Using Bloom’s Guides for Your Research:
Table of Contents
Introduction by Harold Bloom, p. 7
 Background on Lorraine Hansberry
 Similarities between the playwright’s life and the play
Biographical Sketch by Harold Bloom, p. 9
 Background on Lorraine Hansberry
 Similarities between the playwright’s life and the play
The Story Behind the Story by Harold Bloom, p. 12
 Background on Lorraine Hansberry
 Similarities between the playwright’s life and the play
 Racism and Black Rights
 Feminism (Women’s Rights)
List of Characters, p. 15
Summary and Analysis by Harold Bloom, p. 17
 Racism and African American rights
 Women’s rights
 The American Dream
 Poverty
 Tension/problems in the characters’ relationships
 Ambition
 Frustration
 Male chauvinism (or even misogyny—the dislike of women)
 The home as a symbol
 Assimilation and cultural identity
 Family structure: relationship between three generations in the same home
 Violence
 Multiculturalism
 Feeling of being caught between two worlds
 Disappointment
 The concept of “being and acting like a man”
 Economic/social class
 Shame and pride in heritage
 Walter as “Prometheus”
 Role of Clybourne Park
 Comic relief
 Despair
 The Symbols of the plant and the garden
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Role of Africa in the play
Worldviews (characters’ differing views of the world)
Maturing/growing up/loss of innocence
Struggle
Love
Critical Views
Lloyd W. Brown on Irony in the Play, p. 55
 American Dream vs. Black reality
 Class and socioeconomic advantages/disadvantages
 Materialism
 The role of the outsider
 Symbols of possessions in the play (ie: furniture)
 Morality
 Spirituality
 Irony
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Mary Louise Anderson on the Play’s Portrayal of Women, p. 60
Matriarchal stereotype (stereotypes regarding mothers)
The role of women
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Helene Keyssar on Hansberry’s Strategies as a Dramatist, p. 63
Depiction of African Americans
Depiction of Caucasians
Irony
American Dream and the denial of it
Dreams
Injustice
Death (and irony in it)
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Margaret B. Wilkerson on the Play’s Sociopolitical Elements, p. 77
The Black experience
Being a minority
The sociopolitical (social and political) significance of the play
Materialism and American cultural values
Stereotyping
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Amiri Baraka on Realism in the Play, p. 83
The play’s political and historical significance
The importance of the dream
Intellectualism
The value of education
Feeling of inferiority
The play as a form or resistance and activism
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Robin Bernstein on the Play’s Critical Reception, p. 91
Is the play a “Black” play or a universal play?
Racism
The African American experience
Stereotypes and destruction of stereotypes
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Philip Uko Effiong on the Play’s African Allusions, p. 101
Africa and African culture
Appearance vs. reality (things/characters aren’t as they seem)
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Trudier Harris on Portrayals of Strong Black Women, p. 108
Strong women
Inquisitive women
Roles: mother, daughter, wife
Women as outsiders
Women as respectable
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Diana Adesola Mafe on Hansberry and Ntozake Shange, p. 136
Depiction of women
Women’s empowerment
Sexism
Gender stereotypes
Patriarchal ideology (ideas regarding the role of the father)
Femininity
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Rachelle S. Gold on Beneatha’s Education, p. 146
Beneatha’s aspiration to be a Renaissance woman
Differing views on education based on the generational gap
The role of knowledge
The role of the men in Beneatha’s life
Beneatha’s atheism
Tension in the family based on differing viewpoints
Connection to African culture
Feminism
Beneatha’s role in a triple minority (black, female, poor)