Pan-Africanism and Black Assimilation in Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun"

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Hamburg, language: English, abstract: This seminar paper explains the historical and biographical background of Lorraine Hansberry's writing "A Raisin in the Sun". The African American intelligentsia has always been torn between assimilating into a society built by and for white people, and the longing for a deeper connection with Africa and its cultures. Hansberry, the most talented African American playwright of the post-war era, tackles this issue by using two male figures as antagonists in her play which is one of the all-time classics of black American literature. Apart from its witty dialogues and the realistic and authentic characters, the many issues the play comments on make it stand out. For an analyst of literature, there are many possibilities of examining it further. One possibility could be the role segregation (and the struggle to overcome it) plays in "A Raisin in the Sun", since Lorraine Hansberry¿s father fought in court for his right to move into a predominately white neighborhood.

Another way of studying the play could perhaps lay the focus onto Hansberry¿s feminism and the representation of gender roles in it, since it features various strong female characters. One could also analyze the play as a comment on capitalist ideology, the American dream and the poor¿s desperate quest for material well-being. However, I decided to analyze the actions of two characters that symbolically stand for two different ways African Americans can choose: identification with blackness and Africa and assimilationism are represented by the characters of Asagai and George Murchison, respectively. The stark contrast between the two, the scenario of Beneatha choosing between them, and the way Hansberry employed the literary technique of personification were the reason this aspect of the play appeared the most interesting.