Intro to Multicultural Literature

Easily, the most interesting plot point in act 1 of A Raisin in the Sun is Walter and Beneatha’s exchange over who is entitled to their late father’s insurance money. Beneatha argues that because it’s Mama’s money, only she can decide on how to use it. Walter claims that it is unfair for Beneatha to accept Mama’s money to help pay for her medical school. Walter makes it seem as though his opposition to her career choice is only based upon the fact that the rest of the family has had to make sacrifices because of it. At the height of their argument, Walter says “Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people-then go be a nurse like other women-or just get married and be quiet.” This statement proves that Walter opposes Beneatha’s plight not only because she is using Mama’s money, but also because she’s a woman. Because this play is based in the 1950s, blatant sexism was a lot more common and accepted. Beneatha was extremely progressive in her aspirations, whether she cared or not. She is an extremely strong-willed and intelligent woman, and back then this threatened men, especially men who had trouble supporting their own wives and children, like Walter. I believe this is the reason sexism went on for much longer than it should have. Men, who for millenniums have been the hunter, the breadwinner, the leader, were threatened by women who believed they were more than someone to cook for you. To clean for you. To raise your kids for you. Beneatha is a wonderful example of women in the second wave of feminism. These were the women who realized they deserved more than just the right to vote, and all American women today should be thankful for their strength. Unfortunately, feminism today has taken a wrong turn. While feminism is still extremely necessary and important in many countries across the world, in America, women are very much equal to men in 2018. Third wave feminism in America is, in my opinion an unnecessary force which is driving apart political peace in the US.

In the first act of A Raisin in the Sun, Beneatha a very young African American female, aspires to become a doctor. Though many people, including her own family members, found her aspirations to be silly, she continued with her schooling. Today, female doctors are not uncommon, and women are seen in an array of different career fields. Though women today are equal to men, the feminist movement hasn’t come to an end. Do you believe that modern feminism is still necessary in today’s progressive society? Why? Why not?

Throughout Act 1 of A Raisin in the Sun, Mama is often portrayed as an almighty figure that must be respected, mostly because she is the character who has the money. Though Beneatha doesn’t exactly care about money in general as much as she cares about being able to make her own money, she disrespects the symbolic figurehead of the story. Mama believes that Beneatha will be able to be a doctor if God allows it to happen. This upsets Beneatha, because she’s “tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves.” More specifically, she doesn’t agree with anyone else getting credit for all the hard work she is doing to make a life for herself, not even God. Being an atheist in the 1950s was probably even more unacceptable than being a woman doctor. Beneatha is slapped by her mother who forces her to repeat the phrase “In my mother’s house there is still God.” I found this scene extremely disturbing. Religious discrimination may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you mention A Raisin in the Sun, and yet this scene is the one that most resonated with me because of its intensity. Beneatha doesn’t even have the free will to not believe in God in her own home, though I guess she’s free to think whatever she wants as long as she doesn’t speak it aloud. It’s obvious that religion is extremely important to Mama.

Do you think it was disrespectful for Beneatha to voice her religious views even though she knew it would upset her mother, the woman who pays for her medical school and supports her in many other ways? Or do you think that Beneatha voicing her religious views is just another trait that shows how strong willed and progressive she is for her time?

Oppression has existed, in some form, for centuries. This text by Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, exhibits many forms and examples of oppression. However, I took particular notice to the oppression of women. I noticed several examples of this happening throughout the Act, some more direct and apparent than others. A Raisin in the Sun was written nearly forty years after women gained their freedom as equal citizens and yet, they continued to be marginalized.

Initially, I only noticed the more apparent examples of oppression. For example, Walter speaking to his younger sister, Beneatha, saying, “Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people – then go be a nurse like other women – or just get married and be quiet …” (Hansberry, 38). Asagai speaks similarly to Beneatha. He claims that there is only one type of feeling that can exist between a man and a woman. However, Beneatha disagrees saying that those feelings, by themselves, are not enough for her (63). Ultimately, she wants more but Asagai retorts with one of the most oppressive lines in the entire Act – saying, “For a woman it should be enough” (63).

Upon closer read I was able to catch some of the subtler ways that women were being marginalized throughout the Act. For example, Beneatha wants to go to school to be a doctor, she also plays the guitar, took horseback lessons, and took photography lessons. In modern days it is not out of place at all to see a woman doing all of this. However, in 1959 people did not react the same as they would now. The women encouraged her, excited that a woman would be taking these risks and standing out; while the men reacted in a very different way, believing these things to be silly pass times. Another subtle example occurred when Ruth and Walter were having an argument. Walter, feeling like his wife is not on his side, yells at her saying, “This is what is wrong with the colored women in this world … Don’t understand about building their men up and making ‘em feel like they somebody. Like they can do something” (34). At first, it simply sounded like he was mad that she didn’t agree with him but then I noticed that this seems to be what he believes a woman’s sole purpose is. That they are owned by their men and that their only purpose is to build their men up. This may not be the intent of the line but regardless, it shows a very specific example of the marginalization of women in the 1950’s.

