Guest blogger post #2: Beneatha’s Big Chop in ‘A Raisin in the Sun’
February 7 to 13 is BGLH’s second annual guest blogger week. I will be turning the mic over to BGLH readers to say what’s on their mind. Nickie is up next…
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I was just thumbing through one of my favorite plays, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. She is right up there with Tennessee Williams when it comes to American playwrights for me.
Although it was written in 1959, A Raisin in the Sun is still so relevant even in the 21st century. The discussion in Act I Scene II that Beneatha Younger has with the charming Nigerian suitor Asagai still rings true today.
BENEATHA (Turning suddenly) My hair what’s wrong with my hair?
ASAGAI (Shrugging) Were you born with it like that?
BENEATHA (Reaching up to touch it) No … of course not. (She looks back to the mirror, disturbed)
ASAGAI (Smiling) How then?
BENEATHA You know perfectly well how … as crinkly as yours . . . that’s how.
ASAGAI And it is ugly to you that way?
BENEATHA (Quickly) Oh, no not ugly . . . (More slowly, apologetically) But it’s so hard to manage when it’s, well raw.
ASAGAI And so to accommodate that you mutilate it every week?
BENEATHA It’s not mutilation!
Source: Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Plume, 1987.
Later on in the play Beneatha emerges in the Nigerian robes Asagai brought back from Africa for her. She is dressed in the traditional Nigerian clothes for her date with another suitor, George.
GEORGE (To BENEATHA) Look honey, we’re going to the theatre we’re not going to be in it … so go change, huh? (BENEATHA looks at him and slowly, ceremoniously, lifts her hands and pulls off the headdress. Her hair is close-cropped and unstraightened. GEORGE freezes mid-sentence and RUTH’S eyes all but fall out of her head)
GEORGE What in the name of–
RUTH (Touching BENEATHA’S head) Girl, you done lost your natural mind!? Look at your head!
GEORGE What have you done to your head I mean your hair!
BENEATHA Nothing except cut it off.
RUTH Now that’s the truth it’s what ain’t been done to it! You expect this boy to go out with you with your head all nappy like that?
BENEATHA (Looking at GEORGE) That’s up to George. If he’s ashamed of his heritage.
GEORGE Oh, don’t be so proud of yourself, Bennie just because you look eccentric.
BENEATHA How can something that’s natural be eccentric?
GEORGE That’s what being eccentric means, being natural. Get dressed.
BENEATHA I don’t like that, George.
Source: Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Plume, 1987.
I applaud Hansberry for writing these scenes involving Beneatha’s hair. In the first Broadway production the scene where Beneatha reveals her short afro (or TWA) was deleted. Since the fabulous 1961 movie version (Netflix this if you haven’t seen it) with Sidney Poiter and Ruby Dee was done shortly after it played on Broadway, the movie did not include the scene either. It was restored to the written version of the play in 1987.
I find it interesting that in the 2008 ABC television movie version of A Raisin in the Sun, they did not bother to include this restored scene! Sanaa Lathan’s Beneatha goes through the movie with a short 50s style press ‘n curl.
In my opinion the hair change really reinforces Beneatha’s character and makes her anti- assimilation stance more believable. Some local productions of the play will totally butcher this scene and have Beneatha appear with her hair cornrowed or in braids! It’s like an afro is just too shocking or something. How come the people putting on these productions can’t see the irony in that decision? It’s like they totally missed the point Hansberry was trying to make: why is it so ridiculously controversial for a black woman to wear their hair the way it grows out of their head? I say why not stay true to the play the way Hansberry intended? She’s a true genius, so why mess with art?
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Nickie is a freelance internet content writer and mom living in Southern California. Although she writes about many subjects from insurance to plastic surgery, nothing is more enjoyable to her than blogging about natural hair, fashion and makeup. She believes natural black hair is just as glamorous and beautiful as any other texture. She has been natural since July 2008. Right now she is trying to figure out how to balance pursuing a Master of Arts in English and motherhood. You can find her at www.fashionablynappy.com and her sports blog www.dallascowboygal.wordpress.com.
I haven’t read this play at all but the literature analysis means I’m going to have to buy this book! Thanks for the great post!
