A Raisin in the Sun Essay

     Depending on ones individual background, people relate to literature and movies in different ways. A movie is the director’s point of view of a play or book. Many components decide how a story is interpreted and perceived by the viewer. Differences in views depend on the portrayal of the literature and life experiences the viewer has accumulated. An example of a piece of literature that can be interpreted in different ways is “A Raisin in the Sun”, by Lorraine Hansberry. “A Raisin in the Sun”, a play about dreams, hardship, and life lessons, can be viewed differently depending on the type of media it is presented in.

     “A Raisin in the Sun” takes place in an apartment in the south side ghetto of Chicago. The text media of the play gave a dirty, crowded, and bug infested sensation when imagining the Younger’s apartment. Unlike the text, the black and white movie shows the apartment as slightly cleaner and less crowded. The black and white movie also shows no cockroaches but there are still random piles of junk giving the apartment a cluttered look. The color movie contrasts significantly in setting from the text and black and white version. The Younger’s apartment is considerably more spacious in the color movie version. Also, contrariwise from the text and black and white version, the color version apartment is more modernized, laid back, but also lively.

     Inside the ever-changing apartment lives the Younger family. Lena Younger (Mama), a major character in “A Raisin in the Sun”, is shown the same yet different throughout the media she is presented. In the text version Mama is visualized as a strong, mettlesome, and old-fashioned hard working woman. Mama is religious and wise with rock solid views about heaven and earth. In the black and white version Mama is a hefty looking woman aged to her sixties. Mama has a tough-love attitude toward her son, Walter, and is powerful in her decisions as a parent. These decisions include slapping Beneatha and telling Walter he is a disgrace to the family. The starkness of the black and white gives Mama an almost gloomy look throughout the movie. Contradictory to the text and black and white versions, the color movie version shows Mama as young and much more pleasant most likely due to the properties of the color film. Mama is also healthier looking in the color version and is not as hefty as the other two portrayals of her character. Although Mama is depicted slightly different in each of the stories, the essence of her character is consistent throughout the content.

     Mama’s son, Walter Younger, is also a character that could be interpreted differently between the medias. Like Mama, Walter is a steady character in the text, black and white movie, and color movie. Walter shows slight differences in all three interpretations of the story, but also shows many similarities. Walter is depressed about money, wants an easy fix to his financial problems, believes his dreams are always being belittled, and has a down on life attitude making him an alcoholic. These characteristics are true for all three versions. The differences start in the black and white version where Walter seems exceedingly dramatic during scenes of great importance, dissimilar from the text and color version. Such scenes are when Walter talks to Ruth about their newly conceived child and when Walter talks to his mother about the liquor store. The reason for the more dramatic character of Walter is the black and white version is in a play format rather than a movie format. Walter didn’t yell or execrate Ruth or his mother, Mama, as much as he did in the text and black and white version. In a movie format characters can be calmer and more down to earth as Walter was portrayed in the color version.

     “A Raisin in the Sun” has a dependable plotline whether reading the text or watching either of the movies. When the Younger family receives a check from a life insurance company for ten thousand dollars, each family member has his or hers ideas about what to do with the check. Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha each have logical and long term benefits from their investment ideas. Walter on the other hand, wants to use the insurance money to open a liquor store to solve the family’s financial problems. Walter ends up losing most of the money and Mama decides to put a down payment on a house in Clybourne Park, the climax of the story. Moving to Clybourne Park was in hopes of corroborating the Younger family and giving Travis a solid place to grow up. All three medias stay true to the basic plotline with a few exceptions. Examples are when Walter comes home from imbibing too much and performs the “Ocomogosiay” scene with Beneatha, intended as comic relief. Another example is when Walter is shown driving the car at work. These differences both occur in the color version. With the “Ocomogosiay” scene have been taken completely out, the viewer is left with less comic relief and a more dramatic plotline. Between the text and black and white version, the plots are particularly similar with no major differences between them.

     “A Raisin in the Sun” has been produced to appeal to movie audiences that are generations apart, leaving wide margins for alteration. Each director had a different point of view making the story slightly different from the text written by Lorraine Hansberry. The Younger family faced much hardship, fulfilled dreams, and learned valuable life lessons throughout the story. Although the story has been altered through the director’s interpretation of the text, the soul of the story still remains similar in each of the interpretations.