The Intersections of Oppression: Examining the Challenges Faced by Black Women in Ann Petry's The Street and Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-321-4_26How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Economic struggle; racism; sexim; intersectionality; American Dream

Abstract

This essay explores economic struggle, racism, and sexism in African American literature by focusing on Ann Petry's “The Street” and Lorraine Hansberry's “A Raisin in the Sun.“ It analyses how characters in these works face barriers to achieving the American Dream due to limited opportunities and educational access. The intersectionality of classification, racism, and sexism in the lives of black women was examined, with characters such as Lutie Johnson symbolizing the challenges faced by hardworking black women. In contrast, characters like Ruth and Beneatha in “A Raisin in the Sun” navigate a broader range of choices but still encounter economic and societal hurdles. Despite these obstacles, both novels convey hopeful messages and pursue happiness in their characters. The methodology involved a literary analysis of the two works, closely examining themes and characters. The author supports arguments with close readings of key passages and quotes, drawing insights from literary critics and scholars to provide a context. The analysis delves into the portrayal of economic struggle, racism, and sexism, exploring intersectionality and connections to broader social and historical contexts, such as the American Dream, feminist movements, and racial discrimination.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zita Rarastesa
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/12/24
TI  - The Intersections of Oppression: Examining the Challenges Faced by Black Women in Ann Petry's The Street and Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun
BT  - Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Communication, Language, Literature, and Culture (ICCoLliC 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 358
EP  - 368
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-321-4_26
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-321-4_26
ID  - Rarastesa2024
ER  -