Asagai and Murchison in A Raisin in the Sun

"... those who see the changes are 'idealists' - and those who cannot, or refuse to think, they are the 'realists' (Hansberry, Act 3, Scene 1, Line 33)." This one line sums up the roles Joseph Asagai and George Murchison play in "A Raisin In The Sun. Joseph is the idealist, and George is the realist. They represent Beneatha's conflict between her ideals, and the reality of her life.

Joseph Asagai is from Africa. We first hear about Joseph when he calls Beneatha to let her know he's back from Canada. He comes to see her. He brings her gifts of Nigerian clothes and teases her about her mutilated hair. "You wear it well... very well... mutilated hair and all" (Hansberry, Act 1, Scene 2, Line 58). He's in love with her, even though she will here none of it. He asks her, "How much time must there before one knows what one feels?" (Hansberry, Act 1, Scene 2, Line 54).

George Murchison is a rich man's son. We first hear about him when Mama asks Beneatha who she is going out with tomorrow night. But Beneatha doesn't really like George. She even tells Mama, "... I couldn't ever really be serious about George. He's - he's so shallow" (Hansberry, Act 1, Scene 1, Line 245). She also says that "I know he's rich. He's knows he's rich, too" (Hansberry, Act 1, Scene 1, Line 248). George is the ultimate rich black boy. His family wouldn't approve of Beneatha. Beneatha tells Mama, "The Murchisons are honest-to-God-real-live-rich colored people, and the only people in the world who are more snobbish than rich white people are rich colored people" (Hansberry, Act 1, Scene 1, Line 261).

Beneatha struggles throughout the whole play to combine her roots and her future. She refuses to see herself as an assimilationist. When Joseph mocks her with "Assimilationism is so popular in your country" (Hansberry, Act 1, Scene 2, Line 70), Beneatha comes back with "I am not an assimilationist" (Hansberry, Act 1, Scene 2, Line 71). Later, she yells at George, "... I hate assimilationist Negroes" (Hansberry, Act 2, Scene 1, Line 41). Then when Ruth asks what is an assimilationist, Beneatha explains "It means someone who is willing to give up his own culture and submerges himself completely in the dominant, and in this case, oppressive culture" (Hansberry, Act 2, Scene 1, Line 45). George scoffs at her, saying "...Here we go! A lecture on the African past! On our Great West African Heritage! In one second we will hear all about the great Ashanti empires; the great Songhay civilizations; and the great sculptures of Benin - and then some poetry in the Bantu - and the whole monologue will end with the word heritage! Let's face it, baby, your heritage is nothing but a bunch of raggedy-assed spirituals and some grass huts" (Hansberry, Act 2, Scene 2, Line 46).

"Grass huts!" Beneatha returns, "See there... you are standing there in your splendid ignorance talking about people who were the first to smelt iron on the face of this earth! The Ashanti were performing surgical operations when the English were still tattooing themselves with blue dragons..." (Hansberry, Act 2, Scene 1, Line 47). Beneatha is proud of her heritage, but still gets ready for her date with George like a good girl. Later that night, Beneatha tells Mama "...George is a fool, honest" (Hansberry, Act 2, Scene 2, Line 22) because George has insulted her intelligence, and informed her that she "... is a nice looking girl... all over. That's all you need, honey, forget the atmosphere" (Hansberry, Act 2, Scene 2, Line 6). Mama tells her, "Well, I guess you better not waste your time with no fools" (Hansberry, Act 2, Scene 2, Line 27).

Beneatha brings her past and her future into focus when Joseph asks her to go to Nigeria with him. He says "...when it is all over - that you come home with me-" and "...I mean across the ocean - home - to Africa" (Hansberry, Act 3, Line 49,51). Here is a way to bring her skills as a doctor to the people of her past, Africa. Her past meeting her future. Joseph sums it up when he says "Three hundred years later the African Prince rose up out of the seas and swept the maiden back across the middle passage over which her ancestors had come-" and "I will show you our mountains and our stars; and give you cool drinks from the gourds and teach you the old songs and the ways of our people - and, in time, we will pretend that you have been away for a day-" (Hansberry, Act 3, Line 53,55).

Sources

Hansberry, Lorraine. "A Raisin In The Sun." The Norton Introduction To Literature-Shorter Seventh Edition, Ed. Beaty, Jerome and Hunter, J. Paul. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1998