Family Struggle in A Raisin in the Sun - Book Report/Review Example

Introduction A Raisin in the Sun is a play debuted in 1959 on Broadway. This script was introduced by Lorraine Hansberry. It became one of the most famous plays after the year 1959 because the content was completely different from other plays during that period. This play is based on the dreams of a black American family along with the white people of the society. Since the play depicts influence of poverty on the characters so it is a very sentimental play which got public attention within sometime after its debut. This play was introduced by Hansberry because during the time there was lack of social acceptance of black people in the white community. Hence to express their thoughts and bring forward their situation the play was performed in front of the world. This assignment spotlights some important features related to this play. Discussion A Raisin in the Sun shows the struggle of the family members because of poverty and society factors. This play mainly focuses on characters such as Walter his wife Ruth and his mother Mama in the initial stage. The play mainly focuses on the pressure of poverty on a black, lower-middle class family. First of all the play shows the competition to become head of the family within these three characters and later on it shows the amount of struggle the family goes through because of social un-acceptance. The play explains the real fact of a lower-middle class in the society. The problems encountered everyday by the family members without any support shows the miserable life of poor black people in the period. There was a total discomfort in the family starting from problem with neighbors, within members of the family and monetary issues. There are several simple and common examples shown in the play that depicts the modern lifestyle as well (Zacher 512). The reason behind success of this play was because of its theme. In the entire play there was no violence shown. It just depicted the misery of a poor family. The most common tragedy that possessed the living of this family was misconception of power and control of their living. There was an excellence in each and every part of the play. There were many contrasts between the play and the movie released A Raisin in the Sun. The movie included music in certain places which was not there in the act. Comparing Act One from the play with the movie there were huge differences including certain changes in the scene. The dialogues were different compared to the play. In the movie there were many dialogues deleted from the original script and some different set of dialogues were added. The scene two of the play has some differences compared to the movie as well. For an example in the play the character Mama receives a mail from a mailman who comes up their house and rings the bell, Travis runs outside the building and gets the mail from him right away and gives the mail to Mama. This scene was not there in the film. Moreover in the Scene one of Act two there were some changes in the dialogue in the film as compared to the play. Addition of music in some parts of the film was not present in the play. So it proves that the film had been presented in a different style compared to the play. Though the moral of the play and the film was same but there were significant differences in the film. Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was born in Chicago, Illinois in the year 1930 (Nelson 208). Lorrain’s grandparents were freed slaves. Her mother was a school teacher and her father was a banker. Their family was active among the black people. Lorraine’s father later moved to Washington predominated by white people. Unknown from the consequences they started their work peacefully until there were people talking against them which led to a mob attack to their house. This created a situation of trauma in Lorraine and after graduating she decided to write a play based on the social life of America. Her writings were completely inspired from the poem “Harlem” written by Langston Hughes. Lorraine finally received many awards for the play as it became one of the most famous plays during the period. This was the origin of the famous play under supervision of not so famous people. The interpretation of the play came from the real-time sufferings of Lorraine and other black people within the community of white people. A Raisin in the Sun has seven distinguished characters in the story. All the characters have different notion and thinking about a particular situation. Beneatha Younger for an example is the sister of Walter Younger in the play. Beneatha did not want Walter to decide on the expenses from the money their mother had received because she wanted her mother to take a correct decision but she did not discuss her perception with her brother which resulted in loss of the money because of lack of proper guidance (Gates 374). Beneatha had a very soft corner towards her family and she made all type of sacrifices she could before she decided to marry. Her character was the most armistice one among all other characters. She had an understanding about every ones feelings and did not turn up to anyone directly. The actor in the play might have tried to make the sequence feel better if there could have been a direct communication within the family. However from the point of view of Sidney Poitier as Walter the situations were perfect. Sidney did a tremendous work in the act and his responses depicted some of the men in the society. Hence he was the best actor of the act. The actors and directors did not expect the play to be so successful because their intent was to bring some facts in front of the people. This play was made to incept the sufferings of humanity for no reason in the mind of viewers. However the success the play earned was tremendous and Lorraine became the youngest women to receive a critic’s award for plays and acts during the period. The play was performed on many stages in front of a lot of people and truly people were inspired from the whereabouts of the play. The play became so successful that a film was also produced on the same story in order to gain public interest. Hence it can be said that A Raisin in the Sun is one of the most important plays that have been produced in the nineteenth century. The success of the play can be noticed from the fact that in 2008 a TV film was broadcasted with the same moral starring Sean Combs. From these facts it is clear that it was one of the most important plays that became famous in due time. Conclusion From the above analysis it is clear that A Raisin in the Sun has been one of the greatest works in Arts and culture in American history. A Black woman receiving honor during the period was the proof of the success behind the play. The moral behind this play was the dream of a Black American family. The play was starred with many actors resembling the suffering of poor people in the society. This play was a perfect example of the happenings in America after Second World War. It depicts the black people along with white people to show the similarity among the two races. There was no violence streak involved in the play hence it became a familiar and one of the most famous plays in the nineteenth century along with the film. Works Cited Gates, Henry. African American Lives. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2004. Print. Nelson, Emmanuel. African American Dramatists. New York: Springer, 2004. Print. Zacher, Chris. The American Midwest. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2006. Print. Read More