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Mama Younger In Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

967 Words4 Pages

As terror arose in the Younger house of southside Chicago, events just seemed to get worse and worse. The house, including everybody in it, slowly begins to fall apart, but as Mama Younger says “There is always something left to love. If you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing.” Leanne Hansberry does a wonderful job of allowing symbols such as Mama’s plant to be seen. Though the family is disintegrating, she wants desperately to keep it going as they are just one wrong step away from death. Every day Mama shows the family love and care but much like the plant, nobody sees any growth or progress. Through the affinity of Mama’s plant, A Raisin In The Sun opens the reader's mind by showing how love and affection can impact the people …show more content…

Mrs. Younger is one of the few hard-working black women during this time with no tolerance for foolishness. However, she is very forgiving and has no doubt dedicated her life to her family and reaching not only her own dreams, but also those of her children. Mama lets into the fact that sometimes her children frightened her, yet, she is still a sympathetic, giving person despite the anguish of her situation. Throughout the story, Lena’s connection with her children is a massive struggle when it comes to the obsessions with money and lack of faith and hope. Her patience with her family doesn’t always show when she speaks to her children [Hansberry 21]. Nonetheless, Mamas care toward her dying plant represents all that we need to know about how she attempts to ceaselessly satisfy the people around her [Hansberry 13]. The plant in the window gets unconditional love just like her family, however both lack the resources needed to mature in the best ways possible. Rather than give up on her family’s dreams, Mama does everything in her power to never lose faith in hopes that one day it will thrive from all of the blood, sweat, and tears put into the final dream. Lena’s loyalty is of one that is incredibly hard to find especially in the southern side of Chicago during this time. During the final lines of the play, Mama is shown taking a special kind of pride in her children and like the weed-like plant in the apartment, they are far from perfect but newborn hope enters the Younger family along with achieved dreams after years of

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The barrier between her and the neighbours after her husband’s death forced her to become reserved and quiet. Her and her son only went into town if they had to. They preferred to stay close to the garden where they felt safe. The death of the husband is the cause of the mothers’ complete change in character. The death let the audience connect with her on a deeper level to understand her pain and suffering.

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In this quote, Mama represents the importance of family because she notices that Travis, her grandson, tries to make his bed, however Mama, showing tender care, remakes Travis’ bed for him. One of the key themes in A Raisin in the Sun is importance of family. Mama (Lena), is the main role model for this theme. “No- there’s something come down between me and them that don’t let us understand each other and I don’t know what it is.

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Mama’s plant in A Raison in the Sun, represents hope; hope for their future of having a house and a garden in the back. Mama is able to tend this dream plant and keep it alive even with the harsh atmosphere. When mama feels Walter and Beneatha are losing touch with her, she portrays her feelings through the dream plant, "Lord, if this little old plant don't get more sun than it's been getting, it ain't never going to see spring again" (40). This shows Mama truly believes that if Walter and Beneatha keep acting the way they do, they will not only ruin mama’s dream but also fail to initiate Big Walter’s legacy. Another piece of evidence that proves this, is when Ruth and Mama were talking about the now run-down house her and Big Walter used to

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When her husband, Walter, ask her to persuade Mama to give the money to Walter, even though she didn’t want to, but because he was her husband, he wanted to do what he had ask. So she said to Mama, “Mama, something is happening between Walter and me. I don’t know what it is – but he needs something – something I can’t give him anymore. He needs this chance, Lena.” She is also a very kind person, even when she was about to give up on life and think that the way she lived was not of her dream, she stills stays with

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There are many symbols in A Raisin in the Sun worth describing, but one that particularly stands out is Mama’s plant. It is old and barely a substantial piece of nature, yet it makes many vital appearances in the play. The small plant seems to personify Mama’s stubborn nature in its intent on survival despite its close to death appearance. It also represents Mama’s dream that seems close to being crushed, yet never dies. As a whole, the plant is an extension of Mama’s character and an important symbol in the play.

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Mama cares for the plant by feeding, watering and checking all through the day on it to make sure it was still doing well. She also does this for the family. Mama always wants the best for them and would do anything to keep them happy and well. Mama uses the plant as her fuel to always put the family first and to remember her dreams, as well as remind her family of theirs (Shmoop Editorial Team). Throughout the play, Mama’s plant symbolizes many things to the Younger family.

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Lena’s faith is not only a personal belief, but also a driving force that shapes her interactions with her family members, often serving as a moral compass that guides them through difficult times. Lena’s role as a mother is central to her character, and her love for her children is evident in her selfless sacrifices and unwavering support. She works tirelessly to instill values of integrity, responsibility, and respect in her children, often acting as a voice of reason and wisdom amidst their conflicts and struggles. Despite her own desires and dreams, Lena’s primary concern is always the well-being and happiness of her family. Throughout the play, Lena undergoes a significant transformation as she confronts various challenges and obstacles.

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The family leads a hard working, simple and minimalistic life that allows them just enough to get by. Mama is described as a “large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (Walker 418). Her day to day life doesn’t allow for the high standards of her eldest daughter Dee. Dee is described by Mama as being unappreciative and bratty. Mama makes is clear that the family’s socioeconomic status would never be good enough for the eldest daughter.

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Family is important to everyone in some way because family sticks together no matter what. The play A Raisin in the Sun is about a black family named the Youngers and the hardships they face together as a family. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Ruth Younger is motivated by her family. This is shown by Ruth wanting to make her family happy, her working even though she is tired, and later when Ruth finds out there is going to be another mouth to feed. Ruth Younger is constantly worrying about her family’s well being and happiness for them.

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Since her husband died she has taken charge. In every decision she makes she shows how much she cares about her family and puts them first. After her husband unexpectedly died the dreams he had for his family were placed into her hands and sprouted from there. Lena is very caring supportive, not only of her kids and

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Gilman develops setting in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by describing the connection there is between the house and the narrator. The narrator tells us that the house is three miles from the village, that it has walls and gates that lock, and separate little houses. This gives us a sense that the house is isolated from society. Within the house the narrator is greeted to a “big, airy room, with windows that look all ways”. The windows in her room ,that look out everywhere, are “ barred” forbidding any sort of escape.

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Lena Younger was a religious mother to her family regardless of the anger that her family has towards one another. Lena faith was soon tested when she gave her son the rest of the insurance money to put towards Beneatha college funds and the rest in his name. Instead of doing exactly what his mother told him Walter put the rest of the insurance money towards his liquor store plan only to receive the news from his friend, that the entire plan was a money scheme and Willy Harris ran off with their money. Heart broken by the hard work her husband put towards his life and her son spent the entire money out of selfishness she still loved her son. Lena was a part of faith which is also symbolized through the plant that she carried for the received little sunlight.

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793 Words | 4 Pages

In the drama, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry the plant symbolizes the Younger’s dream as it evolves throughout the play. Meanwhile in southside Chicago dreams are either being crushed or pursued. The Youngers family are always facing society as they live in poverty. A family with such big dreams believes the only way for these dreams to come true is money. Mama received her husband's life insurance which was 10,000 dollars.

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She is clear- headed of what she wants. Although Lena is a woman of the 1950s, she is progressive. With the insurance money she received, she decides to buy a house in a white neighbourhood because she wants a better life for her family. Such a masculine personality in Mama comes from her experience to true oppression – slavery. Mama says that Walter is a “disgrace to [his] father’s memory” as she challenges Walter to fulfil his moral duty to succeed his father.

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