“The Third Self” As A Way Out Of The Dilemma?

Lorraine Hansberry is one of the most renowned and inspiring African-American playwrights of the 1950’s. She is the youngest black female playwright to have presented the life of African Americans on the Broadway stage; thus, encouraging African Americans to fight for their dreams, freedom and equality. Furthermore, Hansberry is the first African-American playwright to win the New Drama Critics Circle Award for the best play of the year. Undoubtedly, she has made a significant contribution to American drama.Hansberry’s first and most celebrated play, A Raisin in the Sun, provides a realistic portrayal of the difficult challenges facing an African-American family, the Youngers, who live in the southern area of Chicago. The present research regarding this play primarily centers on the American dream, black females, the discrimination of the blacks, as well as the black culture. In China, Professor Qin Sujue composed an article to discuss Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun from the perspective of double consciousness, and, although Professor Qin employs Du Bois’ theory of double consciousness, she only analyzes the rebirth of manhood in this play. Actually, Hansberry, who is deeply influenced by Du Bois’ double consciousness theory, also explores indeed the solutions to African Americans’ dilemma in American society in A Raisin in the Sun. Thus, on the basis of Du Bois’ theory of double consciousness and his notion of “the third self”, this paper strives further to analyze the African Americans’ self-assertion of “the third self”, and the possibilities it presents as a way out of their dilemma. It argues that “the third self” cannot be a real way to assist African Americans toward resolving their dilemma for living in American society. The open ending of the play tends to inspire the audience to contemplate and search for possible solutions to this real life dilemma.This thesis is divided into five parts.The first part is the introduction of Hansberry’s life and works, Du Bois’ s Double Consciousness theory and “the third self”, the literature review, the thesis statement and the structure of the present essay.The second chapter analyzes the survival problems of African Americans with double consciousness in A Raisin in the Sun. With the denial of African culture tradition, African Americans’ pursuit of American identity is destined to be a failure.The third chapter talks about the blacks’ self assertion of “the third self”. Realizing that the denial of African root will lead them to nowhere, the Youngers learn to regain and accept their African traditional culture, and merge it with the American identity they are eager to own. The success of the reconciliation of the above two identities is embodied in the owning of a home in white neighborhood.In the fourth chapter, this paper argues that, even though “the third self” seems to have a positive effect on African Americans, the ending of the play reveals that “the third self” may not be a real way to help African Americans get out of the dilemma. The last act conveys the menace from the white neighborhood and the pressures from the blacks. After the Youngers move into the white neighborhood, what will happen to them? Will they live happily ever after? The author is not intended to give a definite answer. What’s more, in order to fulfill the dream of becoming a doctor, Beneatha’s planned return to native home Africa in the end strengthens the point that “the third self” may not be a real way to help African Americans get out of the dilemma in America. With the technique of open ending, Hansberry tends to inspire the audience to ponder and to explore the possibilities out of the dilemma in real life.The last chapter is the conclusion of the thesis. Hansberry realizes the importance of merging the American identity and the negro soul for the African Americans, but she implies in the end, and meantime leads her audience to ponder, that since racial discrimination still exists and continues to prevent the blacks from pursuing freedom and equality as the whites, the only way for African Americans to get out of the dilemma in America is to eliminate racial discrimination and achieve the equal rights with the whites.