a raisin in the sun literary analysis essay

A Raisin in the Sun

Lorraine hansberry, everything you need for every book you read..

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

A Raisin in the Sun: Introduction

A raisin in the sun: plot summary, a raisin in the sun: detailed summary & analysis, a raisin in the sun: themes, a raisin in the sun: quotes, a raisin in the sun: characters, a raisin in the sun: symbols, a raisin in the sun: theme wheel, brief biography of lorraine hansberry.

A Raisin in the Sun PDF

Historical Context of A Raisin in the Sun

Other books related to a raisin in the sun.

  • Full Title: A Raisin in the Sun
  • When Written: 1950s
  • Where Written: New York City
  • When Published: The play premiered on Broadway on March 11, 1959. Random House published the play in 1959.
  • Literary Period: Social Realism
  • Genre: Dramatic stage play
  • Setting: Chicago’s South Side, sometime between 1945 and 1959
  • Climax: Walter Lee loses the family’s insurance payment in an investment scheme.
  • Antagonist: Karl Lindner and the Clybourne Park Improvement Association; racial prejudice and economic hardship

Extra Credit for A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Spotlight A Raisin in the Sun inspired several adaptations, including a Tony Award-winning musical. Partly written by the Lorraine Hansberry’s ex-husband Robert Nemiroff, after her death, Raisin added song and dance to the Youngers’ story, winning the 1973 Tony Award for Best Musical. More loosely based on the original story, the play Clybourne Park tells the story of the white family that sells its house to the Youngers. With its first act set in 1959 and its second act set in 2009, Clybourne Park tracks the development of the neighborhood and its residents over fifty years.

Mother to Son Hansberry originally titled the play, The Crystal Stair , a name that, like A Raisin in the Sun , comes from a Langston Hughes poem. The poem, called “Mother to Son,” speaks to the hardships that many African-American families have faced: “Well, son, I’ll tell you: / Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair / . . . But all the time / I’se been a-climbin’ on.”

The LitCharts.com logo.

IMAGES

  1. A Raisin in the Sun Theme

    a raisin in the sun literary analysis essay

  2. essay examples: a raisin in the sun essay

    a raisin in the sun literary analysis essay

  3. Literary Analysis Essay Unit for A Raisin in the Sun

    a raisin in the sun literary analysis essay

  4. A Raisin in the Sun: Summary and Analysis

    a raisin in the sun literary analysis essay

  5. A Raisin in The Sun

    a raisin in the sun literary analysis essay

  6. essay examples: a raisin in the sun essay

    a raisin in the sun literary analysis essay

VIDEO

  1. A Raisin In The Sun

  2. A RAISIN IN THE SUN (DREAMS DEFERRED)

  3. "A Raisin in the Sun'' coming to University of South Carolina

  4. A raisin in the sun play

COMMENTS

  1. A Raisin in The Sun - Study Guide and Literary Analysis

    Introduction to A Raisin in The Sun. A Raisin in The Sun is a popular play by Lorraine Hansberry. It was performed for the first time in 1959. Hansberry has borrowed the title from a popular poem by Langston Hughes, “ Harlem .”. The play revolves around an African American family living in Chicago who wants to bring improvement in its ...

  2. A Raisin in the Sun: A+ Student Essay: The Role of Money in ...

    Nowhere in A Raisin in the Sun does a character guiltlessly accept or hold onto his or her money. Again and again, the rejection of wealth is a cause for celebration among Hansberry’s characters. Ruth laughs when Walter gives his fifty cents to Travis; the couple acknowledges that the act of generosity is the right decision.

  3. A Raisin in the Sun Study Guide | Literature Guide | LitCharts

    Key Facts about A Raisin in the Sun. Full Title: A Raisin in the Sun. When Written: 1950s. Where Written: New York City. When Published: The play premiered on Broadway on March 11, 1959. Random House published the play in 1959. Literary Period: Social Realism.

  4. A Raisin in the Sun: Full Play Analysis | SparkNotes

    Full Play Analysis. A Raisin in the Sun is centered around the persistent deferral of the Younger family’s dreams. The Youngers are a working-class Black family with various dreams of upward mobility. Walter wants to take control of his life, restore his sense of masculinity, make his family proud, and eventually take on a new role as head of ...

  5. A Raisin in the Sun Analysis - eNotes.com

    Analysis. The concept of dreams is a focal point throughout A Raisin in the Sun, with Hansberry using the title to allude to “Harlem,” a 1951 Langston Hughes poem that poses the question: what ...

  6. "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry Literature ...

    The book, A Raisin in the Sun, clearly Lorraine Hansberry’s masterpiece, presents a 1950s life of a family- the Youngers; the family is caught up with individualism as they make decisions regarding money acquired from insurance. Between racial constrictions, the family struggles with identity of the American dream as it casts back a view on ...

  7. A Raisin in the Sun: Literary Context Essay: Hansberry ...

    Essays Literary Context Essay: Hansberry, Langston Hughes, & the Harlem Renaissance Previous Next Although Lorraine Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun at the end of the 1950s, in a significant sense her landmark play extends the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance.

  8. A Raisin in the Sun Essays and Criticism - eNotes.com

    Race and Gender in A Raisin in the Sun. In many ways, A Raisin in the Sun seems to forecast events that would transpire during the decade following its initial production and beyond. The play ...

  9. A Raisin in the Sun - eNotes.com

    Cite this page as follows: "A Raisin in the Sun - Masterplots II: Juvenile & Young Adult Literature Series A Raisin in the Sun Analysis" Survey of Young Adult Fiction Ed. Frank Northen Magill.

  10. Analysis Of A Raisin In The Sun English Literature Essay

    According to one of the researchers, the writer may be called the “mother of the modern drama of black, no less than Eugene O’Neill is the father of the national drama. In this sense,” Raisin in the Sun “is a drama for the same thing as” Native Son “by R. Wright – for a black novel (a “Huck Finn” by Mark Twain – for any ...