Resistance to Patriarchal Norms: Feminist Study

of A Raisin in the Sun

ABSTRACT
Author and women rights pioneer Lorraine Hansberry is known for dealing with daring issues
that challenge the political systems of her country. Her writing is a mirror that reflects the bitter
reality of women and the African communities in the world. This research handles Lorraine
Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (1959). Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun portrays
the life of an African-American family in the 1950s. It discusses the issues of patriarchal
resistance. An imperative facet of this paper will be the feminist analysis of three generations of
African-American women – Lena Younger, Ruth and Beneatha and how they resist the male
dominating society. Feminist approach is used to analyze the yearning of women to be
equivalent with the position of the men, how eagerly they want to be stronger women as the
outcome of being oppressed by male supremacy, the desire to be respected by men, and to
oppose the male power.