This is for Eng 102

1. A RAISIN IN THE SUN:
Issues of Gender and Masculinity

2. WALTER
• Walter is striving to live up to an ideal of manhood fed to him by white
American capitalist society – the “American Dream.”
• His conversation with Travis on ps. 1497-1498 illustrates his idea of what it
means to be a man, an idea he wants to pass on to his son. (We get a hint of
this back in Scene 1, when he givesTravis a dollar rather than the fifty cents he
asked for, rejecting Ruth’s assertion that “we don’t have it.”)

3. WALTER, CONT’D
• Walter’s frustration that he’s not that kind of man is steadily building.
• He resents his mother’s continued authority (1482-1484).
• He attacks George Murchison, who has everything he wants but does nothing
with it (1488-1489).
• He resents Ruth because she represents responsibility; he looks at her and
sees his own failure.
• Things start to look up for him when Mama gives him his shot at what he
thinks is manhood (1497).

4. BENEATHA
• Asagai vs. George
• Her fascination with Asagai connects with her longing to “express herself.”
• Asagai seems to understand her, as we see when he tells her the meaning of
the nickname “Alaiyo” (1479), yet a few moments in his first scene hint at a
too-controlling nature:
• He hints that her straightening her hair is “assimilationism,” knowing this will
upset her (1477).
• “For a woman [sex/romance] should be enough” (1478). In this reduction of a
woman’s role,Asagai is similar to George.

5. BENEATHA CONT’D
• George is more obviously wrong for Beneatha, as we see when he mocks her
enthusiasm for Africa (1487).
• George lays out what he wants from a woman on p. 1494. Beneatha is not that
woman and she knows it.
• Beneatha resists both men’s efforts to control her.The decision to cut her hair
belongs to her, not to Asagai.
• Her problem is similar toWalter’s, in that she’s striving to be a certain kind of
woman, yet those around her want her to be something else (as we see in Act
I Scene 1, when Ruth and Mama laugh at her suggestion that she might not get
married).

6. RUTH
• Ruth is considering a choice antithetical to her true nature.
• Of all the younger generation, she is most like Mama; she share’s Mama’s values.
She is the most fervent supporter of Mama’s decision to purchase the house
(1492-1493).
• She is a nurturer, as we see in her efforts to make George comfortable (1487)
and to offerWalter food (1490).
• That she would even consider abortion is a sign of just how frightened and
desperate she is (1483-1484).
• Remember that this is 1959, when abortion was illegal and far from safe.