Article
A Marxist Reading of Lorraine Hansberry’s a Raisin in the Sun (1959)
AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies
(2022)
Abstract
This article investigates the political and social background of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun through the lens of Marxist theory. By asserting the thought that above all her commitments, Hansberry was devoted to the struggle for the progress of the human race. However, she recognized that this struggle had to be made according to the specific terms dictated by the time and country in which one lived. Her actions and writings left little doubt about what kinds of the stand she wanted her fellow humans to take in America in her day. The main question this article investigates is: How does Hansberry who is known to be Marxist in her views on life and art, employ this symbolic play to tackle the social concerns from the standpoint of her ideology? To argue this point from a Marxist point of view, this study pays more attention to Hansberry’s battle with the ideology of the dominant class in the United States and provides many quotes by Hansberry that demonstrate this argument. Consequently, the importance of this article is that it theorizes an alternative account of modernity and attempts to mount an operational critique against modernity and modernization.
Keywords
- A Raisin in the Sun,
- African American literature,
- African American women,
- American Literature,
- Black feminism,
- Black power,
- civil rights,
- Lorraine Hansberry,
- Marxism materialism,
- slavery,
- Pan-Africanism,
- oppression,
- women
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring May 15, 2022
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol6no2.13
Citation Information
Ohood Alaqeel. "A Marxist Reading of Lorraine Hansberry’s a Raisin in the Sun (1959)" AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies Vol. 6 Iss. 2 (2022) p. 176 - 188 ISSN: 2550-1542 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/awejfortranslation-literarystudies/339/