Raisin - Critics Quotes

Lorraine Hansberry on the death of her father

‘American racism helped kill him’

Hansberry to the winners of a creative writing conference

‘Though it is a thrilling and marvelous thing to be merely young and gifted in such times, it is doubly so, doubly dynamic - to be young, gifted and black.’

Hansberry on women

women who are ‘twice oppressed’ may become ‘twice militant’

David Robinson on the message of Raisin

"The heart of Raisin is the universal message of desire for social progress amid the differing opinions on how to achieve it."

Lynn Domina on the symbolism of the house

"The house has an almost spiritual significance that portends the redemption of the whole family- a redemption further symbolised by Mama's desire to cultivate a small but flourishing garden in the new house's backyard."

Sarita Cannon on Beneatha

Beneatha struggles against the double binds of being black and female in a racist patriarchal society.

Web Du Bois on the white people’s view of African Americans

African Americans are seldom seen as individuals by white Americans but rather are classified simply as members of their race.

James Baldwin on the revolutionary nature of Raisin

Before Raisin black people ignored the theatre, because the theatre had ignored them