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The Sad Story of Alienation

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Close to half of American families suffer through a divorce. The percentage is even higher among lower income groups. Alienation is sadly very common in people fighting poverty. In the case of A Raisin in the Sun, this phenomenon gradually progresses between a woman and her brother, mother, and sister-in-law. This play is about a lower-income, African American family and their difficulties in making ends meet. Through the story, there is a trend that deals with relationships and a feeling of connectivity in the household. Beneatha behaves like an all-knowing being that is above the rest of her struggling family as she acts like an individual unit. Beneatha expresses her estrangement through interactions with her family and the outside world, her pride in her medical education, and her philosophical beliefs. Beneatha is the outcast of the family when Bennie interacts with the family, especially Walter; she uses biting sarcasm to make him feel worse about himself. While Beneatha and Walter are fighting, Bennie says, “ Forgive me for ever wanting to be anything at all! FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME!”Improper citing need (1.1.37) This sarcasm comes from her pacifist and Gandhian philosophy. Beneatha’s passive-aggressiveness comes from her inclination and love for the world of education: in her primary school, secondary school, and her college education. This has shaped the way she acts in social situations. After all, she has dreamed of becoming the first college graduate in her family since she was a child. This extraordinary path was bound to make her isolated from the rest of her family. Bennie exclaims, “I have never asked anyone around here to do anything for me!” (1.1.37). This displays the desire to become her independence and self-reliance as an individual. Hansberry captures Beneatha social interactions perfectly as she plays the role of the pariah of the family while also being an educated woman. A second fact

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