Who Is Cory In Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

In the story A Raisin in the Sun, written by L. Hansberry, the Younger family resides in a small, beaten down home. In this family, only one member is well educated. Miss Beneatha is attending school and plans to become a doctor. Her mother, Lena, receives a life insurance check from her husband who has passed. Lena uses part of the check as a down payment on a new house for the family. She gives the rest of the check to her son, Walter, trusting him to put a portion of the money back for Beneatha’s schooling. However, Walter is irresponsible and spends the entire check on himself (Hansberry, 1959). This situation is similar to the events of the play Fences, written by A. Wilson. In this story, a little boy named Cory is also part of a poor family. Cory dreams of becoming a professional football player. However, his father believes that because he is black, he will not be successful as a professional player (Wilson, 1987). In these stories, both Beneatha and Cory have high hopes for the future and the resources to act upon them. However, after the unforeseen circumstances in each character’s situation and the attitudes of society in the time period, Cory is
The play is set in the year 1957, a whole 10 years after Jackie Robinson is named Rookie of the Year, and 8 years after he is given the title of National League MVP (“Jackie Robinson biography”). However, Troy still has his mind set that men of color are unable to become successful in major league sports. He says to Cory in Act I, Scene III, “If they got a white fellow sitting on the bench...you can bet your last dollar he can’t play! The colored guy got to be twice as good before he get on the team. That’s why I don’t want you to get all tied up in them sports. Man on the team and what it get him? They got colored on the team and don’t use them. Same as not having them. All them teams the same” (Wilson, 1987, p.