RACISM IN LORRAINE HANSBERRY'S PLAYS.   Term Paper ID:22790 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines realistic, optimistic, non-revolutionary depiction of racial conflict in [A Raisin in the Sun] & two more dramas.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines realistic, optimistic, non-revolutionary depiction of racial conflict in [A Raisin in the Sun] & two more dramas. Paper Introduction: This study will examine racial conflict as it is portrayed by Lorraine Hansberry in three plays, A Raisin in the Sun, What Use Are Flowers? and The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. As an intelligent black woman and artist born in 1930 and dying in 1965, Hansberry is clearly aware of the significance of racism in the United States, and she includes racial bigotry and stereotyping as important elements of each of these three plays, either directly or indirectly. However, Hansberry is an optimist, not a revolutionary. Her work leans toward the reassuring rather than the disturbing. Her characters, for the most part, live in a world which still contains the salvation and healing that love and personal development can bring, even in the face of racial and other obstacles. Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing. In that scene, Iris begins to weep for herself and for Sidney and hisdead sister, for the fact that they have been deceived by Wally, but Sidneysees these tears as a healing and a re-awakening: Yes . Altonbrings Wally over to argue his case to Brustein. But, you see, it wasn't a very respectable sort of business in my time; as a matter of fact we tried any number of ways to get rid of it altogether (Hansberry Flowers 362-363). The message of this play is simply that we should love one another,and in that sense it can certainly be seen as a protest against racialconflict. Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? The self-hating black is typified in Walter, and in his statement toRuth and Beneatha: "The world's most backward race of people, and that's afact" (Hansberry Raisin 1115). . However, Hansberry is an optimist, not a revolutionary. Walter overcomes histendency to control women; he expresses his independent manhood; and headopts a more realistic and less materialistic attitude toward the AmericanDream. After all, Ruth is just as disappointed anddepressed by life, but she does not abuse Walter as he abuses her. Her workleans toward the reassuring rather than the disturbing. Whatever theconflicts between Jews and blacks in the 199 s, Hansberry showed no spiteor judgment of Sidney. Alton saysthat Brustein likes the "wrong parts of Thoreau." Sidney quotes someThoreau in which high principles, moral values and the wonders of natureare acclaimed, but Wally picks up the argument and zeroes in on theactivist theme in Thoreau's writing: Beautiful. The play isa naive attempt to encourage people to love one another and to worktogether to improve their general lot. Certainly Hansberry shows her ability to write about more than blackcharacters in her depiction of Sidney, a Jew who is not only fullybelievable but draws the sympathies of the reader throughout. This study will examine racial conflict as it is portrayed byLorraine Hansberry in three plays, A Raisin in the Sun, What Use AreFlowers? She is after human rights,and it is her message that by giving up the struggle for human rights,Brustein has cut himself off from one of the major sources of his ownhumanity. Clearly, the message of love whichwe saw at the end of A Raisin in the Sun, in the words of Mama, is the samebasic message we find in this play. Her characters, forthe most part, live in a world which still contains the salvation andhealing that love and personal development can bring, even in the face ofracial and other obstacles. It is best seen as a play for children, so that perhaps there ishope after all that the younger generation can be reached where the oldercannot. Thereare certainly issues of race and racism which are featured in SidneyBrustein, but, like Raisin, what is central in this play is its humanism. If they simply give up, as Walter is onthe verge of doing, than they are indeed doomed to be victims of racism---racism perpetuated by whites as well as by themselves. Certainly if Hansberry had her wish, she would remove racial conflictfrom the world, but as long as it is present, she insists on seeing it notas a reason for despair, but as a source of energy which can be transformedfrom that desperation into positive and cooperative efforts to fightagainst such conflict and the damage it does to both white and black. . Alton is trying to convince Brustein to take a stand inthe upcoming election in which Wally O'Hara, a liberal, is running. This is not to say that there is not an edge to her plays, a sense ofanger