Pressure

We are always pressured by outside forces. Pressure from outside forces often influences people to make decision they normally wouldn't even consider making. This pressure comes from society, and from other people. Several characters in "Raisin in the Sun" feel compelled to take actions that they normally wouldn't have taken.

Beneatha, Walter's sister, often feels pressure from her strict, christian family. While Beneatha wants to live an independent, feminist, liberal life, the members of her family emphasize familial hierarchy, and stick close to the ideals of Christianity. With such ideals in mind, Beneatha wants to date a man whom she can learn about her past heritage from; Asagai. Asagai is a charming African man from Nigeria, who still keeps his heritage at the core of his heart. However, Beneatha's family wants her to date George, a wealthy black man who attends college with Beneatha. George keeps money close to his heart, submitting himself to white culture to stay on top. Beneatha doesn't respect this, and thinks George is a "Fool". When Beneatha finally hears from her mother that she doesn't have to date a fool if she doesn't want, Beneatha finally feels understood, and sincerely thanks her mother for giving her support. Like many of the other characters, Beneatha feels pressured into performing certain actions to gain the support of her family.

Lonliness in Raisin in the Sun

Walter serves to be a truly lonely character. Walter dreams of success in the liquor business, but he doesn't receive support from his family. His family wants to use the money to pay for education, or make a down payment on the house. Also, as a man, his frustrations aren't understood by his fellow female family. Every character wants to use the money for a different purpose, but at least the other characters can relate to each other. His family calls Walter foolish for such an idea. In reality, Walter is simply misunderstood.

Man's oppresion of man

Hansberry once stated that the success of her book is the result of man's oppression against other men. The fact that her play became so successful serves as proof that there is still oppression. Lorainne points out that because we are men, there are still oppressed people.
I agree with this statement. It is in our nature to suppress others for our own goals in life. In the end, we only do things for our own benefit. However, we can control the extent that oppression happens. Previously, as everyone knows, blacks remained widely suppressed for many centuries. Only recently have they really gained a chance for opportunity in America, and even then, we still judge blacks differently than we judge whites.
I feel that man's oppression of man is a result of man's dependency on other men. As humans, we work together to live the best lves that we can. Our parents raise us for eighteen years, farmers ship the food we need, barbers cut our hair, and the janitors help clean up after us. Conversely, we help out other men. We work for companies, thus helping out other people, and we get paid for it. Then, we invest this money in other products to pay other people. As men, we need the help and support of other men to thrive. However, many people feel they need to take advantage of those dependent on you, thus causing oppression.
As mentioned before, Oppression will always exist, but we can change he extent that others are oppressed in this world.

Elements of my immediate circle

What unsettles me? What will I assign to myself?

I'm gonna go ahead on a trangent and say that people who complain about small things irritates me. I constantly hear students complaining and throwing negative comments toward another person or thing. They say things like "Oh, she didn't wear her wedding ring today, she must be a bad wife", or "I can't stand this musician". Regarding the Superbowl, many of us said that this was the "Worst Superbowl ever". Another said "Bad Refs, Bad Commercials, Bad game, bad everything. I'm convinced that everything Fox broadcasts is a lie". It angers me because, in my honest opinion, these things don't mean too much. In my personal opinion, it was a good game, and the referees made every call they needed to make. There was no right to complain about these issues.

We also complain about humanity in general, about what people say about other people. We just had a thirty minute discussion regarding our judgement toward other schools and people. My question is, why the negativity? Why not focus on what we have going for us as a society? As a middle class student going to Bishop Kearney who lives in Webster, I'm very privileged to have what I have, and I try to stay positive all the time. In my opinion, if you give negativity to something or someone you should expect negativity back.

On a tangent this doesn't mean that complaining is bad. Complaining and criticizing is actually a helpful tool that many use the wrong way. Instead of saying "You're terrible at shooting", try saying "Use your legs more while you shoot to put more power in your shot". Pointing out a problem without a solution does nothing for an issue. For us to advance as a society, we have to work at the individual level, preaching constructive criticism over blatant negativity.