Quest for Freedom in Lorraine Hansberry’s The Drinking Gourd

Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was one of the most prolific African-American women dramatists who revolutionised the American theatre with her realistic portrayal of the oppression caused by racism, slavery and colonialism on African-Americans. Her play The Drinking Gourd exposes the horrible and the dehumanised conditions of the slaves of the plantations of Southern America. The play focuses the unquenchable thirst for freedom in Hannibal, a slave boy who is the son of Rissa. The masters of the plantations manhandle the slaves, impose lots of punishments and deny all the basic rights of them. The masters have thought that educating the slaves is a crime. Hannibal firmly believes that getting education is the only way to attain freedom and always breaks all rules of the plantation. The play ends when Hannibal faces the horrible punishment of losing his eyes for educating himself.