The Effects of Societal Influence in “A Raisin in the Sun”

In Lorraine Hansberry’s drama of “A Raisin in the Sun”, readers can analyze the effects of society’s influence on the female characters. Lena (Mama), Ruth and Beneatha experience levels of misogyny. According to Anthony Barthelemy in his critical essay, “Mother, Sister, Wife: A Dramatic Perspective” he says, “No matter what Hansberry's intentions, to those who subscribe to this image of black women, Lena, Ruth and Beneatha all seem to participate in that emasculating tradition”. This tradition which Barthelemy mentions is a product of society. However, these women experience and react differently to it. The gender roles and prejudice that is enforced on them through family and close friends is not seen as abnormal because these ideals are mutually accepted by the American society around them.

The gender roles which are followed are affected by society’s influence amongst each generation that appears in this literature piece. Mama/Lena is the mother/mother-in-law, widow and grandmother who represents the oldest generation in the home, resonating the traditions of the nearby past. As her son Walter phrases it, “You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to” (Hansberry 764). Mama is like the strong pillar that helps to hold their household together. She does not feel that she needs to acquire permission from anyone and in a sense feels more liberated than Ruth or Beneatha.

To a certain degree, Lena feels more freedom that Ruth or Beneatha because her desires and actions conform within society’s norms; there is an exception in Act II where she breaks through cultural barriers by purchasing a house within a white community (Hansberry 762). This factor may be because she is an older and widowed woman whose children still live at home and under her roof. This decision of buying a house in a white community is a turning point for Lena where she decides not to conform to the prejudices that exist towards her and her family, not only as a question of gender, but their ethnicity. By this action, Lena and her family gain pride and dignity in their identity, despite societal influence which has been working against them.

Although Lena typically has the last say, Ruth also has a level of influence within the home. While she does not seem as traditionally religious as her mother-in-law, Ruth does not seem as shocked at Beneatha’s negation of the existence of God. She sympathizes with her mother-in-law because she too is a mother and understands what Beneatha’s opposition to the idea of God means to Lena. She seems to adopt a motherly tone with her younger sister-in-law by chiding her, “You think you a woman, Bennie—but you still a little girl.  What you did was childish—so you got treated like a child.” Not only does Ruth act like the second mother of the home by cautioning Beneatha on her attitude towards her brother, “Don’t be so nasty Bennie” but she also defends her, “Walter Lee, why don’t you leave that girl alone…?” (731-732). Ruth appears to stand somewhere in between Lena and Ruth. Ruth seems to follow some traditional convictions because as a married woman, society makes it seem natural to be a good natured, pacific, and submissive wife.

Despite following society’s norms for being a good housewife, Ruth experiences no support from her husband, whose words are demeaning towards her. In today’s world, Walter Lee would be considered and emotionally abusive husband. He complains that she does not back him up (Hansberry 730). He also uses this to generalize all black women saying, “That is just what is wrong with colored women in this world” (731). Walter constantly yells at Ruth and demonstrated indifference when he learns of her plans to abort their unborn child (752-753). This form of misogyny that Walter uses is what he has learned about society, brainwashing him that woman and wife are men's property and she is supposed to acknowledge all his whims without receiving any consideration from him. Enduring his insensitive words, Ruth represents the stereotypical perfect housewife: humble, submissive and with a quiet spirit. She simply accepts his cruel words, answering, “Well, being a colored woman, I guess I can’t help myself none” (731). Despite the issues that exist between Ruth and Walter, the reader can see that Ruth respects her husband’s male dominance willingly, unlike Beneatha.

Beneatha who is a college student, a daughter, sister, and an aunt experiences many pulls of what she ought to be. This contributes to her character of finding her identity. She tries a number of things from guitar lessons and horseback riding (737-738). According to Diana Mafe in her critical essay “Black women on Broadway: the duality of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun and Ntozake Shange's for colored girls” these actions point out “her search for a self-defined identity, something that her mother and sister-in-law (women of an older generation) find amusing” (Mafe). Beneatha is dissimilar to Ruth in that she is not willing to follow a man blindly. “Beneatha consistently rebuts the sexist male voices in the play” (Mafe). Throughout the play, the reader can see how Beneatha is the female character that is most independent, and as a consequence, the one who encounter more of society’s limitations and finds them stifling. According to Barthelemy, “Beneatha accepts the authority of no one. Only when her brother demonstrates pride and dignity does she respect him as a man, but she never surrenders her ambition or assertiveness” (“Mother, Sister, Wife: A Dramatic Perspective”). She also does not surrender her goals or opinions to men in general, even to those who she feels an attachment to. Unfortunately, many of her goals such as becoming a black doctor and her feminist opinions go against the grain of society.

