In the early parts of the play, how is the setting important to the situation, events, and possible themes? Consider how the setting -- and remember that this does not have to be a singular idea -- is actually represented or reflected in the dialogue or details.
In addition, explore the historical context of the play. Attach at least one link to background information you find in your research. Track your thinking about setting as you continue to read.
In the beginning of the play the Youngers are living in a very small, crowded apartment. Not just Ruth, Walter and son Travis; but also Walters mom, "mama', and sister Beneatha live closely in a small space. The apartment is so small that young Travis does not have his own space, and he must sleep every night on the couch. The setting contributes to the events and situation of the story because the space is so small, all the family members are closely involved in each others business and there is little to no privacy. Everyone is nagging and fighting with everyone. For example, here in act one, scene one Walter is nagging his sister Beneatha due to money;
ReplyDeleteWalter: "Have we figured out yet just exactly how much medical school is going to cost?"
Ruth: "Walter Lee, why don't you leave that girl alone"
The setting of a small apartment causes conflicts in the families relationships, because everyone has something to say about everything.
The time period is said to be "sometime between World War 2 and the present" (between 1945-1959) and the location is on the South Side of Chicago. After doing a little search on what life was like during that time in that setting I have concluded that Chicago's South Side in the 1940's was heavily populated with mostly Africian Americans. "The South Side has a population of 752,496, of which over 93% are African American (wikipedia.com). I also was able to find out that most of the housing in Chicago's South Side was apartments that lacked proper water conditions, room, and overall cleanliness, ""The majority of Blacks moved to the city’s south side where these major industries were located at the time. Chicago’s black belt consisted of a 30 block long stretch of neighborhoods on the south side of old and dilapidated housing. Much like Harlem, NY, Blacks were over-crowded in apartment buildings that lacked pluming and healthy sanitary condition." (http://blackdemographics.com/cities-2/chicago/).
Understanding the living conditions in the apartments of the South Side help me understand why Mama and Ruth wanted so badly to be able to move out of this lifestyle, so get a house that would provide them more room and hopefully less fighting and tension.
In the beginning of the play, and through the majority of it, the Youngers live in a very small and crowded apartment. This-quite literally-"small" setting is important to the conflicts that arise because it be given the description of a small place for five people sets the reader up for getting the notion that "around this place arguments are more common than compliments." I viewed the small apartment almost as a metaphor for someone being in your face. When someone gets in another persons face it's typically under a negative context and leads to a fight-much like how ease dropping in the Youngers household leads to fights. Since this apartment is small it is very easy to ease drop on conversations and give undesired input or opinions.
ReplyDeleteThe setting of their household is also used as a pretty big and symbol for moving forward in their life of a family as a whole and their lives individually. When Ruth discuss the apartment and moving on she talks about their apartment with a disgust and hatred and almost as if it were a prison draining the life from her. With Mama the apartment works as nearly the same, when she looks back she thinks about the big plans she had, the house she wanted and how she never got it. In the context of this play the apartment seems to be a starting point for the arguments that arise and an ending point to put all of the blame on.
In my research of the time period I discovered that in 1939 half of all black families relied on the government aid for subsistence. I found this interesting because in the play the Youngers family is so proud that they refuse to take the white peoples money, and in general seem to refuse to take any money that they did not earn.
Like Leah mentioned, much of my thinking early in the play centralized around the idea of the apartment. The fact that the large Youngers family lives in a such a small space, described to have only one window, instantly alerts the reader to a potential conflict. Tensions were high as characters - in addition to living in close proximity - struggled to find a mutually valued way to spend the $10,000 life insurance money. In Act 1 scene ii, Mama and Walter, her son, debate about the importance of money, simultaneously illustrating another important aspect of the play: the multi-generational nature of the large family. "Mama: Oh—So now it’s life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life—now it’s money. I guess the world really do change... Walter: No—it was always money, Mama. We just didn’t know about it. Mama: No... something has changed. You something new, boy. In my time we was worried about not being lynched... You ain’t satisfied or proud of nothing we done. I mean that you had a home; that we kept you out of trouble till you was grown; that you don’t have to ride to work on the back of nobody’s streetcar—You my children—but how different we done become." The fact that this multi-generational family has been living in crowded living conditions with little money while facing the harsh realities of racism in 1950s America has huge implications in terms of plot development and theme.
