I enjoyed reading ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ by Lorraine Hansberry. This was a very emotional book. I usually don’t like to read plays but this was an awesome play. This book is essentially about dreams. The main characters struggle to deal with the harsh circumstances that rule their lives. The title of the play refers to a conjecture that Langston Hughes famously presented in a poem he wrote about dreams that were forgotten or put off. In the poem ‘Harlem,” he wonders whether those dreams shrivel up “like a raisin in the sun.” All of the Younger family has a separate, individual dream. Beneatha wants to become a doctor and Walter wants to have money so that he can afford things for his family. The Youngers strive to accomplish these dreams throughout the play. A great deal of their happiness and depression is directly related to their accomplishment of, or failure to conquer, these dreams. By the end of the play, the Youngers learn that the dream of a house is the most important dream because it unites the family.
The character Mr. Linder makes the theme of racial discrimination obvious in the plot as an issue that the Youngers can’t avoid. The Clybourne Park Association, the governing body of the Youngers’ new neighborhood, sends Mr. Linder to persuade them not to move into the all-white Clybourne Park neighborhood. Mr. Linder and the people he represents can only see the color of the Younger family’s skin. His offer to bribe the Youngers to keep them from moving threatens to tear apart the Younger family and the values for which it stands. The Youngers respond to this discrimination with rebelliousness and power. This play strongly proves that the way to deal with discrimination is to stand up to it and confirm one’s dignity in the face of it rather than allow it to pass unchecked. The Youngers struggle socially and economically throughout the play but they unite in the end to realize their dream of buying a house. Mama clearly believes in the importance of family. She tries to teach this value to her family as she struggles to keep her family together and functioning. By the end of the play, Walter and Beneatha learn this lesson about the importance of family. Walter must deal with the loss of the stolen insurance money and Beneatha denies Walter as a brother. While facing such trauma, they all come together as a family to reject Mr. Linder’s racist propositions. They are all still strong individuals, but they are now individuals who function as part of a family. When they begin to put the family and the family’s wishes before their own, they combine their individual dreams with the family’s main dream.
The Youngers live in an apartment and it is the only setting throughout the play, highlighting the significance of the home. The lighting seems to change the mood, and with only one window, the apartment is a small, often dark area in which the Youngers feel cramped at one time or another. Some of the play’s action occurs outside of the apartment, we see this action play out in the household. The main things that happen outside the apartment includes Travis playing out in the street with the rat and Walter’s drinking and delinquency from work. The home is a stimulating strength for the family, one that Mama sees as important to the family’s unity. We see characters outside of the family such as Joseph Asagai, George Murchison, Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Linder, and BoBo only when they visit the apartment. All of these characters become real through their interactions with the Youngers and the Youngers’ reactions to them. The play ends, properly, when Mama, trailing behind, finally leaves the apartment.
The phrase “Eat Your Eggs” appears early in the play, as an instruction from Ruth to Walter to quiet him. Walter uses the expression to demonstrate how women keep men from achieving their goals. Walter says that every time a man gets excited about something, a woman tries to anger his enthusiasm by telling him to eat his eggs. Being quiet and eating one’s eggs signifies an acceptance of the hardship that Walter and the rest of the Youngers face in life. Walter thinks that Ruth, who is making him eat his eggs, keeps him from accomplishing his dream and he argues that she should be more understanding of him. The eggs that she makes every day symbolize her involuntary approach to supporting him. Ruth provides Walter with nourishment, but always in the same, predictable way. The most obvious symbol in the play is Mama’s plant. The 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. She acknowledges that the plant never gets enough light or water, but she takes pleasure in how it still thrives under her care. Her care for the plant is similar to her care for her children, unconditional and everlasting in spite of a less-than perfect environment for growth. The plant also signifies her dream to own a house and have a garden and a yard. She practices her gardening skills with her plant. Her success with the plant helps her believe that she would be successful as a gardener. Her determination and devotion to the plant fosters her hope that her dream may come true. This play has taught me to follow your dreams no matter what obstacles are in your way.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on A Raisin in the Sun.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment