Intro to African American Literature

Today, February 21st, 2024 at 5 p.m. in Corey Union 301-303, Dr. Marcus Bell spoke about the research he did when studying the topic and also spoke about his personal background and what it was like for him growing up. During Dr. Marcus Bell’s presentation, he talked about two past events in his childhood that stood out to me because, one he was so young and another reason is because the loss of humans that young would be so traumatized. In the first situation, he talks about he tells us how his brother and he were walking back home after running to the corner store to get a snack and a man came up to them with a gun and told them to give him everything they had. While that was happening all he could think of was fearing for his life and wanting to call for his dad at that time. I feel that any child in this situation would be terrified for their lives and would want their parents and this event would stick with someone for a long time. Another event he encountered was one time Dr. Bell and his two brothers were waiting for the bus and his brother had a fake gun that had fallen out of his brothers’ bag they didn’t think anything of it because they knew the gun was fake, but the bus driver didn’t know that and she had called the cops and when the boys looked out the window they saw guns surrounding the bus with their guns out pointed at them. At a young age, the boys didn’t know that it was such a big deal to carry a gun on them whether it was fake or not that there could be major outcomes. Dr. Bell took a minute to think and said to himself that in just the span of 2 years, his parents could have lost their 4 sons due to these events occurring. The first event shows being under-protected because there was no cop around to help the two young boys who were being robbed at gunpoint, and the second event shows being over-policed because the police didn’t stop to ask questions they just automatically pulled out their weapons. Which shows they automatically were ready to shoot first and ask questions later. The number one leading cause of death for African American men ages 15 – 24 years of age is homicide because, In communities where the illegal drug trade is prevalent, violence related to turf wars, disputes over drug territory, and retaliation can drive homicide rates. The criminalization of drug offenses and the resulting enforcement efforts can also contribute to violence and conflict within communities. Conflicts between law enforcement and African American communities, including experiences of racial profiling, excessive use of force, and lack of trust in the justice system, can exacerbate feelings of marginalization and alienation. In some cases, strained police-community relations may undermine efforts to address and prevent violent crime. These are two of many reasons why young African American men die between 15 – 24 years of age. 

         I think that the film (although obviously correlating with the reading) gives us as the watchers a new interpretation of the characters and certain scenes within the play. It is easy to read a novel or play and draw out the characters, connections, and interactions within our mind, although our ideas may alter after seeing the play performed. We are able to interpret different crucial values of the play “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, and the raw outline of the “American Dream” and what that looks like for this particular family within the play. The first altered feature I noticed was the setting. Personally, when I read plays, or novels, I try to paint an imagine in my head as I read, the setting within my mind while reading differed extremely from the setting within the play, I pictured the house, jobs, and living style very differently throughout reading the play, and seeing their living situation visually alters how urgent and necessary I think their move was. 

          Although the setting was altered for me after watching the play, there were also many crucial points within the movie that changed the traits of characters, or were illustrated differently within the reading of the play and watching it. I think that one scene that was viewed differently between reading and watching the play was when Benetha went on her tangent about how God should not deserve all the credit and Mama was shocked by what she was saying and slapped her across the face. Within the novel this scene is described as “ It’s just that I get tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no blasted God– there is only man and it is he who makes miracles! (Mama absorbs this speech, studies her daughter and rises slowly and across to Benetha and slaps her powerfully across the face. After, there is only silence and the daughter drops her eyes from her mother’s face, and Mama is very tall before her) (51.) Within the play we can see how Beneatha was voicing her opinion within the walls of Mama’s house and within her words she offended Mama strongly and was punished for whom she was speaking to. Although it is described powerfully within the novel and you are moved as the reader and driven into the weakness Benetha felt, and the power/anger Mama felt about the topic of discussion, I interpreted it differently after watching it. For starters, Benetha talking about God and saying how she does not believe in his aspects, she was more trying to voice her opinion within a safe area and caught Mama at a time of high emotion due to the discussion her and Ruth were having prior about the house they currently live in and her late husband big Water. It is said within the stage directions that after Mama slaps Benetha she exits the room, although after watching the play, it is seen that Mama simply just walks away and continues with what she was doing and Benetha’s eyes filled with tears and she was the one to run off set. This made me interpret the scene differently, because when I was reading these few moments I thought that Benetha was in such a moment of anger and annoyance that she almost meant to hurt Mama with her words by reflecting off her own emotions, though, I believe that it is the other way around. I think that Mama was feeling distraught and conflicted with what to do with the money coming and there were high emotions with missing her husband. This caused Mama to act harshly as more and more began to add to her list of worries about life in general. To conclude my interpretation of this scene, I believe that with Mama not walking out of frame and leaving the discussion it showed her more powerful side, as we all know she is head of the household, but after seeing her almost carelessness from slapping Beneatha to just going back to what she was doing, shows that she knows how much power she truly holds. Her beliefs are to be respected and not altered or speaked down upon, and with Beneatha’s opinions overflowing the room Mama put her power to use and with Benetha fleeing the scene, I think it shows how off guard she was taken by the slap and how unsure she was about how to act. 

