The Benomyth

  To preface my blog, I would like to address a few things: the first, Beneatha Younger is not the protagonist of Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. That is, she does not possess the lead role for whom the primary character development narrative is structured around. That status would fall to Walter Younger, her brother and head of the Younger household who dreams of striking it rich and becoming more successful than any of the Youngers’ prior four generations of colored ancestors. This is not to say that Beneatha is a completely inertial character, it is through Hansberry’s portrayal of Beneatha and her interactions with her relatives and peers (namely her revolutionary-oriented Nigerian boyfriend, Joseph Asagai) that A Raisin in the Sun conveys its primary message, the importance of aspirations and ambitions in a world society that was not constructed with you in mind. At the start of the film, Beneatha is portrayed as the Younger family’s “last hope.” While the “real” protagonist ...