Glass Ceiling

In A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, the Junior family is burdened with a glass ceiling that is not just restraining the female gender, but the African American Race as well. Throughout the book, a laboring family is not earning what they deserve, their dreams a reality. They struggle through living in a run down and cramped house, which they are fated to live in by their race. The only income they receive comes from Walters pay check and as compensation for Walter Sr.’s death. Walter works as a driver and despises his job. He makes minimal pay and is treated like a slave. The white men are businessmen, and although Walter does not think he lacks the skill to become one, can’t because he is African American. He wishes …show more content…
Her intentions are not just to make profit, but to help suffering people around the world. She tells Asagai, “That was what one person could do for another, fix him up – sew up the problem, make him all right again. That was the most marvelous thing in the world…I wanted to do that. I always thought it was the one concrete thing in the world that a human being could do. Fix up the sick …I wanted to cure.” (3.1.14) No matter how righteous her intentions, when Walter loses the money, she can’t afford medical school. All of the white people surrounding her, such as George Murchison, are educated and schooling is a right to them, rather than a privilege. George Murchinson doesn’t appreciate the miracle of education he has been given. He feels that an African American woman shouldn’t be educated and tells her that” [She’s] a nice-looking girl…all over. That’s all [she] needs], [she should], forget the atmosphere … [He] want[s] a sophisticated girl, not a poet” (2.2.5) All he wants is a beautiful girl, rather than a girl who is trying to become educated. He does not care that Beneatha is faced with a glass ceiling because of her race and her gender, but he is rather enforcing the …show more content…
She and Mama, Walter’s mother, are the backbone of the Junior family. Although she doesn’t have a job, she is still faced with a glass ceiling at home, enforced by her own husband. Ruth is always having to take care of Travis. She cooks, cleans, irons and does housework. When she tries to support Walter is terms of money, he tells her “…See there, that just goes to show you what women understand about the world. Baby, don’t nothing happen for you in this world ‘less you pay somebody off!” (1.1.81) Walter thinks money is a mans domain, and being a woman, he puts Ruth under a glass ceiling, telling her since she is not a man, she can’t help him. Walter wants Ruth to support his dream and make him feel manly and powerful. Walter never gives Ruth any support with Travis and her daily necessities, such as cooking and cleaning. He tells her “That’s it. There you are. Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs. Man say: I got to take hold of this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work. Man say: I got to change my life, I’m choking to death, baby! And his woman say– Your eggs is getting cold!” (1.1.83) By saying this, he is calling Ruth and the female gender as a whole small minded and tells them they are holding back their men. He places them under a glass ceiling, as never helping men, and only making it harder for