Stereotypes And Identity Of Beneatha In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun

In Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem,” he discusses the idea of unfulfilled dreams and their plausible outcomes using symbolism and imagery. Firstly he describes a “deferred” dream as a sun-dried raisin, showing the dream originally as a fresh grape that now has dried up and “turned black” (Jemie 63). This description gives us a clue for the foundation of Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, for it is a play about a house full of unfulfilled dreams. As the poem goes on, Hughes depicts the idea of a deferred dream as something rotten or gone bad. According to Onwuchekwa Jemie, this may be an allusion to the American Dream and its empty promises (Jemie 64).

The idea of failed ambitions was quite a popular theme, especially during the mid-1900s, because this was when the 'American Dream' concept was spreading in American society. The American Dream was the belief that in America one has the opportunity to achieve wealth and happiness provided that that person works hard enough (Drama for Students). This theme is evident in Hansberry’s work, “set in Chicago’s Southside, sometime between World War II and the present” (Hansberry, Act I, Scene I). During some time in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, the storyline takes place in the middle of a very dynamic time for America. The “largest mass movement in American History” called the Great Migration, which describes the movement of millions of African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North, predominantly to New York and Chicago, was in full swing (Literature and Its Times…). Because most African Americans in Chicago lived in the “South Side” area, persons often referred to it as the Black Belt (Literature and Its Times…). Another popular movement roughly around this time that specifically dealt with racism was the Civil Rights movement, where non-white citizens fought for equality, especially in education and housing arrangements. Though the inequality between genders was not fully resolved until later, the Women’s Rights movement was also beginning to take place at this time (Literature and Its Times…). An apparent problem of American society, then and now, is its tendency toward stereotypes, which will be further discussed later. Hansberry uses her characters and their dreams to draw upon the impact stereotypes have on a person’s ambitions and self-identity.

Stereotypes are socially constructed, over-generalized views regarding a particular group of persons with certain characteristics that are widely accepted, and usually expected, in a society. The dominant group of a certain society, which in this case is probably Caucasians and men, usually creates these social constructions. Claude M. Steele, a researcher from Stanford University, performed multiple research studies on the idea and psychological effects of stereotypes on its victims. In his studies, he coins the term “stereotype threat” as the “social-psychological predicament that can arise from widely-known negative stereotypes about one's group,” which implies that “the existence of such a stereotype means that anything one does or any of one's features that conform to it make the stereotype more plausible as a self-characterization in the eyes of others, and perhaps even in one's own eyes” (Steele 797).

Racism

Racism is the Whiteness is not just the characteristic of being white; it embodies the idea of white supremacy. This is the idea that white is the superior race, especially when compared to African Americans and other blacks. In her essay “Fearful of the Written Word,” Lisbeth Lipari attempts to join critical white studies by dislodging whiteness from its “systematic economic and political privilege as well as from cultural connotations of innocence, goodness and moral neutrality,” (Lipari 83). She argues that through the Columbia studio executives’ prevention of the screenplay of A Raisin in the Sun from challenging the white racial identity’s standard constructions, they participate in “the ongoing enactment of modern racism, a symbolic process that conceals the conditions of production and the maintenance of white normativity and supremacy” (Lipari 96). Lipari describes the play’s “corporate translation” into a film as a direct example of the idea of the “rhetorical silence” of whiteness, which is the cunning way institutionalized white racism embodies “white innocence, invisibility, and moral goodness” (Lipari 84).

Due to the positive connotations society associates with whiteness, it is only natural for one to desire whiteness. In her essay “A Raisin in the Sun Revisited,” J. Charles Washington discusses how Walter falls into this category of blacks who desire whiteness. The success of a white man he desires to attain fuels his ambition of owning a liquor store. He wants to be a successful businessman like plenty of the white folks are so he can support his family. What is intriguing is how Walter found the “white man’s” life style motivating, while the atmosphere in the bar he likes to go to, the Green Hat, had an opposite effect on him (Washington 117). Walter describes the atmosphere, “I like this little cat they got there who blows a sax…He blows. He talks to me….And there’s this older guy who plays the piano […] They got the best combination in the world in the Green Hat… You can just sit there and drink and listen to them three men play and you realize that don’t nothing matter worth a damn, but just being there,” (Hansberry Act II, Scene I). It is clear here that Walter associates white people with a positive, successful ambiance. This is not necessarily his opinion on colored people, which is apparent when Ruth discloses to Mama that, “Walter Lee say colored people ain’t never going to start getting ahead till they start gambling on some different things in the world – investments and things” (Hansberry Act I, Scene I).

