A Thematic Analysis of A Raisin in the Sun Essay Example

to be - Yessir! You just name it, son. And I’ll hand you the world!”(95).

When someone makes an investment, it is normally seed money and in desire that it will grow and provide profitable returns. Walter’s immediate investment with the insurance money depicts an automatic priority of growing that money and becoming one of those men who “turn[s] deals worth millions of dollars” as a result of the investment (63).

The prospect of being a successful man leads Walter to promise his son essentially anything he desires. Since money allows an individual to acquire most things the pleases, it enables him to provide for his family in maximum capability. Having the power to “hand [them] the world,” reinforces his masculinity and his position as a patriarch, especially in the setting of the play when being a breadwinner was the primary gender role for men. There is also reinforcement of masculinity in how the prospect of money inspires Walter to speak to his son, highlighting the significance of the father - son relationship.

Traditionally, the father passes down advice and certain patriarchal traits that carry on through generations of father and sons. The potential money and the stature Walter believes he will gain from it empowers him to promise his son whatever school he wants go and whatever he wants to be. While the wealth gives rise to a patriarchal sense of identity and masculine pride, Walter’s family adhere to the idea that dignity and respect is a preferable trait to “being a man” and for achieving the pride Walter thinks money will provide him.

Mama’s original intention was to utilize the insurance money to buy a house where

the family would have more room and even after Mama gave the money to Walter, the family still had a plan to keep and move into that house. A representative from the homeowner’s association of that neighborhood stops by to inform the Youngers of the residents’ discomfort and to persuade the Youngers into taking a bribe in exchange for not moving into the neighborhood. Unaware they had lost the insurance money, Walter assertfully denies the man’s offer.

Upon losing the insurance money, still possessing the conception that money was the means to becoming a man, Walter calls the representative now willing to accept the money. Mama, valuing dignity and respect over material wealth, chastises Walter for his decision. She “[comes] from five generations of people who was slaves and sharecroppers” and she had never possessed a large sum of wealth nor desired to (128). Mama represents the idea of how valuable dignity and respect is as “nobody in [her] family never took money from nobody that was a way of telling [them] [ they] weren’t fit to walk the earth” until Walter was willing to (128).

She proceeds to say to Walter : “We ain’t never been that poor. We ain’t never been that dead inside”(128). For Walter, being emasculated is the equivalent of death. Hansberry is emphasizing the failure one will experience when prioritizing being a breadwinner over their own dignity. Mama mentions “never [being] that poor” demonstrating that she was unwilling to sacrifice respect even for the amount of money they had lost. His sister, Beneatha, has a similar reaction and claims “he was no brother of [hers]” as she was taught by her mom

“to despise any man who would do that” after seeing him on his knees.

To be on one’s knees is to beg, which is a huge indicator for a loss of respect and dignity. Walter represents the personal intention to achieve a patriarchal identity by prioritizing money to provide for the family, and the family he sought to provide for ultimately expects dignity and respect instead. His family’s influence and their desire for him to be someone worthy of respect grew his individual identity. Upon the representative of the homeowners association’s arrival, Walter Lee chooses to not take the bribe and move in instead. Linder, the representative, says “I take it then - that you’ve decided to occupy,” to which Beneatha replies, “That’s what the man said,” in pride of her brother(135).

Beneatha acknowledging her brother as a “man” demonstrates how Walter achieved what he had sought out to. His interpretation of “being a man” and his methods had failed and by acting on the external expectations of his family, he had a new enriched identity and method to being a man. Hansberry communicates the redefined version of Walter’s personal interpretation of his identity as a result of his experiences when his family’s ideals of respect and dignity impacted his attempts to achieve masculinity with material wealth.

Hansberry employs Beneatha as a symbol for the personal desire to resist the imposed normalities, which for Beneatha was wanting to search for a greater individual purpose. Beneatha’s suitors George and Asagai expect Beneatha to be easily satisfied and embrace their offers of courtship. The symbolism of Beneatha is further expanded with her initial resistance transforming into the holistic approach of

embracing courtship while achieving a greater individual purpose. In contrast to Walter, Beneatha’s initial interpretation of her identity as a woman is successful and external expectations reinforce the interpretation.

In the 1950’s in Chicago, there were not “many girls who decide to be a doctor” and Beneatha Younger choosing to pursue medical school was an immediate indication of challenging behavior of societal norms (27). Beneatha Younger, a young persistent woman, symbolizes the power of resisting imposed norms and seeking out greater purpose. When addressing her skeptical family, Beneatha says “First, I’m going to be a doctor and George, for one, still thinks that’s pretty funny. I couldn’t be bothered with that. I am going to be a doctor and everyone around here better understand that,” emphasizing her priotorites (40).

