Mama’s feeble plant represents her family’s deferred dreams for a better future, which have struggled to survive under the strain of life in Chicago’s South Side. Mama’s unending devotion to her small houseplant signifies her constant care for her family and her attention to its dreams.
Why is Mama’s Little plant so important to her what does she mean when she says it expresses me?
Mama’s Houseplant
When Beneatha asks why Mama would want to keep that “raggedy-looking old thing,” Mama Younger replies: “It expresses me.” This is Mama’s way of recalling Beneatha’s tirade about self-expression, but it also reveals the affinity Mama feels for the enduring houseplant.
What does Mama’s garden symbolize?
Mama’s plant is a major symbol in “A Raisin in the Sun”. The plant represents Mama’s dream; she dreams for a nice little house where she can have a garden and where her family can be happy.
Why is Mama’s Little plant so important to her what does she mean when she says it expresses me quizlet?
Mama’s plant represents the family’s deferred dreams that struggle to survive under the strain of life in the southside.
What is the symbolic significance of the gardening tools and what the family gives to Mama as gifts?
In the same scene, Mama is given two gifts, gardening tools and a gardening hat to use at the new house to plant flowers. Gardening tools, in this case, symbolize regrowth and renewing as the Younger’s move into the new house filled with hope for the future.
What could Beneatha’s hair mama’s plant and eat your eggs symbolize?
Mama’s plant (her dream of owning a house and garden) Beneatha’s hair and music (discovering African heritage and Black identity) “eat your eggs” (Ruth’s practicality and grounding of Walter’s business plans) $10,000 insurance payment and money (access to the American dream)
Where is the plant mentioned in a raisin in the sun?
As a whole, the plant is an extension of Mama’s character and an important symbol in the play. In the beginning of the play when the plant makes its debut, it is described as “a feeble little plant growing doggedly” (Hansberry 23).
Where does mama keep her plant?
Raisin 2
| A | B |
|---|---|
| Near the end of the play, what does Asagai leave Beneatha to think about | Whether she will marry him and move to Africa |
| What does Travis do to make money | He carries bags at the grocery store |
| Where does Walter often go to escape the apartment | To a bar |
| Where does Mama keep her plant | in the window |
What does Beneatha’s hair symbolize?
Beneatha’s Hair Symbol Analysis. Beneatha’s natural hair symbolizes her pride in her African heritage and her desire to explore her African roots.
Why is it significant that Beneatha cut her hair?
Beneatha’s Hair
Her new, radical afro represents her embracing of her heritage. Beneatha’s 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 beautiful.
Why do you think Mama changes her mind and gives Walter the insurance money?
She believed the realization of her dream could eventually open the door for other family member’s dreams. When she realizes she was doing to Walter what the rest of the world was doing, not giving him a chance to be a man, she corrected her actions by giving Walter part of the money to open a personal bank account.
What is significant about Mama’s preparing her plant for the move?
What is significant about Mama’s preparing her plant for the move as she listens to the details of the encounter with Lindner? The plant symbolizes Mama’s hope for the future. In continuing to prepare the plant, it shows that she is not affected by Linder’s comments and that her hope remains.
What is the importance of having Mama return to the empty apartment to grab her plant?
What is the importance of having Mama return to the empty apartment to grab her plant? That plant represents her dreams and the spirit of her family.
What is Mama’s motivation for buying the house?
Why does Mama buy a house in an all-white neighborhood? Mama wants to buy a house to secure a more comfortable standard of living for the whole Younger family.
What is the irony in A Raisin in the Sun?
Lesson Summary
Lindner from the welcoming committee visits to inform the Youngers that they are not welcome. Dramatic irony is when the audience has insight that the character does not have, like when Bobo walks in the door and everyone but Walter Lee is aware that his own investment has gone poorly.
What is the moral lesson of the play A Raisin in the Sun?
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.
What does the insurance money symbolize in A Raisin in the Sun?
Mama sees the insurance payment as a way to fulfill her dream of owning a house, which symbolizes her deep-seated yearning for “freedom” from racial persecution. Similarly, Beneatha dreams of the money as a way to fund her medical schooling, which embodies her desire to overcome racism and sexism.
What does sunlight symbolize in a raisin in the sun?
Sunlight. Hansberry writes about sunlight and how the old apartment has so little of it. The first thing Ruth asks about in Act Two, Scene One is whether or not the new house will have a lot of sunlight. Sunlight is a familiar symbol for hope and life, since all human life depends on warmth and energy from the sun.
What does Africa symbolize in a raisin in the sun?
Basically, Asagi is Africa. He represents one extreme of the American debate on assimilation. His presence in the play forces the audience (and Beneatha) to ask what it truly means to be an African American. How can blacks live in America yet retain some of their unique cultural identity?
What does Ruth symbolize in a raisin in the sun?
In this regard, Ruth is symbolically aligned with Mama, with whom she shares a vision of providing the family with better living conditions. While Walter wants to use the insurance money for his business, and Beneatha needs it for her schooling, Ruth advocates strongly for moving the family out of the South Side slums.
What is Mama’s reaction to Walter losing the money?
In the face of the loss of the money, Mama’s idealism about family falters. Read more about how Walter loses the insurance money. Mama’s sudden sad realization that her husband’s life boils down to a stack of paper bills compels her to turn on Walter as if he had killed his father himself.