Before starting A Raisin in The
Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, I knew nothing about this play. I didn’t read
the back of the book, I didn’t hear anyone talk about it, I had no context to
the book other than the few shorts words we had in class. The initial thought I
had when I opened the book and saw the picture was this- there is a colored
family, all surrounded by an older woman, the family didn’t seem poor nor
wealthy, they just seemed to be an average middle-class family. The picture was
in black and white, so the time period must have been before colored pictures. On
the next page it says, To Mama: In gratitude for the dream. This statement
implies that the book is to a character named Mama and there is an appreciative
factor towards her. From this statement, we already feel a sense of joy towards
Mama. Within the next couple pages is the poem by Langston Hughes. After
reading the poem a couple of times out loud, it is easy to understand that the
poem foreshadows a problem with an obstacle. However deeper within the poem,
the reader will understand more to the story. The second line says, “Does it
dry up” …into the next line that says, “Like a raisin in the sun”, in these two
sentences the poem is already starting off at a low point because usually a
grape would turn into a raisin in the sun, but what would a raisin turn into in
the sun? The grape is the full-bodied, healthy raisin but a raisin is a
shriveled up, dehydrated grape. These lines create a feeling that once your
already so low what is there to happen, will you move on and “explode” like at
the end of the poem or will you just die into nothing. So, the tone at the
start of the play is already at a solemn sort of grim stage, but there also is
a factor of mysteriousness as to what will happen.
Through Act I, most of the characters
are introduced. Each character has unique qualities that challenge each other’s
thoughts and lives. What I found interesting was the contrasting personalities
of Beneatha (or Bennie) and her mother Lena (aka Mama). The two characters are constantly
having different view points on a matter. It seems as if Lorraine Hansberry had
created a character to challenge the perspectives of Mama. When Bennie is
introduced on the seventeenth page of the book, she is described as more modern
and educated then the rest of the family. She has wild ambitions and is intended
on accomplishing them. When reading through the scenes with Bennie and Mama,
you feel a sort of similarity between them in that they both have or had large
ambitions. However, Mama is just more realistic in the thought process of her goals.
Bennie almost has a child-like personality because of the dreams she aspires to
accomplish, even though she is twenty years old. Bennie has many dreams she wants
to accomplish while Mama just wants to have a good life for her and her family.
Lorraine Hansberry wrote the book as if to be seen as Bennie was Mama when Mama
was Bennies age. Bennie wants to be able to express herself in new ways such as
playing the guitar. Since the time period is around the 1950s/1960s, it is during
the time period right after the famous case of Board vs Education naming it
unconstitutional for students to be separated in school by the color of their
skin. So, it is evident that this has influence Bennie to be whoever she wants
to be and express herself in anyways she wants. Mama sadly did not have that
right like Bennie does, so Mama somewhat understands her desire to play the
guitar. There is a mutual loving relationship between the two, but at the same
time Beneatha constantly challenges the authority of Mama.
For the next Act in the Raisin in the Sun, I ask myself: Will Beneatha be able to fully accomplish one of her dreams in her life, or will she end up like Mama- not being able to successfully be what she wants to be? I also ask myself: How will Mama wisely use her money?
