical success that he was asked to star in the movie adaptation in 1961 (Sidney pp). In 1963, his performance in "Lilies of the Field" won him the Academy Award for Best Actor, the first black man to ever win the Oscar (Sidney pp). This success was followed by an electrifying performance in Norman Jewison's "In the Heat of the Night" (Sidney pp). Then, Poitier took on one of the greatest taboos of the time, interracial romantic relationships, in "Patch of Blue," and "Guess ho's Coming to Dinner," thus, by the end of the 1960's. Poitier was one of Hollywood's most popular stars (Sidney pp).
Poitier went on to direct "Buck and the Preacher," "Uptown Saturday Night," "Let's…
Frick, Jason. "Sidney Poitier paved the way for other black actors."
The Digital Collegian. http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1996_jan-dec/02/02-09-96tdc/02-09-96d05-004.htm
Roberts, Kimberly C. "Sidney Poitier's brilliance revealed."
The Philadelphia Tribune; 2/1/2000; pp.
Message of Empowerment in Dream Deferred, Dreams, and Daystar
Dream Deferred (Harlem) by Langston Hughes, Dreams by Nikki Giovanni, and Daystar by Rita Dove are most often categorized as poetry offering insight into the frustration of African-Americans because of societies continuous oppression of their hopes, desires, and dreams. This is correct, but upon further examination one finds there is a deeper, more universal message among the prose...personal empowerment.
A person's individual capability must be fully developed before embarking on a revolution. Langston Hughes in A Dream Deferred warns of the danger involved when potential is subjugated. "What happens to dreams deferred" (Line 1) he asks. "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" Or fester like a sore and run" (Lines 3-5) The imagery is vivid, bringing a tangibility to the emotional death caused by a crushed spirit. The inevitable result of burying potential is a powder keg…
Injustices based on racial discrimination and gender bias in a democratic country sounds weird and hard-to-believe. However, what history has witnessed proves what nobody wants to hear or believe. This analytical research paper addresses grave issues concerning racial discrimination and gender bias pertaining to black vs. white and the related causes for the orld ar II as well as the prejudices that led to the Civil Rights Movement. Thus, the paper revolves around the popular poem "Mending all" by Robert Frost, addressing the issue of the racial conflict between blacks and whites in America. Poems by Langston Hughes will also be incorporated in the paper to better explain the black experiences before the II and Civil Rights Movement. The orks Cited appends seven sources in MLA format.
Among many renowned literary figures that understood the cost that the world is paying for racial prejudices and the rebellious nature…
Robert Frost (1874-1963). Available at http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/robertfrost/ (October 31, 2002)
Frost, "Poetry Of Robert Frost: Five Poems From North Of Boston," Monarch Notes, 01-01-1963
Frost, "Poetry Of Robert Frost: Essay Questions, Criticism," Monarch Notes, 01-01-1963.
America After Slavery: From Lynchings to White Riots." Available at http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Classroom/9912/lynchingera.html (October
strong and positive actions can school take to help solve the problems of youth?
The poet Langston Hughes once asked if the proverbial "dream deferred" of a young person's thwarted ambition in life "dried up like a raisin in the sun" or "does it explode?" Perhaps it does not matter so much what metaphor is most apt to explain this phenomenon, but how to prevent such a deferment from occurring in the first place. In Chapter 14 of the educational anthology of essays entitled Kaleidoscope, perhaps to suggest the dizzying array of solutions offered to the even more overwhelming amount of problems faced by today's educators, Stanley Eitzen attempts to offer some answers to the poet Hughes' rhetorical question.
Eitzen's essay "Problem Students: The Sociocultural Roots" posits the idea that so-called 'problem students,' contrary to much of current educational fashion today, do not simply have problems in school because of…
Banks. James. "Multicultural Education in the New Century." Kaleidoscope. Tenth Edition. Houghton Mifflin, 2003.
Glickman, Carl. "Dichotomizing Education." Kaleidoscope. Tenth Edition. Houghton Mifflin, 2003.
Eisner, Elliot. "The Kind of Schools We Need." Kaleidoscope. Tenth Edition. Houghton Mifflin, 2003.
In the Struggle for Democracy (Greenberg, 483-84) the author explains that gradually, little by little, the Supreme Court of the United States responded to the need to rule segregation unconstitutional. And in the process the Court ruled that any law passed using the criteria of race was also unconstitutional. The Brown v. Board of Education vote in 1954 meant that segregation in schools was not constitutional and it was the agency of black activists and advocates that got it done by bringing litigation forward. Meantime Jones mentions that Eisenhower had a "hands-off" policy regarding enforcing the Brown v. Board of Education; and while that "emboldened" segregationists and racists to resist the Supreme Court ruling, it activated ordinary African-Americans to joined in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Thanks to the marching feet of tens of thousands of Black Americans - and the boycotts led by people like Rosa Parks…
Greenberg, Edward S. The Struggle for Democracy.
Jones, Jacqueline. Created Equal: A Social and Political history of the United States.
Racial Profiling Data Collection Resource Center. 2008. Northeastern University. Retrieved April 14, 2008, at http://www.racialprofilinganalysis.neu.edu
Evening," Mohan Singh celebrates the mystery of erotic love. Mohan Singh communicates the themes of life and love using symbolism, diction, and imagery. There are two "characters" in Singh's "Evening," that of Evening, and that of the horse. The Evening has a female connotation, and the horse has a male connotation, as the horse is described with masculine pronouns like "his," whereas Evening is described with feminine pronouns like "her."