and warning, for there certainly is. But how's about the rest of Thoreau, Nature Boy? . What Hansberry wants above all for her black characters is dignity,growth, power, and their rightful and equal place in society and under thesun. He has given up and has noreason to live beyond satisfying his own needs. and then, tomorrow, we shall make something strong of this sorrow. When the corruptWally calls Sidney a fool, Sidney responds: Always have been. When she complains about hisinsults, he rants at her: First thing a man ought to learn in life is not to make love to no colored woman first thing in the morning. When the hermit tries to explain death to Charlie, the old mansays that the boy will feel pain when he (the hermit) dies: It is called 'grief' and it is born of love. . The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. Tothe contrary, Brustein and his black friends seem to be brothers under theskin in their views on the world and in their affection for one another.Instead, the confrontation has to do with the level of involvement in thestruggle for civil rights, and the argument of the burned-out Brusteinagainst the argument of the fired-up and younger blacks (and whites such asWally O'Hara). Alton and Wally know that there is still a strong activist lurking inthe midst of Sidney's jaded cynicism. . He has put in many years on the front lines of thestruggle, and now he says he has no more energy to give, and, in any case,he has become somewhat cynical about changing the world. That sense of family, and sense of history as apeople, is a mighty force in encouraging an oppressed minority to continuethe struggle and never give up hope. She believes in theAmerican Dream, both its promise and its potentially corrupting influence.Her plays are a plea to whites to be more just and to blacks to be morecourageous in pursuing goals worthy of their good and strong spirits. (Hansberry Sidney 12 -121). What Hansberry isafter here, however, is more than civil rights. . Even Brustein's nagging wife Iris tells Sidney: "All I've got to say,Sidney, is just mean what you say for once in your life, just mean what yousay" (Hansberry Sidney 29). In the family, Walter has more power than Ruth, so he takes his angerout on Ruth. She wants to encourage them to continue tostruggle against the injustices of racism, and against the temptation togive up the fight. We see, then, that these plays show Hansberry to be a voice ofmoderation in the debate over racial conflict. For example, in A Raisin in the Sun, Walter is a black man who is thevictim of racism, but he is also an abuser of the women in his life.Hansberry also reveals her strong sense of feminism in her portrayal of thewomen who refuse to be abused by him. This underscoresHansberry's clear message that we are all in the same boat in this world,and if we do not work together, leaving racial and other differencesbehind, we will not survive either as individuals or as a race. If good people,people who feel deeply their own suffering and that of others, do not fighttogether to end civil and human injustices, then racism will certainlytriumph. What Use Are Flowers? At the same time, we can safely extrapolate from thedeclarations of Hansberry's hermit that any sort of violent or destructiveconflict between human beings---children or adults---is bad for individualsand for the entire race. 13-121.---. Hansberry in A Raisin in theSun, for example, clearly means to give the message that the racialinjustices heaped on blacks will result in increased social turbulence ifthose injustices are not addressed and corrected. He has recentlycome out of a failed attempt to start a nightclub, and now he has purchaseda small newspaper. . Itis telling that Sidney, a white, a Jew, a male, should be so hopefully andsympathetically portrayed by a black female writer. . It's when he's at his lowest and can't believe in hisself 'cause the world done whipped him so! Just not being for you is notenough. Let us both weep. Included in this fight is the civil rights struggle. Love. I mean---weare very proud people" (Hansberry Raisin 1148). Works CitedHansberry, Lorraine. . She also clearly understands that there areother issues which are rooted in the same sort of injustices, inequitiesand abuses of power which mark racism. What Use Are Flowers? In The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, Hansberry shows that she iscapable of writing about more than the narrower world of the blackexperience which she explored so effectively in A Raisin in the Sun. Of course, one of the majormessages of this play is that black people can overcome racism by stickingtogether as a family. (Hansberry Sidney 122). One of the major confrontations in the book between black (Alton) andwhite (Brustein) is not about the racial conflict between the two