Despite this oppression and marginalization that was clearly occurring throughout this Act, the reader/audience can clearly see the little ways in which these women rebelled. The way that Beneatha explains her many hobbies saying, “I don’t flit! I – I experiment with different forms of expression – ” (48). She fights for her identity and her freedom to express herself through any means that she desires. Another prime example is when Ruth is contemplating an abortion. Mama explains this to Walter by saying, “When the world gets ugly enough – a woman will do anything for her family. The part that’s already living” (75). Mama is trying to explain how strong women are and how they will do anything for their families despite the constant marginalization from many of the men.

You can see the little ways that the women in this story fight against this oppression and marginalization. They receive little respect for what they do and yet they continued to fight and to the benefit of our modern generation. I’m not saying that women are completely free of all oppression but I am saying that — because of women like Beneatha, Ruth, and Mama – our generation of women now have the potential to live nearly any life we desire.

Questions:

1. In what ways might modern women continue to fight against oppression? Are women completely free of marginalization or must the still endure it and fight against it in some aspects of life?
2. I brought up several examples of how women were oppressed and marginalized throughout this Act. Do you believe that all women were enduring these conditions or were these conditions primarily caused by the financial and racial standing of this family? Use examples from the text to explain your answer.

The Younger family is a melting pot of critical issues, being held together very loosely by its familial bonds. Several issues of the story thus far relate heavily to real-world issues that faced the country decades ago in the time period the text is based, but also in the world today. Conflicts of the issues mesh together, however, unfortunately, into one family, the Youngers. The country today suffers from not understanding that all the issues of today have been serious issues of the past. The text offers an opportunity for readers to observe clarity, however, the amount of clarity may be, by applying all the issues into an intriguing story of money and family matters.

The first major issue which looms over the entire family is money. Money is the great stabilizer and destabilizer in any society and family. When money becomes an issue, it penetrates each member of a family and changes everyone emotionally at some level. In the text, Ruth, the mother of Travis and wife of Walter feels the heavy burden of economic stress at multiple levels. I believe this because she attempts to keep the family in order in multiple ways. She has a job, to rake in whatever income she can while Travis is away at school, She wakes up earlier than anyone else in the house so her young son has breakfast for school, and that her son and husband are awake to be ready for the day. She attempts to brunt the burden of the economic strain on her own, since her husband is an absent drunk, except for when it comes to him wanting something from someone else. This struggle is immense on anyone on its own, however, it is enlarged immensely when she discovers she is pregnant. Incorporating the issue of barely managing to get by with one child, she now suffers, essentially alone, with the burden of deciding whether she should keep the child or sacrifice the life of an unborn for the child she has living. This is an issue that is not only present in fictional stories but common in society globally today. Whether by mistake or not, economic struggle produces immense struggle out of nowhere at times and the question of if it’s manageable;e to have a child or not, may not just be as easy as some groups would claim.

Another, strong figure in the text who has a major part in the economic situation of the Youngers is Mama. Mama is the mother of Walter, who is allowing her son’s family to stay with her. She recently lost her husband and has insurance money from his death coming. She says that she wants some of the ten-thousand-dollar check must be put away for her daughter Beneatha’s schooling. She also intends to possibly buy a better living area for the whole family, somewhere which young Travis could play in a yard and enjoy life more than in the old and dilapidated apartment the whole family currently lives in. Mama struggles with her son Walter however, who continues to use his mothers money as if it is his own. She must continuously refuse him the money because she wants the money to put the family somewhere better, whereas he wants a liquor store, which both his wife and mother do not think is a good idea, especially for a drunk. Mama struggles immensely toward the end of Act One because of Ruth’s pregnancy and attempts to get Walter to convince his wife to keep the child, however, Walter isn’t able to even talk to either of the women in the room. Although Mama attempts to keep the family on its feet financially, the issues continue to build upon an already struggling family. Many families have someone like Mama, who attempts to keep the family moving toward a better life, even with the path is long and without an end in sight. She attempts to keep their faith in a better life, especially with the potential to use the insurance money as a lifeboat to a better place. However, with Ruth now pregnant, the family is experiencing a whole new issue that they all are not prepared for.

Is the struggle against Walters plan for a Liquor Store a benefit or hindrance to the developing family struggle of the Younger’s?

