Symbolism in A Raisin In The Sun Essay

In this essay A Rraisin InThe Sun I will be discussing symbolism in the play. Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. The symbolism that I would mostly be focusing on in this essay is Mamas plant and Beneathas hair. Both of these symbols are significant in this play because it represents who the characters are in the play and their purpose. Mamas plant represents both her care and her dreams for her family. Beneatahs hair represents who she is and why it is a major motif in the play during the time the play sets. The Younger apartment is the only setting throughout the play, emphasizing the centrality of the home. The lighting seems to change with the mood, and with only one window, the apartment is a small, often dark area in which all the Youngers often feel cramped in. While some of the plays action occurs outside of the apartment, The home is a galvanizing force for the family.

The play A Raisin in the Sun is essentially about dreams being carried out into reality during the mid 1900s. The main characters in the play struggle to deal with the oppressive circumstances that rule all of their lives. The title of the play, references a conjecture that Langston Hughes famously posed in the poem A Dream Deferred. He wrote about dreams that were forgotten or put off, and what can happen to them if they are not ambitiously followed. He wonders whether those dreams shrivel up like a raisin in the sun. in the play, every member of the Younger family has a separate self asserted individual dream, Beneatha wants to become a doctor, for example, and Walter wants to have money so that he can afford things for his family by opening up a liquor store. The Youngers struggle to attain these dreams throughout the play, and much of their happiness and depression is directly related to their failure to attain these dreams. By the end of the play, they learn that the dream of a house is the most important dream because it unites the family.

The first symbolism that I would be talking about is mamas plant; which to me is the most important symbol in the play. Mamas plant represents both Mamas care and her dream for her family. Mama is always attentive to her plant and is always relating to it for comfort, hope and improvement in life. She confesses that the plant never gets enough light or water, but she takes pride in how it nevertheless flourishes under her care. Her care for her plant is similar to her care for her children, unconditional love and unending despite a less than perfect unfortunate environment for growth. The plant also symbolizes her dream to own a house and, more specifically, to have a garden and a yard. With her plant, she practices her gardening skills. Her success with the plant helps her believe that she would be successful as a gardener. Her persistence and dedication to the plant fosters her hope that her dream may come true.

The second symbolism that I would be discussing in the play is Beneathas hair. When the play begins, Beneatha has straightened hair; her straightened hair symolizes that she wants to be white, so she can fit in and be accepted by society. As the play carries on Midway through, after Asagai visits her and questions her hairstyle, she cuts her Caucasian-seeming hair. Her new, radical afro represents her embracing of her heritage. Beneathas cutting of her hair is a very powerful social statement, as she symbolically declares that natural is beautiful, prefiguring the 1960s cultural credo that black is indeed the most beautiful. Rather than to force her hair to conform to the style society dictates, Beneatha opts for a style that enables her to more easily reconcile her identity and her culture. Beneathas new hair is a symbol of her anti assimilations beliefs as well as her desire to shape her identity by relating back to her original roots from Africa.

One major issue in the play is the importance of family. The Youngers struggle socially and economically throughout the play but unite in the end to realize their dream of buying a house. Mama strongly believes in the importance of family, and she tries to teach this value to her family as she struggles to keep them together and functioning. Walter and Beneatha learn this lesson about family at the end of the play, when Walter must deal with the loss of the stolen insurance money and Beneatha denies Walter as a brother. Even facing such trauma, they come together to reject Mr. Lindners racist overtures. They are still strong individuals, but they are now individuals who function as part of a family. When they begin to put the family and the familys wishes before their own, they merge their individual dreams with the familys overarching dream.