The Generational Question in A Raisin in the Sun: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

One of the seminal works in the African American body of theatre, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun accurately represents the experiences of African American life in urban centres of the US when segregation was in its last stages. Its portrayal of the black community’s repression is realistic in the themes of limited opportunities and acute poverty. This paper focuses on Hansberry’s accurate rendering of black culture and society in the play and how she penetrates the deception and hypocrisy of segregation that eroded the Black community's confidence in American society (and dream). The paper also attempts to answer the generational question that the younger family in the play faces through the prospect of social mobility. It traces the family’s social and economic journey and explores the possibilities of future Youngers’ escape from ghosts of the past and new harsh realities. The play’s conclusion, with Walter declining the offer to sell the new house, was the Youngers’ resistance to oppression and inequality. It also initiated a new social struggle as the family sought social mobility to live in the new setting.