"A Raisin in the Sun" and Symbolism of Light

Paper Summary:

This paper details the plot and main characters in Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" which focuses on an African-American family residing in Chicago. The writer analyzes the significance of light in Hansberry's work which makes its first appearance in the opening of the play when the sun shines in on the Younger's cramped apartment. The writer contends and explains the manner in which the light provides emotional nourishment to the protagonists as well as heartache and despair. This paper also looks at the symbolism of Mama's plant which although she knows will never fully grow and reach its ultimate potential she continues to care and nurture it, much in the same manner as she cares for her own family.

From the Paper:

"The plant does not simply symbolize Ruth and Walter's inability to fully grow and flourish as a couple and a mother and a father in the apartment. It also has more personal symbolism. It symbolizes the dream of Mama to own her own home, a place of her own rather than the rented territory of others, with a cramped and small bathroom for five (and perhaps six, given Ruth's impending pregnancy) other people, all dreaming and yearning to break free. The plant is a more specific and powerful symbol, too, because it is a green and living thing. It underlines Mama's desire to have a garden and a yard. Clearly, Mama could make many things grow. If she made a plant grow in a terrible apartment, with little help, just as she and her husband helped her children Beneatha and Walter flourish with little help from society, think of what Mama could do with her own yard, full of sunshine and space."

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