Beneatha
The character of Beneatha Younger in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a spoiled and over-indulged young woman. She doesn’t need to work, she attends college, and she pursues hobbies such as guitar lessons and photography without much consideration of the sacrifices her family has to make to allow her to do so. Beneatha feels entitled to these things, and she is often thoughtless in her comments to her less educated but hard-working family. Her desire to have her own way is forgivable, however, due to her passion to learn, to understand, and to change things for the better. Despite her often overbearing nature, Beneatha’s goals of finding her own identity and becoming a doctor provide a positive role model for African-Americans, and especially for women.
Beneatha Younger is bright and ambitious. She enjoys the privilege of getting a higher education at a time when there are few opportunities for African-Americans. Her mother and sister-in-law Ruth work as domestic servants, and her brother Walter works as a chauffer, but Beneatha sets her sights on becoming a doctor. As a child, she saw a playmate’s face get cut open from a fall and thought he was going to die from his injuries. She was deeply impacted when the boy got out of the hospital and only had one little line down the middle of his face. “That was what one person could do for another” (133). She was amazed how much a doctor could do to help someone, and vowed this is what she wanted to do when she grew up. No barriers of sex, class or race would stop her.
During the first scene of Act 1, Walter questions Beneatha’s decision to become a doctor and how much it will cost. He is preoccupied with his own dream of success through the liquor store investment and how the $10,000 insurance check will be spent, but Beneatha is insensitive to her brother’s hopes and dreams. Her snotty responses and Walter’s obsession about the money spark an argument and he finally expresses his true feelings “Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor?...go be a nurse like other women – or just get married and be quiet…” (38). Ruth tries to keep the peace but it is clear that Walter resents his sister’s sense of entitlement even though she says defensively “I never asked anyone around here to do anything for me!” (37). After Walter points out some specific sacrifices the family has made such as Ruth doing kitchen work for extra income, and not being able to afford new shoes for Travis, Beneatha acknowledges what the family has done for her, but does it in a mocking way. She gets down on her knees saying thank you and asking for forgiveness for the better future she trying to achieve. It infuriates Walter that she expresses an indifferent attitude about the insurance check yet seems to fully expect the family to finance her future plans “that money belongs to Mama, Walter, and it’s for her to decide how she wants to use it. I don’t care if she wants to buy a house or a rocket ship or just nail it somewhere and look at it” (36-7).
The pursuit of her own identity is something very important to Beneatha. She jumps from one hobby to another: acting, horseback riding, photography, guitar lessons. She embraces her African heritage and wants to learn all she can about African history and culture. Mama good-naturedly asks her why she can’t settle on one thing, to which Beneatha responds, “I just want to, that’s all…I don’t flit! I – I experiment with different forms of expression” (47-8). Beneatha does not seem to realize how lucky she is to have the luxury of this experimentation.
Even though the family indulges her and tolerates her superior attitude, Mama puts her daughter in her place when necessary. Beneatha’s statement that there is no God deeply offends her mother:
It’s all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don’t accept. It’s not important. I am not going out and be immoral or commit crimes because I don’t believe in God. I don’t even think about it. It’s just that I get tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no blasted God – there is only man and it is he who makes miracles! (51)
Mama may encourage Beneatha’s independence when it comes to school, trying out different hobbies and dating different men. But Mama is not willing to allow her child is to say whatever she wants without consideration of other people’s feelings. She slaps Beneatha across the face and forces her to apologize by acknowledging God still does exist within her household. Beneatha resentfully does as she told.
In her relationship with her boyfriend, George, Beneatha demonstrates her strength of character. George is good-looking and rich, but he is also “shallow” (48). He does not share her passion for debate and discussion or her fascination with Africa. “I want a nice – simple – sophisticated girl…not a poet – O.K.?” (96). George can offer her a higher social standing and money, but this means nothing to her. She doesn’t want to be a quiet, submissive woman. When she breaks up with him, it shows that Beneatha knows who she is, and who she is not.
Beneatha’s friend, Asagai, understands her much better than George ever could. His Yoruba nickname for her is “Alaiyo” which means “One for Whom Bread – Food – Is Not Enough.” (65). This is very true of Beneatha. She wants more out of life than many American women at that time, especially black women, would ever dream of. Asagai is confident in his own identity, and he is patient with Beneatha as she searches for hers. In the final Act, when she is mourning the loss of insurance money that Walter squandered on his liquor store scheme, Asagai tries to put things in perspective for her. He asks “Was it your money?...did you earn it? Would you have had it at all if your father had not died?” (134-35). As soon as Asagai leaves, however, Beneatha resorts to acting like a brat, insulting Walter for being stupid and for his lofty, impossible dreams.
It is Mama who finally makes Beneatha understand humility and forgiveness, asking her if she thinks she is better than her brother. Mama asks her “Have you cried for that boy today? I don’t mean for yourself and for the family ‘cause we lost the money. I mean for him: what he been though…” (145). At the end of the play, as the family faces the challenges before them, one feels hopeful that Beneatha’s attitude will be more mature in the future. Mama’s dream to have a garden, Ruth’s dream to have a relaxing bath without neighbors pounding on the door of a shared bathroom, and even Walter’s wild fantasies of success all deserve her respect and empathy. Beneatha may be the best educated and the most outspoken member of the family, but her hopes and dreams are no more important than anyone else’s.
As she follows her own childhood dream of becoming a doctor, perhaps in Nigeria with Asagai, Beneatha is sure to have a better appreciation for the strength and sacrifices her family has made. She will go on to do great things, but she will not forget where she came from. Beneatha has come to realize that her humble, hard-working, imperfect family is an important part of her own identity as an independent woman.
Work Cited
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. 1958. New York: Random House, 1994. Print.
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