Gender in Lorraine Hansberry’s a Raisin in the Sun

The landmark play A Raisin in the Sun takes its title from a Langston Hughes poem which poses the questions What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Focusing on a working-class African-American family in Chicago who save enough to purchase either a business in a black neighborhood or a house in a white neighborhood, the plays exposes issues of racism and gender as the women of the family make important decisions that push against both racial and gender lines. This volume discusses gender in the play, looking at how the female characters fight both racism and male chauvinism, how the play is dominated by strong female characters, and how characters resist the stereotype of the emasculating female. The book also presents contemporary perspectives on race and feminism in the twenty-first century. Contributors include Barbara Ehrenreich, Jewelle L. Gomez, and Sharon Friedman.