Unlike the other members of the Younger family, Beneatha defies tradition by challenging society's conventional gender roles. Beneatha desires to become a female doctor, which is unheard of in her community and an idea that is dismissed by Walter Jr., Lena, and Ruth. They believe that Beneatha should aspire to become a nurse, which is a more traditional female occupation and less ambitious. Beneatha is also the most educated member of her family and has completely opposite views regarding religion and her African heritage. Beneatha is a staunch proponent of Pan-Africanism and is opposed to assimilation, while the other members of her family judge their success based on American standards. She values her African ancestry and even dresses in traditional African garb while wearing a natural hairstyle, which is something Walter Jr. finds strange and entertaining. Beneatha also has different views regarding religion and even denounces God in front of her mother. Unlike Lena, who is a Christian, Beneatha is an atheist. In regards to money, Beneatha does not seem to value wealth as much as her brother or mother. She is more concerned with attaining her personal goals than solely focusing on money, which reflects her young age and current station in life. Overall, Beneatha is depicted as an independent, intelligent woman who is a unique member of the Younger family with her own interests, beliefs, and personality traits.

Beneatha is different from the other members of the Younger family because she is far better educated and has wider horizons. While Walter, Ruth, and Mama work hard to support the family, Beneatha has had the benefit of attending college. As a result, she speaks in a more educated manner and refers to concepts such as neuroses that she has learned in the course of her education. Unlike her mother, Beneatha does not believe in God, which irks her mother.

Beneatha also has a different type of personality than the other members of the family have, and she likes trying different things. For example, she plans to start playing guitar, and her mother makes gentle fun of the riding habit Beneatha still has in her closet but never really used. Her mother asks her, "Why you got to flit so from one thing to another, baby?" Her family doesn't understand why Beneatha wants to experiment and why she is so impractical in many ways. They think that she should marry George Murchison, who promises her a comfortable and predictable life. Beneatha, who never takes the predictable path, however, is not content to marry George. Instead, she is interested in Joseph Asagai, who is from Nigeria, and in becoming a doctor. She has wider horizons and is interested in concepts and dreams that don't seem practical to the rest of her family, who are simply struggling to survive. 

Beneatha is different in a number of key areas. Firstly, she is a character whom Hansberry uses to explore a feminist perspective on the issues presented in her play. Beneatha's desire to train to be a doctor clearly represents a challenge to gender roles at a time when women expected to either marry and have children or work in a more "traditional" female role such as a secretary. Secondly, she, more than any other character, is shown to search for her identity. This is illustrated through the two men in her life, George Murchison and Joseph Asagai. Both of these suitors represent two different views to Black American identity: assimilation, as shown through George Murchison, who has become a successful businessman by becoming as "white" as possible, and a return to African roots, as identified in Joseph Asagai, who calls Beneatha by a Yoruba name and urges her to wear her hair naturally. Note how Beneatha rejects assimilation through her choice to wear her hair naturally, and how she explains the word to her brother:

[Assimilationist] means someone who is willing to give up his own culture and submerge himself completely in the dominant, and in this case oppressive culture!

Beneatha is therefore different as she is the prime vehicle that Hansberry uses to explore black feminism and also identity in the play.

What do you think the significance of Beneatha's name might be in A Raisin in the Sun?

The most obvious significance of Beneatha's name in the play (and perhaps the only significance of the name) is the idea that it is not a "white" name. 

Beneatha's character is largely defined by her troubled sense of identity and her striving after a dignity sourced both within her genetic history, as it were, and outside of her home/living conditions. Beneatha is looking for ways to be proud (or ways to legitimize her natural sense of pride) and she seeks this pride in a Pan-African philosophy (embodied by Asagai). 

"Proud of her African heritage, she is inspired by the attentions of a Nigerian suitor to wear an Afro instead of a processed, straightened hairstyle" (eNotes). 

In attaching identity to Pan-Africanism, Beneatha enacts the ethnicity of her name, in a manner of speaking. She intentionally and consciously distances herself from the culture of white oppression (and "whiteness" in general) while also notably stepping away from a sense of being oppressed. 

Also, Beneatha wants to gain stature in her professional life. This ambition relates to race and to overcoming racial bias/limits/discrimination, but it also relates to gender bias. Beneatha refuses to be oppressed by any dominant group - or by any individual, for that matter. She will not be dominated by her brother or her mother, by gender expectations or by racial discrimination. 

At one point she expresses her independence in regard to generic expectations while talking to Ruth and Mama. 

"Listen, I'm going to be a doctor. I'm not worried about who I'm going to marry yet - if I ever get married."

While we may be tempted to suggest then that Beneatha's name becomes ironic because of her insuppressible mentality (refusing to be "beneath" anyone), we should tread cautiously around such interpretations. What we can say with confidence is that the name "Beneatha" seems to be a "black" name.

If this is the case, we might see Walter's name as having a double significance. He is named after his father and so derives his identity in part from the family. His name is not as ethnically specific as Beneatha's, however, and so we may read his particular dream of business ownership against Beneatha's dream and wonder if Walter is meant to be seen as participating in the American system in ways that Beneatha would reject.  

Interpretations like this are highly conjectural. We can only say these meanings may exist as intentions of the author. 

As a side note, Lorraine Hansberry has said that Beneatha's character is based on her, the author of the play. Hansberry's ambition and activism are integral aspects of the Beneatha character. This anecdotal information may speak to a reason to limit the scope of what we project as to the meaning of Beneatha's name. 

