Literary Devices in A Raisin in the Sun
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
The plant that Mama keeps near the apartment’s sole window is barely surviving because it lacks adequate nourishment. Sound like anyone else we know? Yet she is completely dedicated to the pl...
Setting
The ApartmentHansberry welcomes us into the tiny apartment of the Younger family. This place is really cramped, especially with five people living in it. On stage we see the kitchen, which is so...
Genre
A Raisin in the Sun was part of a broader movement to portray the lives of ordinary, working-class African-Americans. The genre of Realism captures ordinary life, and A Raisin in the Sun definitely...
Tone
Life is rough for the Younger family, and Hansberry's use of somber tone is appropriate to that. At the same time, however, she injects a heavy dose of irony and sarcasm. Did you notice how Hansber...
What’s Up With the Title?
Hansberry names the play after a line in the poem "Harlem" (sometimes called "Dream Deferred"), by the great Harlem Rennaisance poet Langston Hughes. In the poem, Hughes asks: "What happens to a dr...
What’s Up With the Epigraph?
What happens to a dream deferred?Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore--And then run?Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over--like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just...
Plot Analysis
The Youngers, living in the Chicago slums, wait for an important check in the mail.The play opens with the five members of the Younger family working their butts off, living in a cramped roach-infe...
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
Five family members crowd into a three-room, roach-infested apartment Sounds pretty wretched to us. The Younger family doesn’t have much except for dreams. Walter dreams of a great business car...
Three Act Plot Analysis
The Younger family awaits a check in the mail. This Holy Grail will fulfill their respective dreams.Lena announces she’s bought a house in a white neighborhood; a totally-not-racist-at-all (r...
Trivia
A Raisin in the Sun was the first show to make it to Broadway that was written by an African American woman (Lorraine Hansberry). It is also the first show on Broadway with a Black American directo...
Steaminess Rating
Beneatha goes on dates and Ruth is pregnant. That’s about as sexy as things get.