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.
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