What do the characters in A Raisin in the Sun represent?

Asked by: Tim Wei

Many of the characters hold a strong symbolic meaning, and Walter Lee Younger is no exception. He is the symbol of hope and ambition, dreams and desires, passion and fury. When taken at face value, all of those characteristics are applied towards his own success and the well-being of the family.

What does Ruth represent 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.

What does Mama symbolize in A Raisin in the Sun?

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 Beneatha represent in A Raisin in the Sun?

Her new, radical afro represents her embracing of her heritage. Beneatha’s cutting of her hair is a very powerful social statement, as she symbolically declares that natural is beautiful, prefiguring the 1960s cultural credo that Black is beautiful.

What does George symbolize in A Raisin in the Sun?

A Raisin in the Sun

In this play, the educated and wealthy George Murchison represents the black person whose own self-hatred manifests itself as contempt for other blacks.

What does Asagai represent to Beneatha?

What does Asagai say and do to encourage Beneatha’s search for her identity? Asagai represents black racial pride and identity, with a Noble African heritage. Asagai gives her a nickname Alaiyo, which means, “one for which food is not enough.” This name means he understands what is most important for her.

What type of character is mama in A Raisin in the Sun?

The matriarch of the family, Mama is religious, moral, and maternal. She wants to use her husband’s insurance money as a down payment on a house with a backyard to fulfill her dream for her family to move up in the world.

What does Travis represent in A 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.

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.

What do raisins symbolize?

Finally, raisins can be interpreted as the darkening of your hopes and dreams. Perhaps someone in your waking hours is trying to dampen things in your life. Alternatively, you might be a negative thinker and always focus on the dark rather than the light in situations.

What does George represent to Beneatha?

Murchison gets bored when Beneatha wants to talk about politics, and he believes that the point of higher education is to get a good job – definitely not what Beneatha believes. In the great debate on assimilation that runs through the play, George represents the total opposite point of view of Asagai.

What does Karl Lindner represent?

Lindner represents the white majority that controlled the country. He also represents the racism of the white majority that segregated America (officially and unofficially) and helped to perpetuate the cycle of poverty which many African-American families had been caught in since the time of slavery.

How are George and Asagai different?

George Murchinson is a wealthy African American man who is dating Beneatha at the beginning of the play. Asagai is a Nigerian man who is in love with Beneatha, and they bond over their interests about Africa. The men’s first contrast is in their views towards education.

How are Walter and George different?

How are they different? walter had to work for the things he has in life, on the other hand; george was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. they are the same because they view women without a voice. Women should be seen and not heard.

What does George’s allusion to Prometheus mean?

What does George’s allusion to Prometheus mean? He’s mocking Walter, saying he’s going to change the world, but he doesn’t believe he will.

Why is it significant that George enters the scene?

Why is it significant that George enters the scene while Walter and Beneatha playfully enact African characters? This shows that the good feelings the Youngers might encounter seem to be brief. It highlights the fact that George thinks he is superior to the Youngers, and it gives him the opportunity to be pretentious.

What is the significance of Walter’s fantasy of Africa?

Uncharacteristically, Walter embraces his African heritage, but only in a fleeting moment of fantasy. Walter’s communion with his African identity centers on regaining the lost status and majesty of African leaders, which was stolen from many African-Americans through the transatlantic slave trade.

What are the dreams of the characters in a raisin in the sun?

In A Raisin in the Sun, all 5 characters, Ruth, Walter, Mama, Travis, and Benethea have individual dreams which they crave to achieve. Ruth desires to make her family happy, Walter dreams of getting out of the poor social class, Beneatha wants to become a doctor, and Mama dreams of a house with a garden.

Why does Walter join her in the dance?

Why does Walter join her in the dance? He’s drunk, and he’s trying to mock her. (Page 77-78). How does the arrival of George Murchison change the mood of the scene?

Why did Beneatha cut her hair?

Rather than force her hair to conform to the style society dictates, Beneatha opts for a style that enables her to more easily reconcile her identity and her culture. Beneatha’s new hair is a symbol of her anti-assimilationist beliefs as well as her desire to shape her identity by looking back to her roots in Africa.

Why did Beneatha not want to be a doctor anymore?

Why doesn’t Beneatha want to be a doctor anymore? She doesn’t want to be a doctor anymore because she thinks that without the money she won’t be able to go to school to be a doctor. She can’t cure that problems that are wrong with humanity such as racism and greed.

Who nicknames him/herself the flaming spear?

Joseph Asagai earns the nickname “Flaming Spear.” Walter lies when he says he has visited New York. Walter calls George “Prometheus.”

What does Mama’s plant symbolize quizlet?

Mama’s plant represents both Mama’s care and her dream for her family. The plant also symbolizes her dream to own a house and, more specifically, to have a garden and a yard. With her plant, she practices her gardening skills. Her success with the plant helps her believe that she would be successful as a gardener.

What is in the envelope Mama gives Walter and what does she tell him to use it for?

She gives him the remaining $6,500 of the insurance money, telling him to deposit $3,000 for Beneatha’s education and to keep the last $3,500. With this money, Mama says, Walter should become—and should act like he has become—the head of the family.

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.

Why does Ruth look as though somehow she senses death?

(13) Why does Ruth look “as though somehow she senses death”? She recognizes the terrified look on Bobo’s face, and she knows that Walter has done something terrible.

What is money a symbol of to Walter Lee?

For Walter, money seems to be the answer to everything. Money, he believes, allows people to live comfortable and carefree lives. It also seems to define a man by measuring his success and ability to provide for his family. For Walter, who feels enslaved in his job and life, money is the truest freedom.