Beneatha experiences the pressure to conform to the idea that a woman’s is to love a man and be supportive, similar to what Ruth is currently living. Beneatha “embodies the "new" black woman” and “represents the intellectual voice of feminist debate” (Mafe). Beneatha represents a new age for black women. From her suitors George Murchison, no level of intelligence or personal feelings are required; instead he wants “a nice…simple…sophisticated girl” (Hansberry764). He wants her to turn off her brain and become a pretty commodity for him. As I wrote in my essay “A Reflection of the Characters in ‘A Raisin in the Sun’”, “Not only does Murchison serve as an echo to what her brother Walter tells her that she ought to be, but he is also reverberating what the majority in society still believe about what a woman’s role is” (Salazar 2). On the other hand, her second suitor Joseph Asagai supports her dreams, but he also believes that a woman’s purpose is to love one man—particularly him (Hansberry 764).

In the of the play both Lena and Beneatha appear to cross certain societal barriers, whether it is purchasing a home in a white community or trying to conform to the norms of a society that does not accommodate their race or gender. However, both of them represent strong women who are proud of their identity as black women in the United States and act accordingly. Lena represents an older time that is taking steps that will lay a foundation for the next two generations, while Beneatha represents the voice of change that will carry on this legacy. Ruth represents the majority which do not take large leaps towards progress for their gender or race, but whose opinions are not in opposition, therefore contributing their support.

Works Cited

Barthelemy, Anthony. "Mother, Sister, Wife: A Dramatic Perspective." Southern Review 21.3 (Summer 1985): 770-789. Rpt. in Drama for Students. Ed. Elizabeth Thomason. Vol. 12. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 May 2015.

Hansberry, Lorraine. "A Raisin in the Sun." Literature The Human Experience Reading and Writing. Ed. Richard Abcarian and Marvin Klotz. 11th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013. 724+. Print.

Mafe, Diana Adesola. "Black women on Broadway: the duality of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun and Ntozake Shange's for colored girls." American Drama 15.2 (2006): 30+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 6 May 2015.

An Unusual Trolley Run

Note:  I overheard this conversation while riding the trolley one day and it impacted me a lot. Whoever says we don't still live in such a black and white world anymore is ignorant to the society we are still living in today in the U.S.A and in many parts of the world. As God's children though, we must remember that for us, all barriers of nationality and races should cease to be important because we are all one body in Christ and our nationality is a celestial one. 

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ" 

-Philippians 3:20 NIV

An Unusual Trolley Run

My three red trolley cars run about 20 miles over their metal tracks every day. We stop at 23 stations and transport many people. Each morning a different trolley driver maneuvers my cars with care. I hear the driver’s voice sound through the intercom of my three cars. It began as an ordinary ride inside my second trolley car at 8:45 in the morning as I pulled in proudly into Dilcue Station. I was transporting my patrons on my daily Orange Line route towards Downtown. A few seats remained emptied and sprinkled throughout my second car. Already in the priority seating were an elderly white couple. The woman looked around alertly at the people boarding my open doors through her metal-framed glasses. Her partner minded his own business, a cap pulled low over his eyes, his left hand grabbed his gray cane as he rested his swollen and freckled legs on the ground.

Before my doors closed, music began to filter through the car. I had not been aware that I was providing background music for my patrons. I was feeling pretty posh about it until the source was found. The music was not coming from my speakers—no.

“Excuse me, could you please turn that down?” it was the alert woman sitting in the priority section. She was addressing the young scruffy black man with dark shades and faded army cargo shorts. His huge backpack hid his state-of-the-art stereo system away from sight.

The music played on as the young man hunched over and moved his head to the modern jazz with a dramatic passion. It seemed as if he hadn’t heard her.

“Excuse me!” the woman repeated a little louder, “Can you please turn it down?” she attempted to ask again politely, “I have a headache, and that really isn’t helping me.”

