A paper for a play (Theatre appreciation) Essay

A paper for a play (Theatre appreciation) - Essay Example Produced in 1959, the play presaged the revolution in Black and women’s consciousness and the revolutionary torment in Africa that exploded in the years after Mrs. Hansberry’s death in 1965 to ineradicably change the consciousness and social fabric of the nation and the world. â€Å"As so many have commented lately, it did so in a manner and to an extent that few could have foreseen, for not only the restored material, but much else that passed unnoticed in the play at the time, speaks to issues that are now inescapable value systems of the black family; concepts of African American beauty and identity; class ad generational conflicts; the relationships of husbands and wives; black men and women; the outspoken feminism of the daughter; and in the penultimate scene between Beneatha and Asagai, the larger statement of the play and the ongoing struggle it portends† (Nerniroff, 1994) Although 1930 is the time Americans associate with the Great Depression, the Hansberry family remained economically stable and by 1930 standards of the Chicago blacks, they would have been considered â€Å"rich†. Hansberry was not comfortable with her â€Å"rich girl† status, but identified with the â€Å"children of the poor†. She imitated their maturity and independence. She decided to wear keys around her neck in imitation of the â€Å"latchkey† children of her day, so she too might be regarded as one of them. She never lived in a Younger household but observed such households closely in her childhood. In her plays as in â€Å"Raisin†, she has focused on the class of black people she cared most about. On the other hand, Lorraine’s father, Carl, remained politically active. He challenged a Supreme court decision against integration and won his right to purchase a house in an exclusive Chicago neighborhood where no other blacks lived. â€Å"Shortly afterward, Hansberry herself was nearly killed by a brick hurled through a window by angry whites. Hansberry