Just a quick clarification:
Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier played Ruth and Walter Lee Younger in the movie. Diana Sands played Beneatha and Ivan Dixon played Asagai. Here’s one picture with Diana Sands, Ruby Dee, and Claudia McNeil (who played Lena):
http://www.africanafrican.com/negroartist/THEATRE%20AND%20MOVIES/slides/CLAUDIA%20MCNEIL,%20DIANA%20SANDS,%20RUBY%20DEE%20%20A%20RAISIN%20IN%20THE%20SUN.jpg
Very interesting, especially since I read the book for school during one of my elementary years and had no ideas this scene ever existed.
That mutilation quote hit it nail on the head. Anything that permanently alters a genetic default is technically considered mutilation. (except for medical reasons)
Plastic surgery: Mutilation
Relaxers: Mutilation
Tattoos: Mutilation
You’d be surprised by how many women (people in general) say that these above subjects aren’t mutilation. They are.
Hard to believe that was more than 50 years ago, and we still face those issues today. Thanks, Nickie, for sharing this insightful article. I can’t remember, did they keep the scene in the 2004 Broadway run (the one with Phylicia Rashad)?
Such a great & thought provoking post. Bravo to you!
As many times I’ve watched the old and new movie version’s of “A Raisin In the Sun”, I guess I never payed attention to those particular scenes….Lorraine Hansberry was a genius to bring this type of awareness to this play, it applies to the 21st century just as muchas back then…i thoroughly enjoyed this article!
That was a really good post. You really write well and gave me a lot to think about.
Wow! I really enjoyed reading your post. What a powerful scene! So relevant today as the same mindset still exist when it comes to us wearing our hair in it’s natural state. Thanks for writing about this and bringing it to our attention.
Thanks for the compliments! As far as the Broadway run with Phylicia Rashad, I never got a chance to see it. I’m assuming that scene didn’t make it in. However if someone saw it live please chime in!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! A Raisin in the Sun has always been one of my favorite plays and this scene has always stood out to me but I always thought it odd that I’ve never seen this scene acted out. The high school I attended was a arts school and my study was in Theatre. Close to my graduation I chose a scene from this play for my final evaluation and chose a monologue from Beneatha. She was always such a strong character in my eyes. So strong in fact, that 3 days before ending high school, I shaved my head. I’ve been natural for four years now.
It seems that the big chop is important in many Black women’s lives so it makes you wonder why it isn’t in more fiction books, films, & television shows where Black women are featured. I thank you for taking the time to notice this and write such an insightful article about it.
The irony is there. Beneatha went natural and shaved it off in the face of opposition in order to be true to herself and her new way of life, but most depictions of her character bow to the pressure and keep her relaxed, pressed, and pin curled. That said, I think of adaptations as a new entity, with the same name. Books are rewritten into manuscripts. Even directors adapt the published play and create new scripts. It’s not really Hansberry’s play anymore, but the director’s, the producer’s, the actor’s.
I haven’t seen those productions of “Raisin”, but did they sacrifice Beneatha’s authenticity in order to focus on something else? Is her stance undermined and the pin curls become a commentary on its inevitable failure? I felt that that stance became something real and motivated her to change her world. She chased after this dream and wanted to make it real. This is important because the play takes its title from Langston Hughes’ poem…
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun? [...]
The whole play is about dreams and dreams being deferred. Yet if the costume design undermines her authenticity and commitment to her roots and independence, then new implications arise.
OMG I am so mad they did not include it in the scene. I watched the movie and loved it. I feel that it is still relevant. I remember this scene vividly and I think it makes more sense with the natural hair unveiled. I had no idea these lines were cut out. I need to pick up the book. Why wouldn’t they include that? I am very confused about this one.
I loved this piece, Nickie! It was so insightful. I have never read the play but to think that scene was left out intentionally because it is seen as controversial, is absurd. That scene has so much power and it adds depth to the character. It’s funny how it’s still seen as unnatural to wear our hair “natural.”
Well written post…bravo!
while I was reading the script, I didn’t not remember that in the updated one. I remember saana having her head wrapped up but I wonder why they didn’t include that scene.
Great post!! I remember seeing this in highschool but dont ever remember seeing this scene
I loved A Raisin in the Sun! Have always loved it and I enjoyed all three movies that were made. I went to a special showing of the most recent movie at Howard University where the director Kenny Leon and the producers talked about the creation of the movie. Afterward I chatted with Mr. Leon and one of my first questions was about the removal of the hair cutting scene with Benetha. He said that Lorraine Hansberry wrote various screen plays for the play and he choose one that didn’t have the hair cutting, he said that he felt as though Benetha’s character was strong without it. I always loved that part of the play. I was thinking that maybe a male director just didn’t see the true power and importance of that scene.