A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959.The title comes from the poem Harlem (also known as A Dream Deferred) by Langston Hughes. The story is based upon a black family’s experiences in the Washington Park Subdivision of Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood, and portrays a few weeks in the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living in Chicago’s Southside sometime between World War II and the 1950s.
When the play opens, the Youngers are about to receive an insurance check for $10,000 from the deceased Mr. Younger’s life insurance policy. Each of the adult members of the family has an idea as to what he or she would like to do with this money. The matriarch of the family, Mama, wants to buy a house to fulfill a dream she shared with .her husband. Mama’s son, Walter Lee, would rather use the money to invest in a liquor store with his friends. He believes that the investment will solve the family’s financial problems forever. Walter’s wife, Ruth, agrees with Mama, however, and hopes that she and Walter can provide more space and opportunity for their son, Travis. Beneatha, Walter’s sister and Mama’s daughter, wants her mother to use the money for whatever be her will. Mama does mention she’d also like to use the money for Beneatha’s medical school tuition. She also wishes that her family members were not so interested in joining the white world. Beneatha instead tries to find her identity by looking back to the past and to Africa.
The Book Group meets Wednesday, March 21st at 5PM
All book discussion groups meet in the “Yellow Building”
207 Calvert Street, Chestertown, MD, and are free and open to everyone.
Sponsored by the Kent County Public Library
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.