Gender Roles in A Raisin In The Sun (Summary)

Gender Roles in A Raisin In The Sun Gender roles have played a huge part in our society since the beginning of time. Due to this, many attempts hae been made to portary gender roles and their place in society and if they should be there in the first place. Lorraine Hansberry's, A Raisin In The Sun, explores and exposes gender roles, through a family living in Chicago in the time between World War II and present day. The theme of gender roles is the inequality between the genders. She explores gender roles in topics of family life, workplace and money, and then presenting us with characters who defy gender roles. Throughout the play, we get to see the ideas of family in these times. In the family, men are seen as the head of the family and they should be the ones to make most, if not all, decisions. When talking to Walter, Mama says, "I'm telling you to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be" (2.2.68). Here, Mama gives over being the head of the family, to the only man old enough to run the family. Walter received the title solely because he was a male. This is assumed because he was not qualified to run this family. He could barely take care of his wife and child, let alone them, himself, his mother and sister. On more than one occasion before this scene, Walter runs away from the problems he has. Yet, he is in charge of making decisions anyway. On the topic of Ruth, Walter's wife, of getting an abortion, Walter is told by Mama, "I'm waiting to hear how you be your father's son. Be the man he was... Your wife is going to destroy your child. And I'm waiting to hear you talk like him and say we a people who give children life, not who destroys them" (1.1.42). Ruth is given absolutely no chance to decide what she's going to do with her body. This quote shows that only Walter's opinion matters, what he says goes. Both Ruth and Walter should have a say on what happens, not only one side. Women are to be married, being dependent and yielding of their partner. On the topic of getting married, the younger sister of the family showed her independence by saying, "I'm not worried about who I'm going to marry yet- if i ever get married" (1.1.23). To this, both Mama and Ruth were sickened, exclaiming "If?"(1.1.24). This shows that both Mama and Ruth held marriage very highly. Not being married was basically unacceptable to the two. This shows the belief that all women should be dependent, a women cannot support themselves or be successful unless a man is there supporting them. There is also a common belief that men and women can only have a romantic relationship. When Beneatha mentions that there are more feelings between the two genders besides romance, one of her boyfriends, Asagai, mentions that "Between a man and women there need be only one kind of feeling," (1.2.33) and "For a women it should be enough" (1.2.33). With this quote, we can see the belief of the time period that not only should men and women only be in romantic relationships with one another, but also that women should settle with what is common. They should want nothing more than others think they need. The workforce and money is also divided by gender. With this, men are to be hard working. They should be the ones in control of the money and provide for the family the most. Walter expresses this twice. First, he hands his son some money for school, despite his Ruth telling him no multiple times. The second occasion by telling his family "I tell you I am a man-and I think my wife should wear some pearls in this world" (3.1.97). Both times, he shows his dominance over his wife once by showing her decisions do not matter and another by saying he should be the one to give his wife nice things, as if she cannot get them on her own. In another scene, we see the view that all men should hold higher class jobs than women. Mama says, "My husband always said being any kind of servant wasn't a fit thing for a man to be" (2.2.65). Therefore, if men are not doing these jobs, the only other people to do them are women. The lower jobs should be held by those of the lower gender, because that would only make sense in this time period. Along with Mama's quote, many times in the play, characters talk about how women are not fit to be doctors. A few examples include Walter's line where he tells Beneatha, "What fool 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"(1.1.14) and when Mama finds out Ruth went to a doctor, who happens to be a woman, asks sharply ""She"-What kind of doctor you went to?" (1.2.30). Both of these quotes show that women are not capable of being in positions that have higher standards and require some higher education. This relates with Mama saying women should be the ones to hold lower level jobs. At the beginning of the play, we also see that Walter thinks that money is for men. He tells Ruth "See there, that just goes to show you what women understand about the world," when discussing money. Women have zero idea of the world or money, according to Walter. He basically calls women very uneducated about everything. This play is full of gender stereotypes, but there are also many times when certain genders defy their stereotypes. The main character that mainly portrays this is Beneatha. She displays herself as a woman who makes her own decisions and does not conform to what society wants her to be. At one point Beneatha tells her family, "I am going to be a doctor and everyone around here better understand that!" (1.1.24). Beneatha shows her family that she is in charge of her future, and despite everyone trying to discourage her, she will do what she wants. She refuses to be like every other woman, she is going to do something extraordinary with her life. We find out over the course of the play that Beneatha is very outspoken, she loves to express her ideas and how she feels, but another one of her boyfriends, George, does not support this. He even tells Beneatha he wants "a nice-simple-sophisticated girl...not a poet" (2.2.60). He wants his women to be oppressed, with no opinion, the opposite of Beneatha, she does not take his comment lightly, in which she ends up telling him goodbye. For most women, this would be very uncommon; most would not argue with their date, let alone tell them goodbye. Beneatha did though, she stood up for herself, setting herself apart. Another female character who sets herself apart is Mrs. Johnson, a neighbor. Although her role in the play is minuscule, one of her lines sticks out. She tells Mama,, "Wilhemenia Othella Johnson goes anywhere, any time she feels" (2.2.63). Usually, women would have to run an idea by a husband before doing anything like that. Mrs. Johnson, though, does what she wants, when she wants. Both her and Beneatha show strong independence for women. Lastly, Walter, a man who made various comments degrading women makes a remark at the end of the play. He says "And that's my sister over there and she's going to be a doctor- and we are very proud" (3.1.100). This is surprising for Walter, who said women should be nurses and on multiple occurrences told Beneatha she was making the wrong decision. With this remark, we see that Walter's character has grown and a change in direction has happened. In conclusion, for a large portion of A Raisin In The Sun the genders were categorized and stereotyped. Many fell into what society taught them were correct, while others went against it. The constant theme of men and women being in unequal status levels was strongly shown through the entirety of the play.