Show And Tell #1

For my “show and tell” blog, I read A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. It displayed on Broadway in 1959. Over the year, many productions of the play have been done. The play has been transformed into a musical, movie and several television series and specials. Also it is well known for being the first play written by a Black woman that was produced.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Raisin_in_the_Sun

The story based on a black’s family in the Southside of Chicago. The main characters, Walter, Ruth, Travis and Beneatha, lives with their mother, Lena in a two bedroom apartment. Walter is a limousine driver who was to start a better life by investing into a liquor store. He plans to ask mama for her insurance money but says no because of her religious view s about alcohol. Mama decides to put the money down on a new house in an all-white neighborhood, which in turn makes Walter mad.  Mama agree to give Walter some money except he has to invest half into Beneatha‘s education. The deal goes bad and the money is lost. The all-white neighborhood doesn’t want Blacks in their community. Ignoring the racism, they move to their new neighborhood uncertain about this future.

One dramaturgical choice is having two head of house figures in the story. In most Black community, everyone knows Mama is in control. In A Raisin in the Sun, Walter wants to be the man of the home which created confusion. This choice really affected the other characters in the story. The other main characters lean toward Mama more because it is her house. So when Walter tries to command and take control, the other characters do not take him seriously. If this choice did not exist, the story would lose conflict. This would be major damage to the plot.