Set against the shenanigans of a stormy political campaign, the play follows its characters in their unorthodox quests for meaningful lives in an age of corruption, alienation and cynicism. With compassion, humor and poignancy, Hansberry examines questions concerning the fragility of love, morality and ethics, interracial relationships, drugs, rebellion, conformity and especially withdrawal from or commitment to the world.
"I'm 29," Iris laments, fresh from her shift slinging hash, "and I want to know that when I die more than ten or a hundred people will know the difference.” The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window is suffused with mortality and melancholy. It is a play that seems to understand men, but it is also a work with a feminist consciousness depicting women’s struggle for equality. Hansberry is very clear that Sidney cannot make Iris happy, love her as he does. She will have to achieve that for herself.
