Beneatha Younger and Jason Posner: Ambitious or Just Ignorant?

Beneatha Younger and Jason Posner: Ambitious or Just Ignorant?

Two characters linked by their strong ambitions and ignorance. Beneatha Younger a young intellectual in Lorraine Hansberry's " A Raisin in the Sun" and Jason Posner a young doctor in Margaret Edson's "W;t", both have strong aspirations and want to achieve their dreams. These two characters, Beneatha and Jason are very similar in having the goals regarding being a doctor. Although they are in two extremely different stages in their lives they both have yet to still learn about the meaning of life. Both Beneatha and Jason are very ambitious and have many similarities, however it is the uncommon traits which also limit them from overcoming their ignorance.

Beneatha Younger, a young African-American woman, is an intellectual who aspires to be a doctor. She is the only member of her family who attends or attended college and like many college students is still searching for her identity through out Hansberry's play. Jason Posner, a young man in a completely different stage of his life in Edson's play "W;t". These two characters share ambitions in the same field of work and although Jason has already successfully become a doctor, he and Beneatha also share the great ambition for greater success. In the case of Beneatha it is to become a doctor, which in the period Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" takes place is somewhat unchartered area for an African-American female as racism was still a limiting factor. Mr. Posner has already achieved his initial goal of becoming a doctor, however his ambitions have changed and now wants to make a large contribution to medicine and make a difference in his profession.

Jason and Beneatha are very driven, however it is their lack of identity which holds them back from realizing what they should be focusing on. Jason struggles with identity in the sense of his profession, as he wants to make a name for himself and make some sort of discovery in the realm of medicine. For this reason, he is so focused on research, he fails to realize how important the impact he can have by saving lives. He is so cynical about saving peoples' lives he demonstrates it not his main focus when he mentions, "Oh yeah, I save some guy's life, and then the poor slob gets hit by a bus!" (Edson 77). This quote proves what Jason's main focus is as a doctor, which in turn hinders his views on life, both the meaning of his own as well as saving others'. Beneatha is very determined in what she would like to become, however she is also very confused on who she is. The symbolism of Beneatha's hair truly illustrates her struggle with her realization of her own identity. In the beginning of the play her hair is very proper and seemingly styled like one Caucasian woman would. Midway through the play she has cut her hair "close-cropped

...