Although there are many racial aspects brought up throughout the play, Hansberry does not outwardly introduce the issue of racism and whiteness until she introduces basically the only white character in the play, Mr. Linder. In L. Domina’s critical essay on A Raisin in the Sun, she mentions how “[b]y avoiding extremist characters—by creating Karl Lindner as a nonviolent if prejudiced man rather than as a member of the Ku Klux Klan for example—Hansberry was able to persuade her audience of the constant if subtle presence and negative effects of racism” (Domina 182).

Gendertyping.

One of the main categories of stereotypes relevant in Hansberry’s play, and in today’s society, is that of gender roles. This is society’s way of denoting what a person is capable of due to his or her gender, which reveals the patriarchal paradigm that runs today’s and yesterday’s society. It is a sad truth, but the society we live in views men as the superior gender; society gives men more capabilities, benefits, and power over women, creating a misogynistic, patriarchal skewed view of the world. According to J. Anne Tickner, a professor in the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California, gender is a socially and culturally constructed characteristic, not a biological one. She argues that because we “see deeply rooted structures of patriarchy in all societies,” masculine characteristics possess more positive value than those of feminine ones (Tickner 264). The two classes are relational to one another, which means their definitions are dependent on each other. Society associates masculine characteristics like power, rationality, and independence as positive and desired; society views feminine characteristics, however, such as weakness, emotionality, and dependence, as negative and undesirable. Tickner also argues that because “gender characteristics denote inequality, gender becomes a mechanism for the unequal distribution of social benefits and costs” (Tickner 265). Though the Women’s’ Rights movement mildly improved this situation, it is still an apparent dilemma in today’s society, and was even more so during the 1950s.

Expected female roles

One of the misogynistically skewed social constructs Hansberry unearths in her play is the expected rapport of the household. The presumed female role in this household is that of either the mother or the daughter. The socially accepted duties of the mother are to: keep the house in order, prepare meals for the family, and cater to the husband’s needs (Tobin 612). Hansberry’s character, Ruth, plays the role of a wife and a mother for her husband, Walter, and her son, Travis. It is not clear whether Ruth subconsciously accepts this role because it is what society expects of her, or she genuinely desires to stay at home to clean and care for her family. Nonetheless, she assumes her expected role as her husband Walter says, “to back him up” (Hansberry Act I Scene I). Hansberry displays Ruth’s acceptance of society’s social constructs through her desires; she dreams of a happy, comfortable life with her husband, which Hansberry divulges in Act II,

WALTER. I don’t want no milk.

RUTH. You want some coffee then?

WALTER. No, I don’t want no coffee. I don’t want nothing hot to drink. Why you always trying to give me something to eat?

RUTH. What else can I give you, Walter Lee Younger?

(Hansberry Act II, Scene I).

Ruth’s desire for her family’s well being supports the notion that it is the mother’s job to care for her families comfort.

Hansberry’s character, Beneatha, is the daughter of the household, however, she strays from the role society expects of her. As a young female, society expects Beneatha to make herself agreeable to men, making her beauty her priority so she can find a husband and one day assume a role similar to Ruth’s. This reveals society’s idea that women are valued for their physical appearance. This idea of added value due to physical appearance is seen in the first scene of Act II, when Beneatha does not fix up her hair,

GEORGE. What have you done to your head – I mean your hair!

BENEATHA. Nothing – except cut it off.

RUTH. Now that’s the truth – it’s what ain’t been done to it! You expect this boy to go out with you with your head all nappy like that?

(Hansberry Act 2, Scene I).

This scene shows that not only do men support this notion of value from beauty, but so do women, which displays how deep societal constructions can be rooted. Women are more than prizes to be won and wives to be wed. This does not imply Beneatha is not attractive, especially considering she has two suitors in the play. It does, however, imply that Beneatha’s value comes from more than her beauty. She is educated, independent, and strong-willed; she is a woman of substance.

Beneatha does not mindlessly accept society’s norms. In fact, she disregards them, which Hansberry displays through Beneatha’s dreams of being a doctor. This is a bit scandalous for a female African American at that time. The only thing, however, that supports and causes this element of shock for Walter and the audience is society’s tactless belief that women belong in the house cleaning and taking care of the family, and not in the professional world. This is evident when Walter says to Beneatha, “Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you go crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people – then go be a nurse like other women – or just get married and be quiet…” (Hansberry Act I, Scene I). Society has an issue with women being professionals, and Beneatha wants to change this. According to researcher Kristin A. Lane, in 2008, women earned less than thirty-one percent of undergraduate and doctoral degrees in math and science, with the exception of earning forty-four percent of undergraduate degrees in mathematics. She performed a research study and found that this gender gap in mathematics and science, though it has narrowed, “was completely accounted for by implicit stereotypes” (Lane 229). The belief that women need to objectify themselves and their bodies so they can be valued is almost as absurd as the belief that women should stay at home and cater to the family. This conviction not only makes men and their roles in society seem unattainable for women even though women possess all the capabilities necessary to do so, but it also degrades the idea of being a stay at home parent, arguably one of the most difficult jobs.

