A Raisin In The Sun Literary Analysis

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In today’s society, people are often confused on what is the correct choice to present one’s identity. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun, Beneatha mentions that “people need to express themselves in one way or another”(Hansberry 72), in order to fully understand her identity as an African-American. Through the ideals of both George and Asagai on the meaning of African-Americans and Beneatha’s choice to side with both George and Asagai to discover her identity as an African-American and to benefit her family, Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun portrays that people must balance assimilationist urges and returning to a sense of unique identity in order to fully understand their identity as a person.

First, George demonstrates the assimilationist urges to be no different than other American in
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George’s assimilationist ideals influences Beneatha by causing her to be angry, but then restricted to tolerance and silent stubbornness. Asagai’s ideals to return to a sense of unique African cause Beneatha to accept wholeheartedly with not accepting certain ideals. Beneatha then makes the decision to side with Asagai and George in order to discover her African-Americans identity and to help her family than be a burden. People often disagree that a person could not balance different ideals of assimilation and returning back to their family roots. However, people must balance these ideals to understand, develop, and express their new characters, ideals, and identities. Does the world want to solve the conflict of assimilation and coming back to a sense of unique identity and help people understand their identities as people? The world then must allow people to balance the urges of assimilation with coming back to the core of their unique