A Raisin In The Sun Language Analysis
Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry shows how her characters speak the unconventional South Side Chicago non-standard English. The play centres on the “Younger family” and shows how Big Walter, the father has left behind a $10,000 life insurance cheque for his family. In 1959, $10,000 was a large sum of money, considering that the average house in Chicago was sold for $ 7,500 and a public school teacher’s salary was about $ 3,000. During such difficult times, Big Walter had worked himself to death in order to provide the insurance money so that his family could get the opportunities he never got. All the members of his family who are discriminated against in free America have their own plans for the money. Lena Younger, the wife of Big
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The English that they speak is more sophisticated than the speech of the rest of the “Younger family”. Beneatha’s English is formal, conditioned by her education though she occasionally uses slang words like “Brother is a flip” (33). Beneatha’s correct use of Standard English is revealed when she tells her boyfriend, Asagai: “Oh, Asagai! . . . You got them for me! How beautiful…and the records too!” (45). Though Asagai’s English is similar to that of Beneatha’s, it incorporates a wider range of vocabulary, with words like “retrogression”. He at times exhibits signs of his heritage when he speaks. When Beneatha shows her happiness on receiving the robe and the records, Asagai tells her “I shall have to teach you how to drape it properly. (He flings the material about her for the moment and stands back to look at her) Ah – Oh – Pay – gay – day, oh – gbah – mu – shay. (A Yoruba exclamation for admiration). You wear it well…very well…mutilated hair and all” (45). Asagai does not have colloquial expressions when he speaks but his speech is real, has pauses, emphasis, and sounds exactly like conversational English.
Hansberry tries to show how the “Younger family” is struggling to educate Beneatha and Travis but when the cheque finally arrives, Mama asks Travis “Travis! (she is counting off with doubt)
The English that they speak is more sophisticated than the speech of the rest of the “Younger family”. Beneatha’s English is formal, conditioned by her education though she occasionally uses slang words like “Brother is a flip” (33). Beneatha’s correct use of Standard English is revealed when she tells her boyfriend, Asagai: “Oh, Asagai! . . . You got them for me! How beautiful…and the records too!” (45). Though Asagai’s English is similar to that of Beneatha’s, it incorporates a wider range of vocabulary, with words like “retrogression”. He at times exhibits signs of his heritage when he speaks. When Beneatha shows her happiness on receiving the robe and the records, Asagai tells her “I shall have to teach you how to drape it properly. (He flings the material about her for the moment and stands back to look at her) Ah – Oh – Pay – gay – day, oh – gbah – mu – shay. (A Yoruba exclamation for admiration). You wear it well…very well…mutilated hair and all” (45). Asagai does not have colloquial expressions when he speaks but his speech is real, has pauses, emphasis, and sounds exactly like conversational English.
Hansberry tries to show how the “Younger family” is struggling to educate Beneatha and Travis but when the cheque finally arrives, Mama asks Travis “Travis! (she is counting off with doubt)