Expected male roles.

The pinnacle player in the hierarchy of the household is, to no one’s surprise, the decision-maker, the all-mighty ruler, the man of the house: the father (Tobin 611). Whatever this person says, goes, which doesn’t sound like a bad role to play until one factors in the pressures and responsibilities of this person. This idea of being the man of the house not only puts women down because the idea of a woman of the house is seen as comical, but also puts men on an unreasonably high pedestal. Society’s construction of gender is so mistakenly skewed, and it can have a negative impact on its members.

In Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, her main character Walter personifies one whom this paradigm negatively impacts. Walter is the only male in a house full of women aside from his young son, thus, he is the expected, soon-to-be man of the house. This is evident when Mama gives Walter the remainder of the money and says, “It ain’t much, but it’s all I got in the world and I’m putting it in your hands. I’m telling you to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be,” (Hansberry Act II, Scene II). Walter accepts society’s construction of his gender when he attempts to fulfill the role of the man of the house. Hansberry displays this through his desire to be successful for his family, and he believes he will find this success through owning a liquor store. Although Mama believes the liquor store is not the best idea, Walter, under the pressures of being leader of the house, impulsively decides to invest all of the money his Mama gave him without putting any of it aside for the rest of family. Through Walter’s failed attempt at becoming man of the house, Hansberry reveals the difficulty of assuming this role. What makes this role so difficult to assume: society’s unreasonably high expectations of men.

Self-identity

In Desiree Tobin’s research study entitled “The Intraphysics of Gender: A Model of Self-Socialization,” she describes the diverse ways researchers have hypothesized self-identity. One approach is to view identity as a fundamental sense of acceptance of, and belonging to, one's gender and race. She states how Kohlberg viewed gender identity as “understanding that one belongs to one sex rather than the other”, while Kagan “saw gender identity as perceiving the self to conform to cultural stereotypes for one's gender;” Martin and Spence have also conceptualized racial identity in this way (Tobin 609). Another researcher associated gender identity with “internalized societal pressure for gender conformity,” while others proposed racial-identity can be construed as a central feature of one's identity (Tobin 609). Despite these varying definitions, most theorists have stressed that self-identity “carries motivational properties” (Tobin 610).

Through Hansberry’s characters and dreams, she shows how ambitions can reveal the amount of surety one has in his or herself. For Ruth and Beneatha’s case, their ambitions reveal that they know who they are. Although Ruth’s dream falls into one of society’s constructs, she still is sure of whom she is. The fact that she identifies herself as society would expect her to, as a mother and wife, does not take away from her self-affirmation. Beneatha’s dream of being a doctor displays her surety and belief in herself because despite the hardships she is bound to encounter, she knows she is capable of achieving her goal. Beneatha also desires to become more culturally connected to her African roots. This shows how she is not ashamed of her roots, and, in effect, her identity. Beneatha is proud of her cultural roots and identity.

Langston Hughes, in his work “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” discusses how the “word white comes to be unconsciously a symbol of all virtues […] beauty, morality, and money” (Hughes 91). He divulges how Negro artists must be proud of whom they are, which is a mountain that an artist of any race needs to overcome to understand themselves and their art.

Because Walter has difficulty getting over this mountain, he has trouble understanding who he is, which is revealed by his faulty ambitions. Walter makes an attempt at self-discovery through his ambitions, which is probably why he fails. Walter knows what he wants to be – successful – but he does not know who he actually is, so he searches for himself and his desires in the wrong places like the liquor store.

In Lipari’s essay she quotes Lorraine Hansberry when she says, “universality […] emerges from truthful identity of what is,” (Lipari 86). Hansberry said this in response to critics claiming A Raisin in the Sun is not a Negro play. Hansberry states that “in order to create the universal, you must pay very great attention to the specific;” thus, A Raisin in the Sun “is specifically Southside Chicago,” and “a Negro play before it is anything else,” (Lipari 86).

The fact that her play is indeed about a Negro family, yet it deals with themes and issues found in non-Negro works, reveals the irrationality of stereotypes. In Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, his main character Tom is in a similar predicament that Walter is in. With Tom’s father gone and just his sister and mother living at home, Tom must assume the role of the man of the house. However, Tom does not want to deal with, or perhaps cannot deal with, the responsibilities of being man of the house; rather than attempting to fulfill this role, Tom dreams of escaping his life and going away to sea. A person’s initial thought regarding Tom’s reaction to his situation is that he is a weak man, but why is this? Why must men always play the superior, protector role? This is due to society’s patriarchal paradigm and high expectations of men. Furthermore, the fact that Walter’s reaction to the pressures of manhood caused him to be a better person in the end, while Tom simply ran away reveals the inaccuracy of racial stereotypes.