Black Women’s Growth

Lorraine Hansberry was one of the greatest African American playwrights in the middle of the20th century. She is a precedent in the circle of African American drama:showing the life of African Americans on the stage. She was also the youngest black female playwright in the circle of Broadway. As a member of African Americans, she knew the hardships of African Americans living in the community under the dominance of the whites. She also witnessed their unremitting pursuit for their dreams, freedom and equality. A Raisin in the Sun was the first and most important play of Lorraine Hansberry. In1959, once the play was shown in Broadway, it received wide acclaim.Characters are important elements for the play; and writing techniques can make the characters more vivid. Based on careful reading Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, this thesis analyzes female characters as well as the author’s main writing techniques:symbolic writing techniques and realistic writing techniques. Firstly, the thesis analyzes female characters of the play:Mama is the center of the whole family; daughter-in-law Ruth is tired of life; daughter Beneatha wants to be an African American female doctor. Hansberry shapes new images of African American women. For example, Mama has independent female consciousness; she can deal with domestic affairs and nurture children independently. Then main writing techniques in the play are analyzed in details:realistic and symbolic writing techniques to explore how the playwright portrays female characters vividly and specifically. Finally, on the basis of analyzing female characters in the play, this thesis makes a conclusion:the growth of younger generation of black women. On one hand, younger generation of black women pays much more attention to spiritual pursuit including African culture and African identity rather than material. On the other hand, they do not believe in God blindly. They think that they can achieve the equal identity and realize their dream by their efforts.In short, the aim of this thesis is to make the readers learn more about Lorraine Hansberry and her famous play A Raisin in the Sun.