sides. A fool who believes that--- death is waste and love is sweet and that the earth turns and men change every day and that rivers run and that people want to be better than they are and that flowers smell good and that I hurt terribly today, and that hurt is desperation and desperation is--- energy and energy can move things. The love of which the hermit speaks,and which the children seem to begin to understand by the end of the play,is the most powerful antidote to the toxins of racist attitudes andbehavior. (Hansberry Sidney 32). The author's message is that we are all capable, under theright (or wrong) circumstances, of abusing another human being on the basisof bias and prejudice. Hansberry does not acceptracial injustice, and neither finally does this black family. The "racial" issue of this play has not to do with white and black,but with the entire human race and whether it will survive or not. In that sense, at least, it can beseen as a warning against conflict of any kind---racial or otherwise---which threatens to divide people against one another in violence andfinally destroy the entire race. Hansberry is certainly critical of Walter in her portrayal of hispersonality, attitude, and treatment of others. Poor old Henry tried his damnedest to stay in the woods, but the world wouldn't let him---it never does. In A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry shows Walter to be a black man whohas come to accept the racist stereotypes about blacks so much that he doeseven think about it anymore. . She does not want to leave the entire issue up to whites andtheir willingness or ability to change and cease their racist attitudes andbehavior. They have cometo understand the beauty of flowers as well as the mystery and usefulnessof the invented wheel. Walter finally does stand up for himself---and for the pride of hispeople as well: "We come from people who had a lot of pride. Brustein can be said to represent the white liberal side of thepolitical debate. That's what I was really trying to tell you about this morning, Charlie. Racism, then, is only one form of the abuse ofpower. He has absorbed these stereotypes into his ownpersonality---selfishness, abuse of women, anger and bitterness whichthreaten to consume him alive. Of course, as might be predictable in a play written by a woman whois obviously an optimist and an advocate for civil rights, Sidney does findboth his political vitality and his life again by the end of the play. Also, it is important to keep in mind that Hansberry does not onlyblame whites for the perpetuation of racism and racial conflict andstereotyping. is a far less effective play than A Raisin inthe Sun and does not deal directly with racial conflict at all. This is a house in which the people are tired andbeaten down by the struggle to merely survive. In any case, again, the play is not particularly useful in terms ofits shedding direct light on racial conflict or on Hansberry's views onracial conflict. It is also important to note that Hansberry does not only deal withracial issues in these plays. Brustein says, "Wally, Iwish you luck, I'll even vote for you, but leave me out of it" (HansberrySidney 29). At the same time, sheincludes observations of his environment which allow us to understand theunhappiness and disappointments which underlie his behavior. . However, Hansberry does not mean to excuse Walter because of thesedepressing surroundings. To live, to breathe---I've got to be against you" (Hansberry Sidney12 ). That retreat becomes a metaphor for what Hansberry shows tobe Brustein's retreat from the struggle for civil rights. When they done good and made things easy for everybody . Beautiful. . They know, and seem to be carryingthe message from Hansberry, that blacks and other minorities cannot win thestruggle for civil rights without the aid of whites, especially articulateand good-hearted whites such as Brustein. Weep. The finalimage of the play is of Sidney and his wife coming together in a moment ofrealistic hope for the future of their marriage. However, Mama tells Beneatha, after the latter angrily denigratesWalter for his slavish attitude, that any form of hatred is wrong: There is always something left to love. The simplistic message of the play is that we should love and worktogether, and it cannot be faulted for its good intentions, However, it isdifficult to imagine the author's believing that it could have much of animpact on improving racial relations in this country, if that is what sheintends. He is an obnoxious man whoseems beyond redemption. However, as we saw in the first two plays, this play takes a broaderview of the problem, focusing on the conflict not just between the races,but between good and evil, right and wrong, love and hate. The white racism of the United States is destructive because whitepeople have the greater power, and blacks do not have the power to stopthat racism. In fact, he maintains this attitude almostto the very end of the play, saying that he is willing to get down on hisknees before Karl Lindner. In A Raisin in the Sun, for example, racial conflict and racismcertainly do not vanish from society, but they are overcome by Walter as anindividual as he enters a more enlightened state. 