A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. Symbolic analysis.
Perhaps one of the largest symbols in the entire play is the plant that Mama keeps nurturing despite it's tiny chance of living. From the beginning, the plant receives an inadequate amount of light to sustain life. In a way, this represents dreams and how they have little chance at living and thriving if they were not given the necessary tools to live and grow. At one point Mama says "Like this little old plant that ain't never had enough sunshine or nothing" (Hansberry, 52). She implies that it is not being given a chance to grow, much like the dreams of the family, especially Walter Sr.. That plant becomes a predominant symbol of how the dreams of everybody in the family had been put off and how they were suffering because of being put off for so long. The plant becomes a physical representation of what happens when a dream is forced to survive off of the bare minimum.
The plant is such an important symbol that is is carried through to the end of the story when Mama carried the plant out of the apartment as if to state that their dreams were getting the chance that they needed to erupt into a vibrant story of success.
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