The Plant

While reading A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, I noticed that there is significant symbolism behind Mama's plant.  When she is introduced in the play, the first thing she does is go to water the plant.  She continues to check on it multiple times throughout the story.  In fact, the play ends with her dashing back in to the apartment to grab the plant off the windowsill.  It seems funny that Hansberry would spend so much time detailing a little plant, but if one examines its symbolism, much can be learned about the Younger family. Mama even talks about the symbolism on page 458 saying "Got to admit they have spirit-Bennie and Walter. Like this little old plant that ain't never had enough sunshine or nothing-and look at it..."  The plant is a symbol of the struggling family.  Just as the plant stubbornly grows despite the lack of sunlight, the Younger family struggles through their own life filled with poverty, bills, and racism.  I think the plant is also a symbol of Mama's dreams and love for her family.  She cares for the plant continuously throughout the play, always doing her best to help it thrive.  It represents her dream of a house where she can plant a garden, a dream which grows closer toward the end of the story.  Once I realized the symbolism of the plant, I started to better understand the play as a whole.  It is about living life through adverse conditions and struggling to fulfill one's dreams in such a situation.  In the end, the only way to thrive is through love.  Just as the Younger family came close to falling apart, in a life without lover, all things begin to fall part.