The Female Identity in the Play A Raisin in the Sun and the Novel Americanah

Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun depicts the life of an African-American family in the 1950s.An important aspect of this paper will be the analysis of three generations of African-American women – Lena Younger, Ruth and Beneatha and how they deal with the changing conditions of the 1950s in the United States. The aftermath of these changes is depicted in the novel Americanah by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Adichie in her fictional novel shows how a young Nigerian woman Ifemelu goes through different experiences that help to shape her character. This paper also deals with two important women – Ifemelu’s mother and Aunty Uju– that impacted the development of her identity. The aim of this paper is to analyze the female identity through perspectives of both American and African-American female experience under different historical conditions in order to highlight the changes in women’s lifestyle and choices in the US during the 50s and the early 2000s.