Surveys and links

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=wdSwLUGQW9rEU6LXSMlLmw_3d_3d

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Raisin_in_the_Sun

About the Author

"Black" was the word handwritten on Lorraine Vivian Hansberry's birth certificate on May 19, 1930. The hospital had printed "Negro", but Carl and Nannie Perry Hansberry crossed out the hospital's label and asserted the right to designate their child's racial identity on the Challenging the system was part of the Hansberrys' way of life. Carl had achieved success in real estate and banking even in the middle of the Great Depression. He and his wife raised four children on the South Side of Chicago. Lorraine  was the youngest of the children. She was 7 years younger, she often played alone. In addition, her family's ways separated her from her peers. Her inspiration to write this play was based on current struggles at the time that she endured. They had very similar problems at the time with a house in a completely white neighborhood. Her family was heavily sued at the time and they had to go through very similar things the younger's had to at the time.                                                               
 

Summary/main events

Walter and his son, Travis

A Raisin in the Sun is a play that was written by Lorraine Hansberry in 1959. It portrays an African-American family called the Youngers living in Chicago around the 1950s. In the family, there is the father Walter Lee, Walter’s wife Ruth, Walters and Ruth’s child Travis, Ruth’s sister Beneatha, and Walter’s mother Mama. The opening scene of this play was very significant because it gives us the first look at the way Walter lives his life. He is greedy but cares about what his family and others think of him. In this scene Travis asks for fifty cents from his mother for school and she says they don't have it. Then Walter comes into the scene and gives his son a dollar so his so keeps a positive reputation with his son. He doesn't want his son to think he is poor or don't have the money. Then the Youngers receive a $10,000 insurance check from Walter’s recently deceased father because of his life insurance policy. There is much conflict between the family members (mainly between Walter and Mama) over what to use the money for. Walter wants to use the money to buy a liquor store with his friends and Mama wants to buy their own house since that is what her husband wanted. Beneatha also wants to use some of the money so she can get a medical school tuition. The entire book is based around this and the struggles of the family deciding what to do with the money. They all want different things and nobody knows what to do. Mama wants to buy a house, Benetha wants to pay for schooling to follow her dream of becoming a doctor and Walter wants to open a liquor store with Bobo and a man named Willy Harris. Mama doesn't like Willy Harris one bit but Walter is convinced that Willy is the only one who understands him. Mama's intentions were correct about Willy. When walter was given the money he invested all of the money with Willy Harris after Mama took her cut out for the house and Willy ran off with all of the money. They then were left with an ultimatum. The family could either take money from the all white neighborhood and make a profit on the house or they could be proud and move in and take the discrimination. A man named Mr. Linder was appointed to come out and talk to them about the situation, he said they would buy the house back from them and then some. They refused and moved into the house regardless. This showed Walters change of heart throughout the book realizing the true values to a man compared to where he was in the beginning of the play. Moving into this house caused problems for example, they were almost broke moving in but they didn't care it was a sense of pride. Benetha would have to choose between finishing her degree and really working for it or giving up on it. As well as if she wants to go with Asagai to Africa to help her people but that would also probably cost her own life as well. Mama got her dream and is happy that her family is becoming the people she wants them to be now. In the end you are left with an open book you can interpret what you want, a very fitting ending to the craziness that occurred throughout the play.                                                                                                                                     

Historical Background

Lorraine Hansberry's award winning play, A Raisin in the Sun, accurately shows how black families were treated and discriminated against in the mid 1900s. In particular, black families were moving into originally white neighborhoods at this point in time in history. The main event of the play is centered around the Younger's recently purchased house in a white neighborhood. Hansberry uses the Younger family to depict perfectly what was going on in the 1950s. Hansberry writes about discrimination and poverty in an attempt to precisely exhibit the extent of how bad the blacks had it. Travis is a perfect example of how children were affected. Blacks moving into white neighborhood would more than likely face some sort of abuse. Physical or mental most whites did not like colored people near their homes. The author Hansberry does a great job of showing that so vividly.

Characters

This is the family from the movie (fictional family)

 The Younger family lives in a very torn and beat up apartment, one bedroom apartment, five people. The Younger's family members occupying this apartment consists of Walter, Ruth (Walter's wife), Travis (Walter and Ruth's son), Beneatha (Walter's Sister) and lastly Lena, more commonly known as Mama to everybody, is Walter and Beneatha's suffering mother. There is more to these characters than just the role they play in this struggling family. For starters, Walter is a chauffeur which for those who are unaware isn't exactly a great paying job and he despises every aspect of it, especially his boss. Walter has a dream of owning and running a liquor store and feels that no one understands him or his dream. This often results in him acting selfish, careless, and lashing out at others in the play and these traits cause conflict throughout the play. Ruth is the common "woman of the house" at this time period. While the family continues to struggle with money, Ruth does everything to hold down the fort at home. Her and Walter's marriage is not the best; far from it in fact, but she hopes to change that and always does the best she can to be supportive of him and his dream. Travis, the child of the house, does not have a bedroom in this small apartment, he sleeps on the sofa. Travis is not unaware of the family's financial problems and is always begging to help by going to the supermarket and carry grocery bags and earn a few cents. Beneatha has a higher intellect than the rest of the Youngers. The 20 year old attends college and hopes to be able to go to medical school to become a doctor which is extremely rare for women in this day and age especially a black woman. She wants to find her true African self with help from Joseph Asagai, a man who is head over heels in love with Beneatha. Last but not least, Mama. Mama is a prime example of a mother figure, still trying to raise her kids, who she refuses to accept, are already grown adults. She is a tremendously moral and religious woman. Mama inherits $10,000 from the insurance company after the passing of her Husband, Walter Sr,. A large fraction of this money is used to purchase a house they always wanted.