Running Head: A RAISIN IN THE SUN LITERARY ANALYSIS 1

A Raisin in the Sun Literary Analysis

Karinya Sripolpa

e3 Civic High
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A Raisin in the Sun Literary Analysis

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a play that represents the American Dream

and how it could possibly be deferred. In 1959, Hansberry was the first African American

woman to have her play performed on stage. The play depicted authentic black life and the

struggles with identity and justice. In 1961, it was then filmed as a movie to further gain more

audience attention about African American culture. Then more producers gained interest from

the first film and decided to produce their own with different symbols and themes. As more

movie versions of the play were produced, they no longer portrayed the work by Hansberry due

to the additions of more elaborate settings, characters dramatic characterization, and deleted

scenes from the original.

Body

Elaborative Settings

In the play, the start of the setting is in Chicagos southside and the stage directions were:

An alarm clock sounds from within the bedroom at right, and presently ruth enters from that

room and closes the door behind her..As she passes her sleeping son she reaches down and

shakes him a little (Hansberry, p. 24). The 1961 film exactly shows this just as the stage

directions were written. But, the 2008 film starts off with Mama walking to work and taking

public transportation to get to a two-story house. Then, the scene shifts to Ruth waking up Walter

(1:13). Film directors have added extra scenes to the opening to represent how Chicago is outside

of the apartment and its culture. Also, the play uses visual imagery in the stage directions to

provide information on what needs to be seen by the audience. The apartment being one of the

very important symbols of the play represents the living situation that the Youngers are currently
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dealing with that causes their unhappiness. It was directed that the apartment was to have

roaches, old-fashioned furniture, and the wallpaper peeling off, but each movie did not

emphasize the living space as it shouldve been. Instead, the apartment looked decent and did not

express a family that lived in poverty as it was emphasized in the play. For example in both the

1916 and 2008 film, the apartment looked new and clean rather than old-fashioned and torn

apart.

Character Dynamic

All the characters in the original play were given certain actions to depict their

personality. But, the movies sometimes do not completely follow the stage directions given to

the characters and are instead act in their own way. For example, some characters do not express

the diction that is represented in the play. For instance, one of Mamas lines is, How come you

done taken it in your mind to learn to play the guitar? (Hansberry, p. 47). The film in 1961 read

this line exactly, but this line was said in a more modern way in later versions. The way that

the line was modernized in film was by having the character say, How come you decided to

play the guitar? (2008, 29:41). As years progress, the diction of almost all of the characters have

changed and no longer follow the play word for word. Also, the characterization is highly

presented in the play with visual and verbal appeal. For example, Walter and Ruths relationship

is not strong and they tend to always fight rather than fixing their problems together, especially

about how they feel and where the love has gone. In the play, Walter and Ruth only have one

passionate scene where they kiss, but were interrupted when Mama came into the apartment (p.

89). Instead, the 1961 film does not show any type of physical affection between the two because

it was still considered abnormal and frowned upon to show it on screen. But, the 2008 film
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shows a dramatic characterization of Walter by presenting a lot more physical affection to Ruth

throughout the movie by touching the most intimate places (2:56). Characterization is dramatized

to make the film more engaging and interesting. If there is lack of drama and emotion, there

would be no interest from the audience.

Deleted Scenes

Several monologues written by Hansberry was not portrayed or acted on screen because

they needed to censor certain subjects. There was a character in the play named Mrs. Johnson

that had a major impact on expressing the violence and segregation of black and white

Americans. In the original play, Mrs Johnson says, I bet this time month yalls names will have

been in the papers plenty- NEGROS INVADE CLYBOURNE PARK- BOMBED! (p. 102).

There was indication that Mrs. Johnsons character is disregarded during the play's first

publication because of her strong opinions about those who she calls crackers (p. 98).

Hansberrys intended audience was people from different backgrounds and not one race group.

Another deleted scene that was significant on knowing the struggles of identity was the non

inclusion of the hair transformation of Beneatha. Beneathas character struggles with finding

herself and questions her roots. The physical hair change of Beneatha symbolizes her natural

beauty and culture. It represents self love and understanding who she is, but her family and date

reject her decision and insult her by saying that her hair is an African bush (p. 85). In the

movies, they dont symbolize or focus on Beneathas identity struggles because they tend to

focus more on the injustice and authentic black life.

Conclusion
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In conclusion, Hansberrys play is not portrayed faithfully after the production of more

movie versions due to the applications of more detailed settings, characters dynamic

personalities, and deleted stage directions. Both movies include new places that are not

mentioned in the play to show more of Chicagos culture. Also, characters personalities do not

truthfully represent how they are portrayed in the play. Lastly, the scenes that were not shown in

the movie do not represent the originality of Hansberry. Even though the 1961 film follows the

plays script more faithfully than 2008, the more current versions are straying away from the

original work to appeal to more diverse audiences.

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References

Digital Collections for the Classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved March 02, 2017, from

http://dcc.newberry.org/collections/chicago-and-the-great-migration

A Raisin In the Sun. (n.d.). Columbia Pictures.

A Raisin in the Sun Full "Movie. (2016, August 05). Retrieved March 02, 2017, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUZnnC9D-3c