       There were multiple scenes that I viewed differently after watching the play as compared to reading it. I believe that audiences reading or watching the play will gather different emotions, characteristics of character, setting description, and stage direction/ emotion very differently. Although the changes may not be major while watching the play, they were harsh enough to alter my interpretation of certain aspects. Lorraine Hansberry’s writing of this play was not only powerful and moving, but also showed the inside emotion, confusion, injustice, dream(s), and underlying race issues within America at the time. There was so much room for growth and perseverance, but society as a whole held freedom back from those who did nothing but seek that freedom. 

 

Discussion Questions: 

• Which character’s traits were altered mostly for you after watching the film? Why do you think this character’s description, attitude, etc. changed after watching the film?
• Why do you believe we gather information differently when compared to reading and/or watching something?

The screen adaptation of A Rasin in the Sun stays faithful to the play script written by Lorrianne Hansberry. The movie of A Rasin in the sun impacts the way we view the playwright because we no longer have the mental image of these characters, but a real interpretation of them. This can change how we relate and digest the story because now these characters seem more “real”. There were a lot of moments very faithful to the script, but what stuck out the most in my opinion is how Walter was portrayed. Seeing an exclamation point after a sentence in a book can help you understand the person speaking is upset, or excited, but seeing it onscreen creates an entirely different experience. A Character that stood out the most to me was Walter. His portrayal is very powerful and fuels the most difficult dynamics between the family and himself. This is seen in the play, but you see the full magnitude of his actions and words in the classic film. 

In the first scene of the play, Walter is read to be very confrontational, he thinks very highly of himself and what he thinks a wife should be doing for him as head of the house. In the film, the actor portrays this very well, the difference between just reading and visualizing the stage directions and seeing it genuinely unfold is different. The stage directions during the argument between Ruth and Walter reads “WALTER (Rising and coming to her and standing over her) You tired, ain’t you? Tired of everything. Me, the boy, the way we live—this beat-up hole—everything. Ain’t you?” (35). These stage directions do show Walter towering over her, trying to show dominance but does not fully articulate the weight of the words being said by just reading. In the movie however, while the actor of Walter, Sydney Poitier, is following these stage directions, he is doing even more. He is sweating, visibly angry and unsatisfied with his life that his insults to ruth seem twice as harsh. There is an edge to his tone that hasn’t even reached its full potential as the rant from him is just starting. Ruth is played by Ruby Dee, who portrays her in a cold but submissive way, showing how the romance in this relationship is dead. She is visibly very annoyed with him, and he knows this, pushing further and further to get a reaction out of her. Walter is very articulated when he speaks, his eyes boring into ruth’s, as she tries not to make much eye contact with him as he blames and insults her. This is not the first time they have had conversations like this, even before they mention the fact that it is a constant argument you can see the exhausted look in Ruth’s eyes and how annoyed Walter is at her having little to no reaction to his words.  

In this scene it is also evident the way he interacts with Beneatha is impacted by Poitier’s method of portraying Walter. Beneatha, played by Diana Sands, is the most comedic character in the movie, as she is very focused on living her life as freely as she wants and wanting to serve a purpose, this leads to some classically funny moments in the film. In the same scene, Walter instantly has a problem with Beneatha being in the room, the second thing he says to her being “WALTER (Pushing the paper across the table to her as he studies her almost clinically, as though he has never seen her before) You a horrible-looking chick at this Hour.” (39). While reading the screenplay, I thought of this as how siblings talk, they insult each other not truly meaning it. The tone of Walter’s voice in the film sets the difference between the script and the movie though, the way he says it in the film is filled with disgust. His voice is low and having just argued with Ruth, he is angry. This is very different from the possible playful interpretation that is seen in the script, even though they are the exact same words. This is a common dynamic throughout the movie, they bicker but it is more like strangers arguing rather than siblings, harsh tones being used. A moment that stood out the most between the two in my opinion is when Walter is drunk later in the movie and dances with Beneatha. You see them be playful and enjoy the company of one another and it is a wholesome sibling moment. Walter and Beneatha have a strained sibling dynamic enhanced by the performances of Sands and Poitier.  

