Melody,
This reflects a general understanding of both texts. The main weakness is that your comments are
more general than specific. Can you make and support a specific claim? You say both texts
suggest that the desire self-improvement is universal, but suggest different routes to self
improvement. Can you develop this idea with specific evidence from both texts? Also, there are
historical errors to correct.
Robin
Compare and contrast Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ with Ta-Nehisi Coates' ‘A
case for Reparations.’
A Raising in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a play concerning an African American
family whose aspiration was to overcome the apartheid and deprivation of rights happening in
Chicago in the 1950s.The black family literally struggles to move from a low-class neighborhood
to a middle-class area amidst segregation. Despite the fact that this play was written in this
ancient era, it universally touches the desire to better one’s situations while in disagreement with
the most appropriate ways of attaining them. A Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates is an
article describing the ways in which slavery’s legacy extended to geographic and government
policies in the United States for a ‘collective introspection’ on reparations. In his article, TaNehisi argues that reparations’ basis are on the fact African Americans in America were taken
from through slavery and oppression. Both of A Raising in the Sun and A case for Reparations
show the struggles that the black Community in the US went through as they tried to better their
situations and have their rights recognized.
The article ‘A Case for Reparations’ and the play ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ strongly condemn
slavery against African Americans in the early 1900s. The title of the play, A Raisin in the Sun,
points out the frustrations faced by the African-American people when they could not meet their
dreams due to racial violence against them. The play basically involves a black family which
struggled their way from a low socio-economic status and achieved the middle-class status. The
play signifies the oppression and racism against the blacks, which led to the deprivation of
opportunities and suffering from the slavery period until today. The black community was
subjected to hostile conditions of living which widened the social-class gap between the whites
and the blacks. The play points out how devastated and frustrated the blacks were and still are
due to the acts of injustice against them. The family in the play managed to move to the middleclass residence against all the obstacles from the white community. This shows that the African
American people have slowly realized their worth, and have been able to overcome racial
violence to achieve similar opportunities as their white counterparts.
In the article, ‘A Case for Reparations,’ the author, Coates, discusses the ways in which the
endless social and economic violence against the blacks in America has hugely influenced their
place in the community today, and basically, he supports the provision for reparations. He
substantiates his arguments on this oppression by use of various personal experiences including
Clyde-Ross, and historical happenings, such as Jim-Crow Laws. All through the article, TaNehisi illuminates the facts regarding the pain and sufferings the blacks were subjected, from
being slaves to the Civil-Rights movement to the today’s America. Especially, he points out that
the African American people are still marginalized and disadvantaged in the society today. The
author explains how difficult it was for a black person to own a house because they were
segregated to live in unusually expensive and under-repaired neighborhoods. This translated to
the blacks not being able to own houses because they were always settling rent dues which the
white owners intentionally hiked to make them lose their homes.
Among his arguments, the argument that America keeps ignoring ‘the sins of the past’ is
the most popular. This is happening due to the fact that America as a nation has not given back to
the African American people to ‘settle the pain’ from the slavery period until today. Coates has a
belief that majority of Americans are wary of reparations due to the fact they are afraid of
compromising their current values as a country. The Americans fear that these values would be
compromised if they own the acts of violence committed by the nation against the blacks.
African Americans survived through racism and slavery, followed by 90-years of Jim-Crow and
60-years of apartheid. These discriminatory acts translated to violence against the blacks. Coates,
therefore, argues that these acts of injustice are enough evidence to warrant reparations, despite
the fact that a human's life is invaluable.
However, the two pieces of work air views which are contrary to each other. The writer of
A Raisin in the Sun focused more on depicting the challenges the African American people went
through and even overcame, due to slavery and racism. The play shows the devastations and
frustrations these people underwent due to segregation, slavery and racial violence in the hands
of whites. Basically, the objective of the play is to condemn these acts of injustice, and show
how intense they were. The writer seeks to make the audience understand the weight of the
matter, and how it led to the social-status gap between the whites and the blacks. Especially, the
segregation was so much pronounced such that these two communities could not live in the same
neighborhoods or even share social amenities. However, at the end of the play, the writer shows
that the black family was able to get out of the shoddy neighborhood despite all the obstacles
from the whites, such as being bribed not to move into the all-white neighborhood. This act
shows that the black community has been able to rise above challenges, and have the courage to
pursue the same opportunities as the whites.
On the contrary, the writer of A Case for Reparations calls upon the American people,
especially the whites to own the detrimental injustices committed against the black and to give
reparations to the black community. He points out that the social gap between the two
communities has never been filled, hence there is a need for reparations to empower the AfricanAmerican people. He discusses how difficult it was for black people to own houses, or rather
attain certain living standards and jobs. All these opportunities were grabbed by the white
community, while the blacks were enslaved, oppressed and later let to live under hostile
conditions. Basically, Coates claims justice for the black community; reparations by the
government. According to him, the human life cannot be equated to money, but the reparations
will at least wipe out the tears of these marginalized communities and open up opportunities for
them.
In conclusion, the two pieces of work by Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, and TaNehisi Coates, A Case for Reparations, condemn black slavery, oppression, and segregation.
They discuss the negative outcomes that resulted from such acts of injustices against the blacks.
They both point out that the black community was used as a tool to benefit the whites from
slavery and oppression. According to both, a black person owning a house was almost
impossible, and blacks were therefore forced to live in nasty neighborhoods. However, the two
works differ in some ways. Lorraine shows that against all the odds, the black people were able
to rise from oppression and attain similar achievements as whites. Coates, on the other hand,
calls for reparations as a way of settling and wiping-out the challenges the black people face due
to the injustices.
References
Coates Ta-Nehisi. The case for reparations. The Atlantic Retrieved from
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
Hansberry, Lorraine. The Norton Introduction to Literature, edited by Kelly J. Mays, shorter
12th ed., W. W. Norton, 2017, pp. 1456-1520.
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