Literature Help: A Raisin In the Sun

By Students' Academy

“A Raisin In the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry is a very popular play. It was first launched on Broadway in 1959.

The title of the play “A Raisin In the Sun” is taken from Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem” which is also known as “A Dream Deferred.”

The story of the play revolves around a black family’s experiences in the Washington Park Subdivision of Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood.

“A Raisin In the Sun” is considered an autobiographical play. Lorraine Hansberry happens to be one of the first playwrights to sketch realistic pictures of African-American life.

Literature Help: A Raisin In the Sun
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Major Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Act One
Act Two
Act Three
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Jan 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311116048

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Literature Help: A Raisin In the Sun

Copyright

Literature Help: A Raisin In the Sun

Students' Academy

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Chapter One: Introduction

A Raisin In the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a very popular play. It was first launched on Broadway in 1959.

The title of the play A Raisin In the Sun is taken from Langston Hughes’ poem Harlem which is also known as A Dream Deferred.

The story of the play revolves around a black family’s experiences in the Washington Park Subdivision of Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood.

A Raisin In the Sun is considered as an autobiographical play. Lorraine Hansberry happens to be one of the first playwrights to sketch realistic pictures of African-American life.

The play was highly praised when it was first launched in March 1959. Both white and black audiences admired the play. It was the first play that portrayed black characters, themes, and conflicts in a highly natural and realistic manner.

A Raisin In the Sun was the winner of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play of the year. It is noticeable that Hansberry was the only black writer up to that day to have won that prestigious award. She was the youngest woman to win the award.

With the help of A Raisin In the Sun Hansberry got a lot of fame and she very wisely used her fame to bring attention to the American civil rights movement. She also brought forward the African struggles for Independence from colonialism.

Unfortunately, she passed away at the age of only thirty-four. She died of cancer in 1964. Thus the world was deprived of a highly promising writer.

This play in a way became a turning point in American art because so many important issues were addressed in it. Those issues were highly important during the 1950s in America.

Generally, in the present age, the 1950s