To make income and be able to financially support herself as a woman and to focus on discovering her own passion is a huge turn from the gender roles of the novel’s setting. George, a colored college frat boy, is one of the two romantic interests Beneatha has who represents society as he fulfills and expects Beneatha to fulfill imposed gender roles. Beneatha goes on to state “how she couldn’t be bothered with that” which once again reinforces the insignificance she gives to appeasing societal normalities.

George Murchison, as mentioned earlier, is a representation of the fulfillment of societal normalities and imposed gender roles. While Beneatha is a strong liberated woman, her relationship with George represents this unsteadiness regarding her romantic choices. She wants to be a doctor and depicts a drive to oppose gender roles, but is in a relationship with a man she knows expects her to

fulfill them.

After a date night when Beneatha wanted to talk instead of pleasing George, he says “You’re a nice looking girl - all over. That’s all you need. Beneatha please drop the Garbo routine. It doesn’t go with you. I want a nice simple sophisticated girl, Not a poet, ok?”(88). Hansberry illustrates the imposed gender roles that the strong liberated interpretation Beneatha represents is confronted with through George. Greta Garbo is an American-Swedish actress who is infamous for refusing to attend societal events and essentially do what was expected of her.

By asking Beneatha to “drop the Garbo routine,” he is asking her to stop resisting the societal expectations. He makes the assertion that she is “a nice looking girl” and that is “all [she] needs” which demonstrates the cultural belief that a woman’s appearance and ability to fulfill a man’s desire is significantly valued over her intelligence. By saying he wants a “simple sophisticated girl” rather than a poet, or someone who has an interest in intellectual matters, he represents the societal normalities Beneatha’s initial interpretation of her identity were resisting against.

George’s incidence and imposition reinforced Beneatha’s desire to not fulfill them and she was able to determine “[she] wouldn’t marry him if he was Adam and [she] was Eve, basically she would not be with him if they were the only people on the planet. While Beneatha had determined George was not what she wanted and following the loss of her family’s recently acquired money, Beneatha had lost her initial drive and motivation to become a doctor. Hansberry depicts how personal desire in searching for greater purpose can lead to uncertainty.

She “wanted to cure”

and “it used to be important… it [didn’t] seem deep enough, for what ails mankind” and was now uncertain about the occupation (119). Beneatha’s internal conflict communicates the larger idea that she has found the greater purpose of helping people on a large scale and to “all mankind” but is unsure of how to achieve that. Beneatha’s second romantic interest Asagai expresses his desire to be with her :“Between a man and a woman there need be only one kind of feeling. I have that for you - now even - right at this moment”(52). When Beneatha responds, “I know - and by itself - it won’t do. I can find that anywhere,” he expresses discontent at her unwillingness to settle (52).

Beneatha, once again, represents that desire and ambition to achieve a greater purpose by establishng she needs more than a man to be satisfied. He also represents the imposed gender roles and believes that “for a woman, it should be enough” and that Beneatha should accept his offer (52). Asagai was not the perfect representation of gender roles because he embraces Beneatha’s needs and the human desire for purpose and provides what she needs.

As mentioned earlier, Beneatha was stuck in discovreing an occupation that allowed her to “ail mankind” and essentially feel like she was contrbuting to helping the world using medicine. Asagai offers to marry her and take her back his home in Africa : “I will go home... I will teach and work and things will happen, slowly and swiftly. At times it will seem that nothing changes at all - and then again - the sudden dramatic events which make history

leap into the future” (121). Asagai’s external influence, contrasting to George’s, allows Beneatha the capability to maintain to resist gender roles while courting him.

He interests her with the idea “things will happen” because Beneatha had orginally doubted her position as a doctor in fear that it “wasn’t deep enough” and by being able to provide that greater purpose for her, he enables himself to fufill gender roles and allows her to deny them. Beneatha mentions affecting change on a large scale and “dramatic events which make history leap into the future” achives the magnitude of ailing mankind.

Beneatha, as a result, is excited at the offer and tells her mother that Asgai “asked [her] to marry him and go to Africa .. be a doctor in Africa.. to practice there,” as now redifines her identity (136). Hansberry communicates Beneatha’s intial personal interepretation of her identity as resistent to gender roles and societal norms by her expecting an individual purpose before settling with a man and by her desire to become a doctor. The enrichment and growth her identity experiences is reinforcing her opposition to standard gender roles but allowing herself to settle with a man that offers her more than just himself.