ReplyDeleteAs much of the play revolves around the idea of the home, a powerful and important unit for the Youngers (particularly Mama), home is an apparent theme. Basically the entire setting is in the apartment, shedding light on its importance. Considering the historical context of South Side Chicago project housing during this time, emphasizing this as a key feature of the play indicates the importance of several factors: money (through the constant reminder of poverty through the surrounding setting), racism (through the distinct racial divide between the projects and the suburbs) and of course, family (http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/253.html). Through the setting, the apartment, these themes become major aspects of the play.
Finally, the setting has a significant role in terms of the larger location of the family. Much of the plot line itself is dependent on the fact that the play takes place in an impoverished area of Chicago around the 1950s. This greatly affects Bennie, the sister of Walter, who as an intellectual African American woman struggles to find her identity in American society at the time. While she turns towards her ancestral roots, her mother hopes to dissolve into the idealistic white suburban society.
In the beginning of the play, the time period in which the play is set seems to allude to the fact that the separation between whites and black is still very distinct. The fact that Mama had said that she had lived in the same old run-down apartment like abode for many years allows us to infer that the socioeconomic classes do not change very often for these folks. “Hadn’t been married but two weeks and wasn’t planning on living here more than a year.”pg 44. This quote comes directly after Ruth calls the home a “rat trap” showing the state in which the home is in while also portraying the longevity of the attendance of this family within it. Seeing as this play is set somewhere between world war 2 and the present (written in 1959) it can be inferred that because of the news articles that are saying that bombs are being dropped, that the time is the late 40’s. The late 40’s in Chicago was above what was known as the “black belt” in which the great migration of blacks came from the south up into Chicago. It is found that in the time period in which this play is set it was difficult for blacks, due to their race, to find decent housing. (Allen H. Spear, Black Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto (1890-1920)) This carried on through to the 50’s where there was even violent staging against black folk from moving into the predominantly white neighborhoods. (Will Cooley, “Moving On Out: Black Pioneering in Chicago, 1915-1950,” Journal of Urban History 36:4 (July 2010), 485-506.)
ReplyDeleteThe theme that this deals with is the struggle for economic, social and personal growth of the black population in more specifically the Chicago suburbs. Throughout the novel this will be a reoccurring theme in the sense of money. Later on in the novel it is found that a man named Lindner offered to buy the house in which the Youngers had previously purchased and expressed his concern into the matter of that folk like to keep people of the same kin in the same place. This very bluntly told the Younger family that the whites did not want them in their neighborhood and the fact that they came up with an amount of money worth more than the home had shown this.
The Youngers live in a small, crowded apartment throughout the whole play, save for the final scene in which they move, and early on in the play the reader can recognize how this unique setting contributes to the situation, events, and possible themes.
ReplyDeleteThe play starts off with the immediate tension of Ruth managing the morning routine. "I say hurry up, Travis! You ain't the only person in the world got to use a bathroom!...Walter Lee--it's time for you to GET UP!" (25). Starting off the play with the hustle and bustle of a busy morning is a far cry from sleeping in on Sunday morning. Starting off the play with this action gives the reader insight to a typical morning in the Younger household, how they must get up early to each have time in the bathroom, and how factors that make life difficult, like being crammed into an apartment, makes even the simplest things, such as her family waking up in the morning, extremely unbearable for Ruth. The one window and lack of sunlight in the apartment, cracked walls and make-down bed paint a clear image of the terrible conditions these three live in. As the main characters of this play are black, having such a clear setting automatically associates blacks with poor living conditions, which is significant, while Hansberry sought to convey that the black way of life (treatment, employment, living conditions) was not stereotypical or overstated, but real. The early setting contributes to a theme, the importance of a home. The apartment is central to the play and gives off a warm "home" feeling. The apartment is vital to the unity of the Younger family, where they exchange feelings with one another and guests.
The historical context of the play is centered around African Americans in Chicago, between the 1930s and 1960s. Housing was the number one problem that African Americans faced; due to heavy segregation, they were crammed into the narrow "Black Belt" on the South Side of Chicago, despite their growing population. African Americans had a high crime rate, attributed to the poor housing conditions. African Americans were "last to be hired, first to be hired." While African American's did make some growth in employment in the manufacturing sector, any hopes of equal opportunity for employment were struck down when veterans returned after World War II (Schmidt).
Source:
Schmidt, John R. "Black Chicago at Mid-Century." WBEZ. 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 5 May 2014. http://www.wbez.org/blogs/john-r-schmidt/2012-12/black-chicago-mid-century-104527