In Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 play, A Raisin in the Sun, a number of social issues are both explicitly and subtly illustrated through the experiences and relationships of the characters. Living in a cramped Chicago apartment, the Youngers display both influential goals and conflicting constraints. Beneatha Youngers is a controversial figure; she complicates society's typical gender roles, introduces the struggle between assimilation and African American ancestry, but specifically serves as a paradigm for her generation in the play. When Beneatha is first introduced in the play, we see her waking up on a normal morning. ; she lives in the same confined circumstances as the rest of the characters. Before Beneatha enters, the audience observes Walter and Ruth during breakfast. Walter begins to complain about “colored women” throughout the play. Her character continually spews patriarchal and misogynistic comments, often targeted at Beneatha. As he finishes his negative complaints, Beneatha enters. The long description of the character shapes his personality. She is not as pretty but her “almost intellectual face has a beauty of its own” (Hansberry, 35). This specific use of beautiful describes her character as sharp and unfeminine. Hansberry's choice of words is extremely intentional as she associates Beneatha with masculine qualities, which inherently fits the stereotype of her feminist personality. The fact that her face is also described as intellectual implies that she carries an air of intelligence in her features. “His speech is a mixture of many things; she is different from the rest of the family in that upbringing has infused her sense of English - and perhaps the Midwest rather than the South has the final list... middle of paper .... .., but it grows to adapt idealistic thinking. His presence in the room was symbolically intended for the audience. It is both inspiring and accessible to all audiences. At the end of the play, it is the character Beneatha who expresses her future plans, even after successfully moving to Clybourne Heights. She proves her goal of fluidity by wishing to pursue her medical career in Africa, combining her two passions. Beneatha Youngers is the influential prototype of a generation of people, validated by history. Works Cited Hansberry, Lorraine. A raisin in the sun. New York: Random House, 1958. Print.2) Wilkerson, Margaret B. "'A Raisin in the Sun': Anniversary of an American Classic." Theater Journal Johns Hopkins University Press Vol. 38, no. 4. Theater of Color (1986): 441-452. JSTOR. Internet. March 29. 2012. .