So, this week we began A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. This play is one I truly enjoy after just beginning the first act. As a young man with an African descent, I can connect directly to the words, behaviours, sense of humour, and lifestyle depicted in this play. After reading the first act of the play, I instantly fell in love with the plot, character developments, and series of event that were taking place in the play. I couldn't wait to get through the entire play. So, I went ahead of my class and completed this play within 2 days. There are three acts in this play and I will make a separate blog post about the characters, plot analysis, and what I took away from each acts. In this post, I will simply be discussing act one. Before I begin, I think knowing a little about the author of this play, Lorraine Hansberry, is critical to understanding and seeing the power this play carries. But, I'll make a separate post entirely about Lorraine Hansberry. For now let's dive into act one and my thoughts. A Raisin In The Sun is entirely about a black family called the Youngers' and their struggles with life, society, fulfilling their dreams, and poverty.
Act one begins by giving us a little insight into what the Youngers morning routine is like. In this act, we are introduced to Mama, her daughter Beneatha, her son Walter and his wife Ruth, and Walter and Ruth's son Travis. The entire play takes place in cramped two-bedroom apartment with this five of five lives. We are told about a $10,000 insurance check from Walter and Beneatha's father recent death that is set to arrive. Everyone's desire for what the $10,000 should be used for is revealed. Walter wants to open a liquor store and Beneatha wants to go to medical school. However, Mama wants to buy a house and Ruth agrees with her. After a conversation with between Mama, Beneatha, and Ruth, act one scene 1 ends. Scene 2 begins in thee morning of the next day. While cleaning was going on the apartment, Walter takes a call from his friend Willy Harris and promises that he’ll soon have the money for their liquor store. We find out Ruth has gone to the doctor’s because she's pregnant. Beneatha gets a phone call from Joseph Asagai, a Nigerian schoolmate, and she invites him over. Asagai arrives with gifts and spends some time with Beneatha before leaving. The mail with the cheque arrives and Mama doesn’t seem to know what to do with herself. Walter bounces in from work, eager to win them over with his liquor store plan. Frustrated that his mother and wife refuse to listen to him, Walter gets all angry and filled with emotions. Before he leaves, Mama stops him and in their following conversation, the generation gap and difference in priorities are evident. Mama tells Walter that he better shape up because his wife is not only pregnant but also thinking about aborting the baby. Mama challenges Walter to be the man that his father was but he leaves. Act one concludes on this note.
From act one we can see that the protagonist of the play, Walter, has big dream filled with a lot of passion and hope, but he's frustrated as he doesn't have the capital to turn his dreams into a reality. But above his inability to foster his dream, his family especially his wife doesn't seem to understand or believe in him and this plagues him. We see Ruth, Walter's wife, trying to do everything she can to make ends meet. Mama is trying to stay strong and make the right decision that benefits the entire family. Beneatha is trying to dig deeper into her African heritage and learn more as black woman. The situation the Younger family find themselves in reminds me of back home in Nigeria. I would constantly see families struggling to meet their basic needs like food. Mostly these families would have children as-well and they are not sure if they will see the next day. They face eviction from where they live so they are forced to find jobs that are so unethical and against the human rights code. In the midst of all this, the parents have hope in God and. their children have big dreams that almost seems impossible to them. This play brings back me memories like these and reminds me that people today are still living with dreams unactualized and poverty. This play, though released decades ago, still remain very relevant in our society today as amongst us we see people living in poverty and do not have the opportunity to actualize their dreams.
We'll leave it here for now my friends and we'll continue this discussion as we take a dive into Act II.
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