The furniture sets the theme and the setting of the story. The tattered furniture and diminutive window symbolizes the Younger family and their sticky situation. The worn out carpets and couches portray the ray of pride and exhaustion of the household. The plant symbolizes Mama’s dream to buy a house of her own.
What are the symbols in A Raisin the Sun?
What are some symbols in A Raisin in the Sun? Some of the symbols are Mama’s plant, Beneatha’s hair, music, the phrase “eat your eggs,” the $10,000 insurance payment, and money more generally.
How would you describe the apartment in a raisin in the sun?
The Apartment
This place is really cramped, especially with five people living in it. On stage we see the kitchen, which is so small that it’s more like a closet. Most of the play’s action goes down in the living room, which also serves as the dining room and Travis’s makeshift bedroom.
What does the carpet represent in raisin in the sun?
Set symbols
The carpet : The carpet in the Raisin in the Sun is described to readers as being weary with with depressing uniformity elsewhere on its surface, I believe this carpet symbolizes the Younger families life, and that they have been through rough times but have always fought back.
What is the most important symbol in a raisin in the sun?
The most overt symbol in the play, Mama’s plant represents both Mama’s care and her dream for her family. In her first appearance onstage, she moves directly toward the plant to take care of it.
What does Mama’s house plant symbolize?
Mama’s Plant Symbol Analysis. 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.
What does 50 cents symbolize in A Raisin in the Sun?
50 Cents. Walter giving Travis an extra fifty cents which is a symbol of his pride and a symbol of how the family years for money.
What physical details of the living room set show these qualities?
The stage directions say that the living room in the Younger apartment might be comfortable and well-ordered, but “weariness” has “won in this room.” what physical details of the living room set show these qualities? The carpet was worn down and the furniture looked tired, covered in dollies (page 23).
How was the younger family’s apartment described?
The Younger family lives in a cramped, “furniture crowded” apartment that is clearly too small for its five occupants in one of the poorer sections of Southside Chicago. Walter Lee wants to invest Mama’s $10,000 insurance check in a liquor store venture with two of his friends.
What is the mood of the apartment in a raisin in the sun?
somber
The tone of A Raisin in the Sun is somber, and the opening scene clearly establishes this tone. According to Hansberry’s set description, the apartment itself is tired, full of furniture that has seen many years of use. For her part, Ruth seems just as exhausted as the apartment.
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.
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 the 10 000 check symbolize in A Raisin in the Sun?
The life insurance check that Mama receives after the death of her husband represents hope, as each member of the family sees it as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make their dreams come true. However, the money doesn’t solve as many problems as they imagined.
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 does clybourne Park symbolize in A Raisin in the Sun?
“Because Clybourne Park is so closely associated with A Raisin in the Sun, audiences most often assume that it’s about racism. While the play certainly deals with that inequality, it is not the sole purpose of the play. The play uses race as just one of the many ways in which people mistreat each other.
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 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.
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).
What does Walters liquor store symbolize?
Walter sees this investment as an opportunity for him to escape his exhausting and thankless job as a chauffeur. In other words, the liquor store represents a chance at upward mobility. Walter’s desire to own his own business and achieve upward mobility is linked to his desire to rescue his masculine pride.
What does Travis represent in raisin in the sun?
By far the youngest member of his family (stage directions describe him as ten or eleven years old), Travis represents the future of the Younger family. Hansberry drops some not-too-subtle symbolism on us when we hear that one of Travis’s favorite pastimes is playing with rats.