Singh uses sexual symbolism to explore the mysteries of erotic love as the union of male and female. Sexual imagery pervades the poem. For example, the first line introduces the horse as "panting" as he "reaches the shores of evening." The imagery suggests the heavy breathing, the panting, that occurs during sex, and the "shores of evening" symbolize the woman's moist sexuality. Imagery related to moistness continues, as the horse "throws red foam from his mouth," and "his vermillion mane"…
Yank in "Hairy Ape" by Eugene O'Neill
In the play, "Hairy Ape," by Eugene O'Neill, the character of Yank portrays the individual who seeks to conform in his society and is always in need to belong with other people. Robert Smith, or Yank, is illustrated as an individual who personifies anything that is deviant in the society: O'Neill portrays him as "broader, fiercer, more truculent, more powerful, and surer of himself than the rest. They respect his superior strength -- the grudging respect of fear. Then, too, he represents to them a self-expression, the very last word in what they are, their most highly developed individual." This passage from the play shows how, because of both his physical appearance and personality, Yank is immediately identified as 'distinct' and 'different' from other people.
Looking into his portrayal in the play, Yank also shows apparent dislike for conformity, deviating from all the…
No Child Left Behind and Black Males
No child left behind
No Child Left Behind: Cause and Effect Essay
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was passed in 2001 in order to improve overall students' performance and to decrease the performance gap between minority and mainstream students. However other effects have emerged since its implementation. Through this cause and effect essay, author sheds light on effects of the NCLB. It has been discussed, how the NCLB has helped to improve education levels as well as how school administrators are facing challenges to meet the standards of this act.
The Influence of No Child Left Behind on Black Male Graduate ate
The Influence of No Child Left Behind on Black Male Graduate ate
NCLB is an educational policy that emphasizes accountability by imposing constraints on school systems. According to Gay (2007),
"The achievement gaps persist among different ethnic group,…
Allensworth, E.M., & Easton, J.Q., (2007). What matters for staying on-track and graduating in Chicago public highs schools: A close look at course grades, failures, and attendance in the freshman year (Research Report). Retrieved from University of Chicago, Consortium on Chicago School Research website: http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/content/publications.php?pub_id=116 .
Balfanz, R., & Legters, N., (2008). NCLB and reforming the nation's lowest- performing high schools: Help hindrance, or unrealized potential? In G. Sunderman (Ed.), Holding NCLB accountable: Achieving accountability, equity, & school reform, 191-222. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Gay, G. (2007). The Rhetoric and Reality of NCLB. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 10(3): 279-293.
corpse strangled with the rope still around his neck, the first thing I wanted to do was to remove the rope. Because the look on the dead body's face was horrible, and obviously the rope was what was responsible for the death, and also for the horrible look on the corpse's face, with bulging bloodshot eyes and the tongue sticking out. But Harry went and looked at the body to make sure that he was dead, and then basically Harry told me that this was a crime scene, so we shouldn't disturb any possible evidence. So we didn't take the rope off, and instead we went to talk to the victim's wife. She hadn't moved from the last time we saw her; she was just motionless in her chair. I asked her if she had told anybody about her husband's death, and in a weirdly non-emotional way she said that…
The different tastes in personal pleasure can be seen in the leisure industry as a whole. Some people seek out community service vacations, some seek adventure vacations, and other people simply want a nice, pretty beach and warm sun. All seek, I believe, to become better people, even if only simply through relaxation. My standards for happiness and my virtue ethics are less stringent than Aristotle's standards. So long as pleasure does not impinge upon the lives and productivity of native inhabitants, or the pleasures of others, varied quests in the pursuit of leisure are all honorable, from the vacationing volunteer in Dafur to the Disneyland tourist seeking to give memories to a child, and finding pleasure in the child's reactions to new sights and sounds.
Defense of Rule-Based Ethics." NYU Philosophy Homepage. Retrieved 29 May 2007 at: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~rpm213/philosophy.html
McLean, Donald & Yoder, Daniel. (2005). Issues in Recreation…
Defense of Rule-Based Ethics." NYU Philosophy Homepage. Retrieved 29 May 2007 at: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~rpm213/philosophy.html
McLean, Donald & Yoder, Daniel. (2005). Issues in Recreation and Leisure-- Ethical
Decision Making. New York: Human Kinetics Publishers.
Nussbaum, Martha C. (22 March 2004). "Mill between Aristotle & Bentham."
THE CACAO TREE (THEOBROMA CACAO)
WHAT IS IN THE COCOA BEAN?
MAKING AND EATING CHOCOLATE
State of the At of Cocoa
Is Cocoa good fo you?
Buden of Poof
CHOCOLATE AS A FAT
EFFECTS ON BLOOD LIPIDS
WHAT IS OK
CHOCOLATE AND HEALTH AND DISEASE
H. Immune Function
J. Othe Disodes
N. Dental Caies
K. Heat Health
Pacemakes and vitamin pills ae just among a few of millions of health poducts that ae sold daily aound the wold. But one of the most easily accessible of all is ight beneath ou noses: chocolate. Cocoa, the plant fom which chocolate is deived, has had a positive effect on today's society because of its active ole in daily health. The development and distibution of cocoa has had a positive effect on today's…
references for fats in foods: relationships to diet and body composition. Am J. Clin Nutr. 1991; 53:908-915.
Green SM, Delargy HJ, Joanes D. And Blundell JE A satiety quotient: a formulation to assess the satiating effect of food. Appetite. 1997; 29:291-304.
Seligson FH, Krummel DA and Apgar JR. Patterns of chocolate consumption. Am J. Clin Nutr. 1994;60:S1060-S1067.
Report of the Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. National Institutes of Health; 1989. NIH Publication No. 89-2925.
Kritchevsky D. Effects of Triglyceride Structure on Lipid Metabolism. Nutrition Reviews. 1988;46:177-181.