Discussion Topic
Mama's Plant Symbolism in A Raisin in the Sun
Summary:
In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Mama's plant symbolizes her nurturing spirit, dreams, and hope for her family's future. Despite the plant's struggle in the cramped apartment, it reflects Mama's care and resilience, paralleling her efforts to support her family amid challenging conditions. The plant represents her dream of owning a home where her family can thrive. As they move to Clybourne Park, taking the plant signifies a hopeful transition to a better environment for both the plant and the family.
Why is the small plant significant to Mama in A Raisin in the Sun and what does she mean by "It expresses ME"?
Mama Younger's plant is one of the most important symbols in A Raisin in the Sun. It represents the care she has for her family as well as the hopes and dreams she has for them. Just as Mama takes good care of her plant, hoping that it will continue to grow, she hopes that her family will grow and prosper after they have moved from their cramped apartment to a nice new house in the suburbs.
The plant, then, is an expression of Mama's personality. It tells us what kind of person she is. She is a nurturing, caring woman who wants nothing but the very best for her family. The plant may never get enough light or water, but it still manages to thrive all the same.
The parallels here with the Younger family are difficult to ignore. The Youngers may not get everything they need, but...
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Mama still ensures that they are loved and cared for as much as possible. Mama will continue to care for her family just as much as she will care for her plant. Even though their living environment is far from conducive to this end, Mama nonetheless continues to do her best, regardless of the many challenges involved.
In A Raisin in the Sun, why is Mama's plant important to her?
From her very first entrance in this play, Mama is a character who is linked with her plant. As she enters, she moves straight to care for it and throughout the play she continues to nurture it and to look after it. The plant operates symbolically in the play as it is a symbol of Mama's nurturting spirit and how she is trying to look after her family and make them flourish, even though the conditions for growth are less than ideal. Note what she says about the plant in Act One scene 1:
Lord, if this little plant don't get more sun than it's been getting it ain't never going to see spring again.
Mama recognises that the environment for the plant is not ideal, but she still struggles to look after it and to help it to grow. This is of course a parallel between her and her family. She sees very clearly that the cramped living accommodation they are in at the moment is not ideal, and is preventing the flourishing of her children, yet she does what she can to nurture her children and raise them up with love. The plant is also symbolic of Mama's dream of one day owning a house which will provide a healthy environment for her children, and note how Mama, at the end of the play, remembers to take her plant with her as they move, indicative of a brighter, healthier future for them all.
In "A Raisin in the Sun", why does Mama's plant struggle in their Southside apartment?
The small, wilting plant that Mama Younger lovingly cares for lacks the sunshine and fresh air it needs to thrive in their apartment. The plant, however, is symbolic of how Mama’s family is also metaphorically dying in their current situation in the slums of the Southside of Chicago. The family is at odds, arguing and complaining about their lives, and Mama tries her best to help reconcile their differences. Walter yearns to be his own boss; Ruth wishes for a more stable family life in a larger home because she is pregnant; Beneatha wants to go to medical school; and Mama wants to get the family out of the projects and into a home of their own. Like the plant who is unable to grow and bloom, the family is also not living to its potential because of poverty, poor judgment, and stress. Fortunately, when Mama puts a down payment on a small home in another neighborhood, she takes her family and the plant with her where they will all begin to flourish because of their new environment.
What does Lena's (Mama's) plant symbolize in A Raisin in the Sun?
Lena is continually watering and caring for her small plant, which does not get enough sunlight or water in their cramped apartment in the South Side. Lena tries her best to nurture the small plant and also takes it with her to the new home in Clybourne Park. Lena's plant symbolically represents her love for her family, her personal dreams, and hope for a better future. Lena taking care of her plant and paying special attention to it resembles her feelings towards her children. Lena is a completely selfless mother, who wants her children to succeed in life and genuinely cares about their well-being. She even entrusts Walter with the insurance money and instructs him to help pay for Beneatha's college tuition. Lena's plant also represents her dreams. Similar to Lena's dreams, the plant is small and struggles to flourish. Despite the adverse conditions, the plant continues to grow just like Lena's dream of owning a comfortable home, which becomes a reality. The plant also symbolically represents hope for a better future. Lena's dedication to caring for the plant and her belief that it will one day flourish symbolically represents her hope that her family will experience success and flourish in Clybourne Park.
Mama's plant, the only bit of green in the tenement space that she shares with her son, Walter Younger, his wife Ruth, their son Travis, and Mama's daughter, Beneatha, is symbolic of hope. The hope is that one day she will have her own garden. In this instance, the hope is fulfilled, for the family will be moving into a house in Clybourne Park, despite the resistance of its white residents.
Furthermore, Mama will now take her small plant, which she has been cultivating for years and will plant it in a space that was intended to exclude her. The symbolism here addresses the way in which white supremacy denied black people property rights or—particularly in the case of Chicago, where the play is set—denied black people fair access to housing.
In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, what does the plant symbolize in Mama's quote about "fixing my plant so it won’t get hurt none on the way"?
The generated response is exactly correct in its explanation of the symbolism of the plant in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. That plant has been cramped and struggling to survive for a long time, just like Mama’s family. Yet Mama continues to care for both plant and family, and she longs for a better life for all of them.
Mama’s words about fixing her plant so that it will not get hurt during the move also apply symbolically to her desire to fix her family so that her loved ones do not get hurt. Many family members have already been hurting during their lives, as much as Mama has tried to keep them all safe.
As the response notes, the plant will have a nice, bright windowsill in the new house, and Mama’s family will have a nice, bright new home to grow and expand and flourish in. That’s the hope for both plant and family.