Is the struggle of the pregnancy able to be remedied with the money Mama received from the insurance, or is the issues more than just money when it comes to the pregnancy?

Hi everyone my name is Morgan Boone. I am a transfer from HCCC (Herkimer) where I used to swim and dive. Now I do both for Cortland!! I am an RMGT major, I have 3 sisters and 1 brother. I moved up here for the next 3 years so I’ll be a resident for a while, good luck in the class everyone!

Hey everybody! My names Mike George, I’m from Upstate NY, Bath New York to be specific. I’m in the Physics + Engineering program here at Cortland and am currently in my junior year. My main interests are cars, movies, music, and I like playing video games in my free time. If you’d like to learn more about me follow me on the gram @Mikege0 (the o is a zero)

Hi, my name is Hallie Garropy! I am a transfer student and it is my sophomore year. I went to Cayuga Community College for one year before this to save money. I am from Auburn, New York and I have three younger sisters and one younger brother. My major is adolescent education with a concentration of english.

Whatsup everybody, my name is Michael Flynn from Staten Island NY and I am a transfer sophomore majoring in criminology. I had a really bad experience at my last school and hoping that Cortland will treat me well. Some of my hobbies are playing baseball, video games and listening to music. I mainly listen to rap and I am a huge JCole fan. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you while becoming a better reader and writer.

What makes me different than my family, my friends, my mentors? The answer is what stories I have to to distribute about my life versus what theirs are.

Humanity learns of itself through stories. Stories in textbooks, novels, bibliographies, etc. All these stories allow a separation of on person to the next. My story of my life is different from another persons. It is for that reason we are so different, despite going to the same schools, learning similar things, living in the same country. Our country however is guilty of telling a single story of groups of people, similar in some ways to how Chimamanda Adichie claims western literature  puts a label on all of Africa. Humanity has a long past of labeling, and misidentifying individuals and groups of people. Segregating people into categories is nothing new to humans today, or decades before us. For the most part, we detest the idea of such a classification system. However, not liking something and not doing something are two separate beasts. My parents don’t like texting, yet we see them texting all the time. Similarly,  we watch new media classify “Liberals” and “Conservatives” as if its a decision between one faction or another, one identity or another. Realistically however, it is completely unlikely any single, self thinking person believes wholesomely in all of one factions ideals.

Now, I am not writing to create political arguments, however I want to emphasis that we think and say things all the time that clearly divide each other in categories we all probably do not truly belong to. We often forget that people of any political party are human, they make mistakes and decisions. They are human after all. However, Adichie calls upon us all to not give into the single story, whether it be by Nigeria or by Mexico. The lesson learned should carry on into other regions of perspective as well. Whether that perspective be on how we obtain news is dependent on how far you are willing to observe to moral of Adichie’s story.

The news, globally, displays an important frame on society. As I read through the transcript of Adichie’s speech, I found a quote that speaks heavily on the worries of censored society. As Adichie says “[i]t is impossible to talk about the single story without talking about power”. This statement is completely true throughout modern human interaction with each other. Power, in all forms has the potential to corrupt. Censored media, like Russian media for example, gives one story of an incident, based completely off of what the ruling government decides. This not only gives one perspective to a potentially multi-sided story, however it allows for the government to decide the story of the people. I believe Adichie references the political implications of a single story several times throughout the speech because we are able to fight against a single story. We have the ability to go out and find the other side to the story. She wants her listeners, her readers to find the truth of each story, instead of allowing someone else to decide the story for you, or for another people. As Adichie explains in her speech, many people from her home country of Nigeria could not read because they could not afford to buy the books to read. This is an exceptionally scary issue because a people that are unable to read, are only able to listen and sometimes, listening to one perspective or what one person says is just as or even worse than knowing a single story. Ultimately, humanity as a whole must climb away from the ideas of a single story, or a single belief, in order to see the world for what it is. Yes, it is true, as Adichie admits, crime throughout the world is bad, however, crimes of the few do not make up the mind of an entire society, unless you only listen to a single story.

 

Questions:

After reading the texts, do you feel as though you have fallen for the single story trap?

 

Is it possible to end the “Single Story” problem in our lifetime, or is similar to being perfect, a constant attempt but never getting to perfection?

Hello!

My name is Diavian Collier, I am a sophomore here at SUNY Cortland. I’m majoring in English Adolescent Education. I love to read (I know, typical haha) so I am really looking forward to the texts that we will encounter in this class!

Best regards and happy syllabus week to you all! xx

Hey guys my name is Maddie, I’m from Long Island. I am a sophomore here at SUNY Cortland and I am majoring in English Adolescent Education with a minor in Spanish. I am looking forward to the semester with everyone as well as to the colder weather with this heat!