Character Analysis of Beneatha

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Character Analysis of Beneatha In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Beneatha is the most intellectual character. Mama, Beneatha’s mother, is about to receive a 10,000 dollar check for her husband’s death. Beneatha wants to use the money to fulfill her desire of becoming a doctor, but she isn’t the only one who has an idea for the money. Throughout the play, Beneatha and her family will face challenges that will test them. Ultimately, these challenges will lead Beneatha to find out who she really is. Beneatha is an attractive twenty year old college student. She is as slim and intense as her brother, Walter. She has thick hair that stands wildly about her head. She is a strong and beautiful individual. The search for her identity is a motif carried throughout the play; the closer she gets to Africa via her relationship with Joseph Asagai, the more she develops into a pleasant, likeable, and less egocentric person. Beneatha is a young and independent girl. She is trying to find herself, and that sometimes means looking at the past to try to figure out where your future lies. She knows she wants to be a doctor, but getting there is not an easy task in the time and place that she is living. Beneatha often feels like an outsider, and typically doesn’t behave like an average girl. Beneatha hopes that learning about Africa will give her some input on whom she is and where she belongs in the world. Beneatha has a key role towards the plot. Throughout the story, the Youngers are trying to discover the best way to spend the money. Beneatha has had to rely on the insurance money from her father’s death and the investments made by her brother to realize her dream of becoming a doctor. When she realizes this dependence, she gains a new perspective on her dream to try and attain it on her own. This realization also brings her close to Walter.
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