Racism, Assimilation, Personal Pride, And Dreams For The...

One should not judge another on the color of their skin, but by their character. One’s character builds itself through numerous moments of struggle and how one overcomes said situation. Some people build good character through good deeds and sacrifices for the betterment of others, while others build themselves up, by diminishing somebody else. Walter’s family define what it means to have good character, through means of hardship and how they overcome said hardship. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, faces struggles of racism, assimilation, personal pride, and dreams for the future form major themes influencing and developing the characters throughout the play. Racism plays an integral role in, A Raisin in the Sun, as it†¦show more content†¦Beneatha wants to become a doctor. While she may have the smarts, her becoming a doctor brings up opposition from others including family members! Due to racism and an already perception of a non-upward mobile social class, Beneatha’s claim to becoming a doctor is rather dismissed as a joke by George Murchison, as most black people do not become doctors, but while stay in their social class. The play highlights this locked-in social status, through the foil character, Asagai. Asagai does not bother himself with the idea of non-upward mobility, but rather supports others in the achievement their dreams. He even goes so far to offer Beneatha to come with him to Africa to become a doctor, â€Å"To go to Africa, Mama-be a doctor in Africa† (Hansberry 150). Africa in this case, symbolizes freedom in a certain way. In Africa, there is no racism, that most blacks can not become a doctor, or some type of job that takes a college degree. Essentially, as America is to white men, a place of freedom, Africa is to African-American people, â€Å"Don’t you see that there will be young men and women-not British soldiers then, but my own black country men† (Hansberry 136). Using metatext, Martin Luther King’s speech I Have a Dream touches upon the similar lack of opportunity due to racism, â€Å"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged byShow MoreRelated Chinatown Essay1165 Words   |  5 Pagesdays also. During the 1920s and 1930s, Little Manilas, a more common term, dotted the cities like Seattle (along King Street), Stockton (along El Dorado Street), San Francisco (along Kearny Street), and Los Angeles (along Temple Street). Overt racism in housing evident in the segregation of residential patterns as well as a yearning to be with one’s own kababayan (which means compani on/friend), caused these areas to exist. However, due to racist immigration laws that prohibited the Manongs toRead More Beneatha as a paradigm for African American Women in A Raisin in The Sun2117 Words   |  9 Pagesrelationships. Living in a cramped Chicago apartment, the Youngers’ display both influential goals and conflicting restraints. Beneatha Youngers is a controversial character; she complicates society’s typical gender roles, introduces the wrestle between assimilation and ancestry of African-Americans, but specifically serves as a paradigm for her generation in the play. 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