What do you think the significance of Beneatha's name might be in A Raisin in the Sun?

Beneatha often acts like everyone is below her or beneath her. Her superior attitude comes from having more education than the rest of the family and her desire to be a doctor. She challenges Mama with the statement,"There is no God". Mama quickly rises to the challenge by slapping Beneatha and having her repeat, "In my Mama's house, there is God." She also badgers Walter by saying, " I dissected something that looked just like you the other day." Beneatha is constantly experimenting with different "forms of expression" to discover herself and often overlooks the facts that Mama, Walter and Ruth have worked to help put Beneatha through school. This attitude makes it hard for others to live with her, until she meets Asagai, who seems to understand her and he helps her be more tolerant and see things from other people's point of view.

What is Beneatha's role in A Raisin In The Sun?

The play A Raisin in the Sun presents a family, the Youngers, and allows us to observe their family dynamic as they try to decide how to spend the inheritance left behind by the deceased Walter Younger Sr.

Beneatha Younger is probably the most ambitious of the Younger family. While all of the family members have dreams and goals, Beneatha's aspiration to become a doctor seems the boldest and most purposeful. Hers is the goal that most challenges the norms of race and gender at the time the play is set. Her mother wants a bigger home so the family can have room to spread out and grow. This is a noble goal, but a mother wishing for a home is an aspiration that fits right into what we might expect of a family matriarch. Her brother Walter Jr. wants to open a liquor store. He is very excited about his dream and thinks it will allow his family to benefit in the long run. He also feels it will give him confidence and self-esteem. Walter seems to resent Beneatha's education and her dream of becoming a doctor. These two characters seem to come into direct conflict with one another a bit more than other members of the family.

Beneatha's character is determined and ambitious. She stands for a younger, up-and-coming generation who want to break boundaries and achieve what people once thought was impossible. Hansberry's inclusion of Beneatha's character lets the audience contrast her dream and her fervor for it with the dreams and aspirations of other characters.

What is Beneatha's role in A Raisin In The Sun?

Beneatha is an extroverted, independent young woman who cherishes her African heritage and plays a refreshing role in the Younger family's makeup. Beneatha acts as a foil to Ruth and Lena, which is emphasized by her nontraditional views towards education, gender roles, and religion. Beneatha is depicted as a rather flighty, capricious girl who is confident and intelligent. She is the most educated person in her family and is not shy about expressing her controversial views. Her dreams of one day becoming a doctor create conflict with her brother Walter Jr., and Ruth disagrees with her negative feelings about marrying the wealthy George Murchison. Her romantic interest in Joseph Asagai introduces a traditional African element to the play, which allows Hansberry to comment on Pan-Africanism. Beneatha's high aspirations and unique views help characterize the Youngers as a hopeful, strong, independent family that desperately pursues its dreams of making it out of Chicago's South Side. Beneatha's sassy attitude and confidence appeal to the audience and her presence adds to the family's compelling dynamic.

What is Beneatha's role in A Raisin In The Sun?

Beneatha also represents the younger generation, both in terms of her race but also independent of her race.  Like many teenagers, she constantly tries new ideas--guitar one day, something else.  She is unsure of the sort of man she wants, and she is easily impressed with the panache of Asagai, who wants to take her to Africa.  She wants an education, which breaks free from role expectations of women both black and white in the 1950s. In being younger than Ruth, she provides an immediate foil to her for she wants all that Ruth did not have and can't even imagine. She is hopeful in ways other character, except perhaps her little brother are not. She is saucy and smart--an excellent role model for young black women and indeed any young woman in the audience.

What is Beneatha's role in A Raisin In The Sun?

Beneathea occupies a unique place in Hansberry's play.  Consider the symbolism of her name, for one thing (the entire family's last name, too, is "Young," symbolic, in part,  of their quest for a new position in American life) .  She is "beneath" in the fact that she is indeed the younger of the siblings; she is Walter's little sister.  She struggles to maintain both her place in the family and her identity as an adult.  She can at times be sort of annoying and obnoxious, as younger sister's (and brothers) are wont to do. 

Beneatha is also at a crossroads in terms of her heritage:  is she an African, like Joseph?  Or an American, all she has ever known?  At the time Hansberry was writing her play, (1959), racial separatism in America was a prominent theme, both culturally and politically.  Beneathea's role, therefore, is to occupy that "squishy" place in the literal terms of the play, and in African-American identity in the larger realm. 

What could represent Beneatha in A Raisin in the Sun?

This is a play that conerns the identity of blacks and how they often have to struggle to assert that identity, even in the face of other blacks who try to act like "whites" in order to fit in and get ahead in society. When we think of Beneatha therefore, one of the most powerful symbols in the play that could be used to sum her up is her hair, and what happens to it during the course of the play.

Note the way in which at the start of the play, Beneatha has artificially straightened hair. However, after Asagai asks her some hard questions about why she has her hair in that style, Beneatha choses to cut off her hair, which symbolises her acceptance of her African heritage. Note the reason she gives for this radical act:

Because I hate assimilationist Negroes!

It is clear that her new hairstyle is a very powerful statement, as it represents an acceptance and affirmation of what is natural. Before she forced her hair to conform to the style of a white-dominated society. Now, as part of her own increased understanding of her identity, she deliberately chooses a style that represents a reconciliation between her culture and her identity. It shows the way she believes that blacks should not try to "fit in" in addition to indicating that she wants to shape her identity by discovering her African roots.