If not for Sydney Poitier’s powerful portrayal of Walter in this film, then these crucial relationships would have a different feeling to them, possibly changing the relationship of the film to the script. 

 

Questions: 

1. What character stuck out the most to you because of how they were portrayed? How does this affect your interpretation of the character in the script? 

1. According to Turner Classic Movies, this film was voted One of the Year’s Ten Best Films by the 1961 New York Times Film Critics, how do you think this film impacted the audience at the time? 

Citations: 

“A Raisin in the Sun.” Www.tcm.com, www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/87646/a-raisin-in-the-sun#notes. Accessed 24 Feb. 2024. 

A Rasin in the Sun. Directed by David Petrie, Colombia Pictures, 29 May 1961. 

Hansberry, Lorraine. Lorraine Hansberry’s a Rasin in the Sun. New York ; London, French, 1984. 

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry focuses much on family relationships during a time of struggle and uncertainty. The character Mama is portrayed as head of the family, although there seems to be a power struggle for this with her son, Walter. Hansberry writes, “You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to. It was your money and you did what you wanted with it” (94-95). This quote demonstrates Walter’s frustration in not being the head of the family and how he is unable to control the new sum of money they are getting to try and do what he believes is best for his family. He and Mama doesn’t agree on what is best for the family and that has created this tension that explodes when the decision about the check needs to be made. 

Mama’s character seems to have many qualities that make her a questionable head of the family. We see her, in act 1, trying to parent Travis in front of Ruth, she says “I ain’t meddling… Put a lot of nice butter on it… He likes lots of butter”(41). Ruth feels like Mama thinks she doesn’t know her child and can’t parent him. Throughout this scene we see Ruth continually telling Mama that she can handle her child. Then, later in act 2 we see Mrs. Johnson talking to Mama about her kids, she says to Mama “Oh– I ain’t criticizing her none. It’s just– you know how some of our young people gets when they get a little education”(102). Although Mama never says anything about this to Mrs. Johnson, we see how annoyed Mama gets when Mrs. Johnson is talking badly about her children based on the way Hansberry writes the character Mama and has her act. She is annoyed at one person for criticizing her children, which a parent will take very personally and think themselves to be criticized as well. But then she is doing the same thing to Ruth throughout the play. This hypocritical quality of Mama is not only seen here, though. We hear Mama criticize Ruth’s parenting once again, but it also shows another hypocritical aspect of Mama when she says, “Why don’t you never let the child explain hisself.” (90) I find this quite funny because the issue her children seem to have with the way Mama runs the household is that no one else gets a voice and they don’t feel like they are being heard. Mama is a very head strong character, and we see many times in which she doesn’t really listen to the other members of the family. Walter says, “You just don’t understand, Mama, you just don’t understand.” (74), indicating that his mother won’t take the time to listen and fully understand what he is saying and where he is coming from. But in the previous quote we see her defending Travis and trying to get Ruth to listen to his explanation and give him a chance to explain himself. 

In this second act, we see Mama decide what to do with the check that she has received. She decides to buy a new home for herself and her family, but the way she announces it gains mixed reaction. Mama says to Travis, “She went out and she bought you a house!” (91). Both Ruth and Travis are clearly excited about this new house that they are going to be moving into. Walter, on the other hand, seems very upset. Hansberry depicts him as, “Bitterly” (93), obviously meaning to display him as upset and angry at Mama’s choice. I found it interesting that Mama says she bought the house for Travis. I think this is initially what upset Walter. He has always felt that his mother doesn’t support his dreams and ambitions. When he sees how she is treating Travis and what she is doing for him, I think he sees all he feels he should have gotten. Walter says, “So you butchered up a dream of mine–you– who always talking ‘bout your children’s dreams…” (95). After finding out about Mama buying the house, Walter sees his dream of opening a liquor store vanish, as he wanted to use the money for that. He ridicules Mama, saying she says she supports her children’s dreams. But then she does this, which takes her child’s hope of his dream away from him.

