A Raisin in the Sun

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A Raisin in the Sun

• Background Information

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A Dream Deferred What happens to a dream
deferred?Does it dry upLike a raisin in the
sun?Or fester like a sore--And then run?Does
it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar
over--like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just
sagslike a heavy load.Or does it explode?-
Langston Hughes
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Lorraine Hansbury

• Born May 19, 1930 in Chicago
• Died at the age of 34
• Daughter of a prominent real-estate broker and
  the niece of a Harvard University professor of
  African history
• A Raisin in the Sun - first play
• To Be Young, Gifted, and Black - based on her
  life

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A Raisin in the Sun

• Originally title A Crystal Stair from another
  Langston Hughes poem
• First production in 1959
• Known as the "movin on up" morality play of the
  1960s
• First Broadway production written by an
  African-American woman and first by an
  African-American to win the New York Drama
  Critics Circle Award (1959)
• Made into a film (1961), a musical (1973), a PBS
  television production for American Playhouse
  (1989), and a TV play (2008) with Sean Combs and
  Phylicia Rashad

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Plot Basics

• explores the struggles of ordinary people to
  achieve their desires
• the story of the Youngers, a Southside Chicago
  family trying to survive in cramped quarters.
• When Mama gets a 10,000 check from her husband's
  life insurance, they consider moving to a larger
  house in a white suburb.

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Cast of Characters

• Lena Younger (Mama) God-fearing mother of
  Walter, refuses to give up in the face of
  adversity
• Walter Lee Younger
• 35-year-old chauffeur who longs to improve
  himself to reap the same rewards that white
  people enjoy
• Ruth Walters humble and devoted wife

• Beneatha Walters 26-year-old sister,
  articulate and ambitious college student, hopes
  to become a physician
• Travis Walter and Ruths son, friendly boy of
  10 or 11
• Mr. Lindner - white man who attempts to prevent
  the Youngers from moving into his neighborhood
•  

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Cast of Characters

• Joseph Agasai cultured, well-spoken Nigerian
  who courts Beneatha
• George Murchison rich Chicagoan who also courts
  Beneatha
• Bobo Walters friend, they plan to open a
  liquor store

• Willy Walter and Bobo's business partner, runs
  off with Walter and Bobo's money (Willy has no
  speaking part in the play) 
• Furniture Mover comes to the Youngers'
  apartment to move their belongings to their new
  house  

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Themes

• Faith
• Family
• Compromise
• Evils of racial prejudice
• Money cant buy happiness
• Importance of dreams

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Symbols

• Mamas plant
• Kitchen window
• Fifty cents, one dollar
• New House and garden

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