328-37 .----------------------- 1 This maybe a matter of gender, as Hansberry suggests, but there is a more importantmessage here. She is especially troubled by the way too manyblacks give up the struggle and accept the lies whites have told them aboutthemselves. In other words, the forces are lined up againstnot the black man in this play, but the white man. Clearly,there is the political and social message that if good people do not fightagainst evil, evil will triumph. . As Sidney tells Wally: "Every time we say'Live and let live'---death triumphs. . Thehermit seems, by the end of the play, to be on the verge of losing hope forharmony in the human race, but the children seem undeterred. However, those forcesare not forces of destruction or oppression, but rather forces meant to re-inspire Brustein to take an active role in the civil rights struggle and,just as importantly, in his own life. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is (Hansberry Raisin 1147). He insults his wife Ruth relentlessly, seeing heras the supplier of food and sex for him. She notes thefurniture and the rug and the general sense that this is a house in whichhope no longer dwells. . . Sidney had named his failed nightspot "Walden Pond," after Thoreau'sfamous retreat. What the author is saying is that racism is an abuse ofpower. . Shesees not only the racism of whites against blacks, but also the racism thatblacks heap upon themselves. Thepain caused by such racial conflict can be seen as a sign that the hurtingpeople are alive, and can use that life to right the wrongs that bring thepain in the first place. There are many messages in the story of Sidney's rebirth. and The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. weep, darling. Just as importantly, Hansberry is saying, as in the case of Walter,that blacks should fight not to pay whites back, not to destroy others orthemselves, but to grow and transcend racism spiritually, mentally,emotionally, socially, economically, and politically. . . What about that, Sidney? . At that point it is clear that Hansberry is saying that blacksfinally must be responsible for demanding that they be treated as equals,as human beings, justly and fairly. She is generally anoptimist, believing that with encouragement and guidance and constructivecriticism whites and blacks can improve their relationships with oneanother and with themselves, and produce thereby a more racially harmonioussociety. However, in no way can Hansberry be considered a radical in herartistic, economic, political or social expression. You all some eeeevil people at eight o'clock in the morning (Hansberry Raisin 1111). She more importantly wants to show that blacks too often accepttheir circumstances as hopeless. Sidney is a Jew, a man, a human being, who has anopen heart toward his fellow human beings, black and white, although he hasbeen worn down by years of fighting the good fight of liberal andenlightened causes. It might even be said that a part of Hansberry's message is thatracial and other injustices are necessary in order to break through thesleep and resignation that too many people allow themselves to sink into.As Sidney says to his wife when she starts to cry, "We shall make somethingstrong of this sorrow" (122). . 11 9-1149.---. As an intelligent blackwoman and artist born in 193 and dying in 1965, Hansberry is clearly awareof the significance of racism in the United States, and she includes racialbigotry and stereotyping as important elements of each of these threeplays, either directly or indirectly. As a chauffeur Walter occupies a position of subservience to whites.He has little hope of moving up in the world. While this play is not revolutionary in its attitude toward racialconflict, neither is it entirely unrealistic. A Raisin in the Sun. Certainly one of the ways in which people have tried to "get rid" oflove is through racism, although, again, the hermit does not specificallyrefer in this speech to racial conflict. That is the first thing: to let ourselves feel again . They aredetermined to make a better life for themselves as proud blacks together,but there still remains much struggle ahead of them. Alton and Wally go after Brustein's fondness for Thoreau. . What about the Thoreau who came back and called the first public meeting to defend John Brown? If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.