Saturday, March 21, 2009

Economic Opportunities

In the play, Ruth has a job of cleaning and ironing other families clothes while Walter is a chauffeur for a white man. Also, Beneatha, a young African American woman, wanted to become a doctor. What opportunities did blacks have in the fifties and sixties in jobs and the economy?
-LTC

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Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry is the writer of the play A Raisin in the Sun.

Facts on "A Raisin in the Sun"

genre · Realist drama

time and place written · 1950s, New York

setting (time) · Between 1945 and 1959

setting (place) · The South Side of Chicago

protagonist · Walter Lee Younger

major conflict · The Youngers, a working-class black family, struggle against economic hardship and racial prejudice.

rising action · Ruth discovers that she is pregnant; Mama makes a down payment on a house; Mama gives Walter the remaining insurance money; Walter invests the money in the liquor store venture.

climax · Bobo tells the Youngers that Willy has run off with all of Walter's invested insurance money; Asagai makes Beneatha realize that she is not as independent as she thinks.

falling action · Walter refuses Mr. Lindner's offer to not move; the Youngers move out of the apartment to their new house in the white neighborhood; Beneatha finds new strength in Asagai.

themes · The value and purpose of dreams, the need to fight racial discrimination, the importance of family

motifs · Racial identity, the home

symbols · “Eat your eggs,” Mama's plant, Beneatha's hair