2019 NECO GCE LITERATURE ANSWER
SECTION II
(5)
Pride is portrayed in an extremely positive light in A Raisin in the Sun. Since the play is depicting people who have little else to their name, pride is a means for them to hold on to their dignity and affirm their worth as human beings. When a neighborhood representative shows up and offers to buy out their house, the family doesn’t hesitate to kick him out. The novel frames this decision as pride versus money, and although money does win out for a little bit, the Younger family maintains its pride in the end. In other words Mama expresses pride in her family’s background and tries to instill in her children a sense of respect for their ancestors, who were Southern slaves and sharecroppers. At the play’s climax, the Youngers’ sense of pride gives them the strength to reject Karl Lindner’s dehumanizing offer to buy back their new home because, as Mama says, “Ain’t nobody in my family never let nobody pay ‘em no money that was a way of telling us we wasn’t fit to walk the earth.” Walter’s loss and eventual recovery of his pride constitute a major plotline of the play. His personal crisis of pride, brought on by his inability to support his family in his dead-end job as a chauffeur, culminates with his decision regarding Karl Lindner’s offer to purchase the Youngers’ new house. Upon first meeting Lindner, Walter, Ruth, and Beneatha resoundingly reject his offer, demonstrating their collective familial pride.
View more on Facebook