 

Discussion Questions:

1. We see that the scene with Mrs. Johnson was taken out of some performances of the play. What importance do you think this scene brings to Hansberry’s message and what was lost when it was taken out?
2. We know that this was meant to be performed as a play but reading it we get the stage directions and the exact ways that Hansberry meant for the characters to act. How might the ideas and interactions between the characters be seen differently when just watching the play? 

 

Work Cited: 

Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Random House, 1986.

In reading “A Raisin in the Sun” By Lorraine Hansberry, focuses more on Bonds and conflicts between men and women, parents and children, old ways and new ways. Walter sees his wife, mother and sister especially, as women who need to be seen and not heard.  For example, According to Hansberry  “ a man ought to learn in life is not to make love to no colored women first thing in the morning”(27) in this example, Walter states not making love to colored women, he feels as though they are angry and evil. In the first two Act’s we see Walter as very selfish and doesn’t see no other way but his way. Another example is “ Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you are crazy about messing around with sick people then go be a nurse like other women or just get married and be quiet.”(38) In addition,These quotes show just how looked down on women were when it came to wanting to be something more than a nurse. Women were expected to bear babies and be a stay at home wife or be a nurse like every other woman. Most black women during this time period were expected to work as domestic servants in homes of wealthy white people. I found that women weren’t allowed to apply for certain jobs or colleges in the 1950’s. For example “Women were underrepresented both as students and faculty members at institutes of higher education, comprising just 21 percent of college students in the mid-1950s. Some schools banned women from applying or put restrictive quotas on how many they would accept.” In this jarring example, this evidence talks about the treatment women were given. Colleges had an amount of women to accept into their colleges, women weren’t seen as smart or worthy,  The main issue in the 1950’s was segregation in housing and education.  As for Black women in the 1950’s and 1960’s  who worked as domestics were generally treated as uneducated, poor, and child-like creatures.

In Act II of A Raisin in The Sun, we see more of Beneatha’s personality. We see how she is more free spirited than the rest of the characters and wanting to follow her own path, Walter, MAMA, and Ruth feel as though Bennie is quite disrespectful when it comes to them. The scene where Bennie cuts all her hair off Ruth states “ you expect this boy to go out with you with your head all nappy like that?” which Beneatha Replies “That’s up to George. If he’s ashamed of his heritage”(80). In the African culture women were not seen to have lots of hair, they would cut their hair to show an act of self-liberation and assertion of freedom. Looking back on the Introduction By Robert Nemiroff, he talks about how In 1959, when the play was presented, the rich variety of Afro styles introduced in the mid- 1960s had not yet arrived: the very few black women who wore their hair unstraightened cut it very short. When the hair of Diana Sands (who created the role) was cropped in this fashion, however, a few days before the opening, it was not contoured to suit her: her particular facial structure required a fuller Afro, of the sort she in fact adopted in later years.” But now in the modern world when a woman cuts her hair it is seen as a sign of strength and beauty. 

Benethea is a very strong willed and opinionated person, some would call her a feminist. In a Raisin In The Sun Bennie stated her opinion on god and how she feels like god shouldn’t be taking the credit for human kind’s work. For example Benethea states “it’s just that I get tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort.” MAMA who grew up praising god and believing in him felt as though Bennie was being disrespectful. In some cultures, in this case the African American culture, kids weren’t allowed to talk back to their parents or state their opinions. I think Bennie was just stating how she felt about God and basically saying he’s overrated and MAMA took that as her being disrespectful to her and the lord above, which caused Benethea to shut down. There is a power between a parent and a child, a parent is seen as the big bad wolf and having control while the child is seen as a puppy dog doing as it’s told without any explanation or back talk. For example in the parenthesis it states “ after there is only silence and the daughter drops her eyes from her mother’s face, and MAMA is very tall before her” (51). This quote justifies MAMA standing her ground and making it known that she is the parent and you should obey.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1.How come there’s this stigma that kids shouldn’t be able to speak their minds to their parents? 

2.How does the concept of the ‘American Dream’ unfold in A Raisin in the Sun, and how do the characters’ aspirations reflect the societal challenges of the time?

Works Cited:

Hansberry, Lorraine. “A Raisin in the Sun.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Feb. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Raisin_in_the_Sun.