Introduction to Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun

1. Introduction to Lorraine Hansberry’sA Raisin in the Sun

2. Essential Questions 1. Why do people dream?2. What happens when dreams are not realized?3.What is essential about the freedom to dream?

3. Literary Terms • Types of Characters: • dynamic • static • flat • round • foil • Dramatic Terms • soliloquy • monologue • dialogue • stage directions • Poetry • anaphora

4. Parents Lorraine Hansberry was the daughter of a prominent real estate broker and his wife. She grew up on the south side of Chicago and the Woodlawn neighborhood.

5. Social Background • Hansberry's father engaged in a legal battle against a racial covenant that attempted to prohibit African-American families from buying homes in the area. The legal struggle over their move led to the landmark Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940).

6. Her family won and was able to move into a formerly all-white neighborhood. This experience later inspired her to write her most famous work, A Raisin in the Sun. Her family home at 6140 S. Rhodes Ave. has since been designated a City of Chicago landmark.

7. Education Hansberry attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, but found college to be uninspiring and left in 1950 to pursue her career as a writer in New York City. She worked on the staff of the Black newspaper Freedom under the auspices of singer and activist Paul Robeson.

8. Theatre A Raisin in the Sun was written at this time, and was a huge success. It was the first play written by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway. Thus, at 29 years of age, she became only the fifth woman to receive the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best play of the year.

9. 1930-1965 • A Raisin…is the 1st play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway Other Works: • WHAT USE ARE FLOWERS? • THE MOVEMENT: DOCUMENTARY OF A STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY, • THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN' WINDOWTO BE YOUNG, GIFTED, AND BLACK: • LES BLANCS: THE COLLECTED LAST PLAYS: The Drinking Gourd / What Use Are Flowers?

10. Sidney Poitier starred in the Broadway and film versions of the play

11. Other film versions have starred Danny Glover and Sean Combs

12. After a long battle with cancer, Hansberry died on January 12, 1965 at the age of 34.

13. The title of the play comes from a poem by Langston Hughes titled “Harlem”: What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like 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 sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?

14. Themes present in ARITS Family Pride

15. Themes present in Raisin Manly Pride

16. Themes present in ARITS Cultural Pride

17. Literary Terms • Types of Characters: • dynamic • static • flat • round • foil • Dramatic Terms • soliloquy • monologue • dialogue • stage directions • Poetry • anaphora

18. Types of Characters • Dynamic: develops and grows over the course of the story • Static: never changes • Flat: one dimensional • Round: many traits; faults as well as virtues • Foil: a character who is contrasted with another character

19. Dramatic Terms • Soliloquy: a long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on a stage; the audience senses they are overhearing a character talk to himself or herself (Hamlet’s “To be or not to be”) • Monologue: a speech given by one character in a play to the audience • Dialogue: conversation between characters; it reveals character and advances action • Stage Directions: dramatist’s instructions describing how the work is to be performed or staged

20. Poetry • Anaphora: repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses; especially for rhetorical or poetic effect • MLK’s speech: “So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California. But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.” Katy Perry’s “Firework” Do you ever feel like a plastic bag Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again? Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in? Do you ever feel already buried deep six feet under? Scream but no one seems to hear a thing Do you know that there's still a chance for you 'Cause there's a spark in you?

21. The End

22. The American Dream • Why do people from other countries immigrate to America? • When we talk about “The American Dream,” what do we mean? • What are some of the obstacles to achieving the American Dream? • Which groups of people have had trouble attaining "The American Dream"? • Given the obstacles that some Americans have to overcome, what makes the American Dream appealing?

23. Harlem Renaissance FUN • Teacher Tube: http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=231518 • YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RQ-Ha9JmpI (start at 2:40) • Listen to some Harlem Renaissance music: http://www.jcu.edu/harlem/Audio/Page_1.htm

24. Four Corners • People should do whatever it takes to accomplish their dreams. • Life is fair. • Inherited money should be equally split between family members. • Finances should be left to the man of the house. • Racism stopped with the Civil War. • People learn from their mistakes. • How you act in a crisis shows who you really are. • Love conquers all.

25. “Harlem” What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like 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 sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?

26. VoCaBuLaRY • Montage: a work of art that is made up of several different kinds of things; a mixture of different things • Defer: to put off to a later time; postpone • Fester: (of a wound or sore) to become septic, become infected; form pus

27. What can Hughes’ poem tell us about the play? • What is the purpose of a preface? • Why do you think Hansberry chose this poem as her preface? • Listen to “Harlem” reading: Learner.org • Reread the poem silently to yourself.

28. WHAT CENTRAL QUESTION DOES THE POEM ASK?

29. Hughes’ SIMILES • Let’s make a list together…

30. Final Thoughts What is Hughes' message about dreams deferred? How do "dreams deferred" relate to the American Dream?

31. Writing Assignment • In a formal paragraph that follows proper grammatical rules, answer the question Hughes proposes: What happens to a dream deferred? • Answer the question in your topic sentence • Give examples from personal experiences, books, and/or television to support your claim • Conclude your thoughts *Minimum of 8 sentences – topic sentence, 3 supporting details with examples/explanations, & a concluding sentence

32. ACT I • What are the major conflicts experienced by the family? By which members? 2. Who is Beneatha? What is she experiencing? 3. Who is Mama?

33. Consider two characters, Beneatha and Mama, and their attitudes toward religion. How does each factor influence Beneatha’s religious beliefs? How does each factor influence Mama’s beliefs? • Poverty & Wealth • Level of Education • Family • Self Identity

34. ACT I • What is the main conflict of the play so far? • What are the characters’ motivations? • What are some possible symbols in Act I that you think will present themselves later in the play? What could these symbols mean?

35. A Raisin in the Sun Themes

36. Primacy of the Family • Success is measured by the quality of family life. Making money and having a prestigious career are important, but not as important as maintaining a happy home supported by love. 

37. Money Can't Buy Happiness • Walter believes money is the answer to all of his problems. It will empower him to compete against whites while also instilling him with pride and respectability and yielding material benefits for himself and his family. Or so he thinks, but he learns the hard way that only one currency can buy happiness: integrity.

38. Faith • Despite the serious economic and social problems her children, daughter-in-law, and grandchild face, Mama continues to have faith in her family and its future. Ever hopeful, she even buys a house for the family in an all-white neighborhood. In turn, the family members learn to trust in themselves. 

39. Evils of Racial Prejudice • Mr. Lindner represents the racially prejudiced segment of society that held sway in America for so long—and continues to be a problem in the U.S. today. When Lindner attempts to buy back the Youngers’ new home, he exhibits the kind of bigotry that confined blacks to segregated schools and neighborhoods and limited their job opportunities.

40. Compromise • Although Mama has been the authority figure in the home, she yields her position—and most of her insurance money—to her son to solve a family crisis. Her willingness to accommodate the wishes of others is limited, of course: she will not compromise her moral values. 

41. “I Have a Dream” • MLK’s “I Have a Dream” Speech:http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=20916 • Which of Dr. King's words or phrases especially stood out to you? Why? • Take notes as you listen! Do you think all Americans are truly free? Why or why not?

42. “I Have a Dream” • Of what types of freedom would Dr. King dream if he were alive today? • How can we relate our findings from the speech to the theme of the “American Dream” in ARITS? • What are the dreams of each of the characters? • How does each character plan to make their dreams come true?