Author(s)

Cui Bo

Corresponding Author

Cui Bo

Abstract

Aristotle expounds in his Poetics the function of reversal in producing twists and turns of drama plot. The expounding is however confined to its formal function. In the tragicomedy A Raisin in the Sun, the playwright Lorraine Hansberry breaks through the confinement and employs creatively reversal as a link to connect the explicit plot with the implicit cultural context. Hansberry uses the main characters reversal of fate in the explicit plot to bring forth the value narrative in the implicit cultural context. Reversal urges the characters to forsake the values of white oppressors and to reclaim the root of African American culture so that they are on the right track to construct their racial cultural identity.

Keywords

Reversal, Explicit Plot, Implicit Cultural Context, Value Narrative, Construct of Racial Cultural Identity