A Raisin in the Sun

by Lorraine Hansberry

Book Overview

"Never before, in the entire history of the American theater, has so much of the truth of Black people's lives been seen on the stage," observed James Baldwin shortly before A Raisin in the Sun opened... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679755330
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 151 Pages
• Weight: 0.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.9" x 0.5" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Raisin in the Sun

Thank you very much. The book same in a timely manner and was what I expected.

A truly moving play

"A Raisin in the Sun," the play by Lorraine Hansberry, was produced in New York City in 1959. Hansberry creates the story of the Youngers, a struggling African-American family whose members deal with poverty, racism, and painful conflict among themselves as they reach for a better life. The Youngers are, in my opinion, one of the most unforgettable families in United States literature. Hansberry balances grim drama, comic moments, and redemptive love as the play unfolds.Although a few of the characters may seem a bit stereotypical, the play strikes me as surprisingly fresh after all these decades. It is also fascinating to hear the voices of three generations of a single family in this play. Ultimately, "Raisin" is a celebration of struggle, pride, and hope, in addition to being a historically important indictment of mid-20th century racism. This is essential reading for anybody with a serious interest in United States drama or African-American literature.

Amazing

The play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry was awonderful piece of writing. I'm a fourteen year old and I thinkthat the book is good for most ages but you need to be at least 12 to fully understand it. I read this book while reading To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. It was interesting to read those books at the same time to see the points of view of racism of both sides. I noticed something very similar in both books. The Black people are always very welcoming and polite to the white people. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson was always willing to help Mayella Ewell with chores. In A Raisin in the Sun, when the man came from the welcoming committee, they were very polite to him and invited him into their home. Little did they know that they would be rejected even though they were very courteous. That happened in both books. In A Raisin in the Sun, it seemed like their race was holding them back from accomplishing their dreams. When Mama bought the house for her family, they were all brutally rejected by the community. This upset the family very much. Walter says, "Maybe---maybe I'll just get down on my black knees,Captain Mistuh, Bossman. A-hee-hee-hee! Yasssuh! Great White Father, just gi' ussen de money, fo' God's sake, and we's ain't gwine come out deh and dirty up yo' white folks neighborhood..." When he says this it is a very dramatic part of the play. It shows how white people are controlling so much that goes on. They can't live in a house they want to live in. It seems like the white people are perceived as some kind of royalty in the book. Like queens and kings, they are not anything special but were just born into the "right" family. Unlike royalty, it's not the name they inherit but the color of their skin. I think this book was a great book to read. It showed me that in America you didn't always have a fair chance and social mobility used to be a lost cause for African-Americans. All of the people who lived in that crummy apartment had a dream but because of their skin color, their dreams were shattered. Either they wouldn't be taken seriously, or not welcomed, or given no choice but to take a low paying job doing unskilled things. I thought it was a great book because it was so realistic. There was suspense and most of all it was a book that really made me think.

A beautifully simple, passionate literary work. . .

I read this play as a required reading book for my 10th-grade English class. Boring, right? WRONG! I found the story to be inspiring and emotional, and the characters realistic, multi-faceted and down-to-earth. Beneatha's loftiness, spontaneity and charming flightiness reminded me very much of my younger sister, which enhanced the realism of the book. The character of Mama was someone I would have liked to meet in real life; simple and ignorant but conventionally wise and hardworking. The story dealt with both the characters' internal and external conflicts, conflicts with money, lovers and family, which in my mind made it very interesting reading. The author writes with passionate but realistic emotion and the problems of the Younger family could easily have struck a lower middle class black family in the 1940's. A definite must-read!

9

i though that the raisin in the sun was a very informative play. It touched on many themes that touched eveybody. Such as the false pride that money brings. Walter lee's obession with money was clearly stated and illustrated. My expectations were that walter lee would sell the house and obtain the money,but it did not happen. He was a bigger man and realized that his dream of becoming rich was nothing compared to the actulaziation of a sane mind. Walter lee is a man in all of us. He is the common man of today