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A Raisin in the SunBy Lorraine Hansberry
Important Facts and
How to Read a Play
Important Facts
• Produced in 1959
– Foretold the revolution in black consciousness.
Consciousness means : – 1. A sense of one's personal or collective identity,
including the attitudes, beliefs, and sensitivities held by or considered characteristic of an individual or group: Love of freedom runs deep in the national consciousness.
– 2. Special awareness or sensitivity: class consciousness; race consciousness.
– 3. Alertness to or concern for a particular issue or situation.
• …foretold the revolution in women’s consciousness
Meet Lorraine Hansberry• Born in Chicago, IL
• Grew up on the south side in Woodlawn, but then family moved to an all-white neighborhood, where they faced discrimination
• Hansberry’s father engaged in a legal battle against a racially restrictive covenant that attempted to prohibit African-American families from buying homes in the area. (Hansberry v. Lee went to Supreme Court)
Important Themes (look for similar issues in other pieces of
literature)
Value systems within families, particularly the black
family
Concepts of African American beauty vs. European beauty
Class and generational conflicts
The relationships of husbands and wives
The relationships between men and women
The difference between what it means to be
African American vs. African
A series of FIRSTS
• The first play brought to Broadway by a black woman (young and unknown)
• Directed by a young black unknown director (Lloyd Richards)
• There had never been a serious commercially successful black drama
• Shown in a theatre with few black audience members…
• AND IT WAS A HIT!!!
Analyzing LiteratureLook at this book now…
• What is one of the things we should ask ourselves right now, before we’ve even read the play?
The significance of the TITLE
• From a poem by Langston Hughes.
• Title: “Harlem”
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat…
Deferred: To put off; postpone
What happens if you DON’T get your DREAM?
How to read a play
Check the CAST LIST
• Can you tell anything about the relationship of the characters based on the cast list?
• Ruth Younger• Travis Younger• Walter Lee Younger
(Brother)• Beneatha Younger
(Sister)• Lena Younger
(Mama)
Check the SETTING
• Does the setting give you any clues about the story?
• Does the time period give you any clues?
• Over what period of time does the action take place?
• Set on Chicago’s Southside, sometime between World War I and the present…
Why do you think it’s such a wide range of time?
• See your book…
Read the DIRECTOR’S NOTES
• The italicized parts interspersed throughout the play should not be skipped.
• They give you IMPORTANT INFORMATION about the set, characters, and movements of characters.
• They tell you HOW A LINE IS SAID, which gives you more information about the characters
STAGE RIGHT, CENTER, LEFT, Proscenium, Leg, Border
UP STAGE vs. DOWN STAGE
Check your stage knowledge• Up stage
• Down stage• Proscenium• Stage left• Stage right• Leg• Border
