Being and having in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in The Sun: A Marxist-Existential Perspective

Abstract

Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun (1959) participates in a larger philosophical dialogue about black liberation. The play presents several black generations in America, each with his or her own dream and nightmare, hopes and fears. The cross-generational dream of liberty is caught between being and having: the existential encounter and material gain. This article explores the tension between being and having in capitalist America. It dissects the clash between historical determinism, class conflict, and existential struggle that leads the scenes and acts of the play. Walter Lee ascribes his family’s struggle to an economic one and reduces subjectivity to materialism. He proposes that by changing the material world, the Youngers can understand their situation and, therefore, can improve it. However, Walter Lee is faced with race consciousness that intensifies his dilemma. On the other hand, Mama faces the problem of re-appropriating her consciousness in material temporality, shaping a hybrid combination of Marxist existentialism.