Everyone near the end of my car turned to look at her curiously, except for the man with the hidden stereo. It was obvious now that he had heard her and had no intention of listening to her request.

Her patience was wearing thin by now, “Hey! Can you PLEASE turn it down?” the agitation was evident now by her tone. It was no longer a request, but bordering a command.

The young man stooped down to look at her face mockingly, “No, I cannot”, he sounded the last word longer than necessary as if to annoy the woman further.

“You’re not supposed to be playing your music out loud,” she admonished, “You should be wearing headphones like him” she pointed to a casually dressed black man across from her to the right of my car. The man wore large headphones and was oblivious to the drama unfolding in front of him; at least, he rather appeared to be. His head was leaning forward, his elbows on his dark jeans. An elderly black man in a brown suit in the middle of my car had plain view to the scene, and watched cautiously, with suspense showing on his face.

The white man with the freckled and swollen legs only looked at the floor in front of him. His right hand casually thrown over the now irritated woman, rubbing her back in circular motions, as if to calm her.

“You! You think you own the world? That’s what’s wrong with you people. You think you own the world. Well you don’t. This wouldn’t be happening if I had asked a white person,” she said loudly. She had no qualms of being overheard. The woman would have continued with her monologue had not that phrase riled the rude young man with the stereo still blaring loudly.

“Hey, leave race out of it, lady! It has nothing to do with this, you leave race out.” He hoped to quiet her and drown her voice with his loud music.

“It has everything to do with it” her voice now reached a shrill note, “The other day I asked a white young man to turn his music down and he did.” He ignored her comment as she muttered away. Those patrons who had begun to feel sympathy for her earlier, now wore grim faces. “It’s because of people like you that makes me so mad and want to use the “N” word.

The young man who had been disrespectful at first simply warned her, “Don’t you dare used that word with me.”

“I’ll use the “N” word if I want to! I certainly have reason to, you s_n of a . . .” she proceeded to insult him by saying his mother was not of the human variety. “You know, I work for the trolley and I have their number, I’m going to call them right now.” As she dialed away she explained the situation to the operator on the MTS line politely at first and the music went down considerably. She described the homely looking man with the stereo, giving my present location. She turned to him and sneered, “They say, they’re going to put you in jail.” No one believed her.

By this time, my patrons and I both wished to have them thrown out and restore the usual peace of avoiding eye contact and minding one’s own business without anyone entering other’s private spheres.

The young man ignored her. Calling MTS was not enough for her though. Next, the woman called the police. By now, three trolley stops after their confrontation, the young man raised his music full blast, to show that he would not be frightened by her threats.

“Yes,” she answered the ‘police’, “he’s bothering everybody on the trolley, but no one else has the balls to call.” Everyone near her kept their eyes forward or on the ground, pretending to be invisible, but those farther away from the back, craned their heads curiously to see what was happening. “Yes, I’ve already asked like 4 to 5 times.”

“12^TH & Imperial. 12^TH & Imperial is next. 12 e Imperial.  Estación para bordar a la frontera: San Ysidro” The robotic announcement filtered through my speakers.

“Scuse me,” as people flooded in and out of my cars, the man with the loud stereo weaved his way out my door to the right, disappearing inside the morning madness of crowds at the station during my stop.

The woman, who had been so alert before was too busy on the phone with the police that she hadn’t noticed until all my doorways were clear once again. She stood up from her seat, her head peering out in both sides, her eyes seeking the man with the shades and the huge backpack, the one with the faded army cargo shorts and the stereo. Having lost sight of the young man who had run away from her threats, she sat—defeated. Everyone seemed to release a sigh of relief. The casually dressed man with the headphones no longer sat at the corner in front of the couple. The older black man with his brown fedora and business suit had also disappeared through the morning rush.

“I don’t care,” the woman replied loudly several times, “you know what? I don’t care.” Her partner’s right arm remained on her shoulder, his hand rubbing her back softly. It was to him she was answering. His remarks to her had been so quiet, so soothing, that before the quietness had returned to my car, no one would have heard him, only she. 

And she did care, we all knew she did.

Context: For this exercise we were to write down an overheard conversation, whether it was on a bus, trolley or the construction workers below your apartment window. We were allowed to give some context or make up the description. Only the dialogue had to remain true. This short narrative is in third person and I am writing it from the perspective of the trolley-personifying it.