Mama’s life insurance check, which she receives after her husband’s death, symbolizes hope, since each member of the family views it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to realize their ambitions. The money, however, does not cure as many problems as they had hoped. The family begins to debate over how it should be spent even before money comes. ‘That money belongs to Mama, Walter, and she has sole discretion over how she spends it.’ I don’t care if she wants to buy a house or build a rocket ship; I just want to see it. It belongs to her. ‘Not ourshers,’ says Walter’s younger sister Beneatha.
Walter wants to use the money to start his own business, Beneatha wants to go to medical school, and Mama wants to purchase a house. However, by the end of the play, all they’ve gotten is a house in a white community that doesn’t want them. It represents the loss of the Younger family’s dreams, rather than hope.
What does the check symbolize from both a plot standpoint and a dramatic standpoint?
The check represents Lena Younger’s ten-thousand-dollar life insurance settlement after her husband’s death. The cheque represents the possibility of financial independence and the ability to pursue each family member’s individual goals.
The check has a different meaning for each member of the Younger family and signifies a variety of future possibilities. The cheque gives Walter Jr. the financial backing he needs to enter the liquor industry, which he believes will flourish and provide the family with more financial security. The check provides Walter’s wife with the opportunity to see her husband pursue his goals and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leave Chicago’s south side. Beneatha will be able to enroll in the college of her choice and pursue her dream of becoming a doctor as a result of the check. The cheque represents an opportunity for Lena to create a pleasant home for her family as well as the financial means for her children to follow their great ambitions.
What does Walter symbolize?
The play takes place between 1945 and 1959 in the Younger family’s apartment in Southside Chicago. The Civil Rights Movement was in full swing at the time, and African Americans faced tyranny and discrimination. During the exposition, a lot is learned about the people, their belongings, and how the play relates to the era’s strife. Walter Lee Younger, like many of the other characters, has a significant metaphorical meaning. He represents hope, ambition, dreams, desires, passion, and anger. All of those attributes are applied to his own achievement and the well-being of the family if taken at face value. Walter exclaims, “I am much warrior!” and gives the appearance that he is engrossed in a show (Hansberry 641). When the symbolic purpose is taken into account, he becomes a warrior for the entire race, fighting injustice with hope and dreams.
What does eat your eggs symbolize?
This statement first appears in the play as a command from Ruth to Walter to be silent. Walter then uses the phrase to demonstrate how women prevent men from accomplishing their goalsevery time a man gets excited about anything, a woman, he alleges, attempts to cool him down by urging him to eat his eggs. Acceptance of the difficulties that Walter and the rest of the Youngers experience in life is symbolized by being silent and eating one’s eggs. Walter believes Ruth, who is preparing his eggs, is preventing him from realizing his ambition, and he believes she should be more supportive of him. Every day, she prepares eggs to show how mechanical she is in her support of him. She feeds him, but she does so in a consistent and predictable manner.
Mama’s Plant
Mama’s plant, the play’s most overt symbol, signifies both Mama’s care and her dream for her family. In her first appearance onstage, she walks right up to the plant and tends to it. She admits that the plant is never given enough light or water, but she is proud of how well it grows under her care. Her love for her plant is akin to her love for her children: unconditional and unwavering, even in the face of a less-than-ideal growing environment. The plant also represents her desire to possess a home, preferably one with a garden and yard. She honed her gardening skills with her plant. Her skill with the plant encourages her to assume she would be a good gardener. Her commitment to the plant and her perseverance give her hope that her dream will come true.
Beneatha’s Hair
Beneatha’s hair is straightened when the play begins. She cuts her Caucasian-looking hair midway through the play, after Asagai approaches her and questions her haircut. Her new, radical afro symbolizes her acceptance of her roots. Beneatha’s hair-cutting is an important social statement since it symbolically says that natural is beautiful, foreshadowing the 1960s cultural credo that Black is beautiful. Rather than forcing her hair to comply to society’s standards, Beneatha chooses a style that allows her to reconcile her identity and culture more effortlessly. Beneatha’s new hair represents both her anti-assimilationist ideals and her desire to shape her identity by returning to her African roots.
What does Mama’s plant most likely symbolize?
Mama’s plant symbolizes both her love for her family and her aspirations for them. Her love for her plant is akin to her love for her children: unconditional and unwavering, even in the face of a less-than-ideal growing environment. The plant also represents her desire to possess a home, preferably one with a garden and yard.
What does beneatha hair most likely symbolize?
The Symbolism of Beneatha’s Hair Beneatha’s natural hair represents her pride in her African background as well as her desire to learn more about it. Beneatha proudly distinguishes herself as an anti-assimilationist and publicly proclaims her racial identity with her natural hair.
What symbolizes the plant what symbolizes the sun?
Investigate the meaning of sunflowers to enhance the beauty of these cheerful bloomers. Sunflower symbolism varies depending on ethnic and religious foundations, however many parts of sunflower symbolism in stories and mythology remain consistent. When you look up the botanical name for this annual flower, Helianthus annuus, you’ll find that it comes from the Greek words “helios” (meaning sun) and “anthos” (meaning flower) (meaning flower). Because the word “annuus” means “annual,” the scientific name literally translates to “sunflower annual,” which is an apt description of this lovely plant.
The idea of a short-lived annual is at odds with the symbolism of the sunflower in diverse cultures. Sunflower symbolism in China, for example, includes the concepts of longevity and long life. Sunflowers are often associated with long-term consistency and loyalty, owing to the flower bud’s proclivity to follow the sun across the sky.
In the story of a water nymph who fell in love with Apollo, the god of the sun, Greek mythology celebrates a sunflower’s apparent devotion to the sun. She would sit on the earth and gaze at the sun (Apollo) day after day in her devotion to Apollo. While Apollo ignored the water nymph, the other gods were moved by her plight and transformed her into a sunflower. This is why sunflower buds always follow the sun, according to legend. Focus, healing, and warmth are some of the other typical sunflower meanings. Sunflower symbolism in China includes good fortune, vigor, cleverness, and happiness, in addition to longevity.
Sunflowers have been adopted by various faiths as a sign of worship and faithfulness, owing to the flower’s unwavering devotion to the sun. Sunflower connotations have been enlarged to include spiritual understanding and a worshiper’s devotion to seeking the light of truth, thanks to the golden petals and the blossom’s likeness to the sun. Priestesses in the Incan empire wore golden sunflowers on their priestly attire, according to explorer Francisco Pizarro. Images of sunflowers have also been uncovered in ancient Andean temples.
Sunflowers were honored in Native American harvest celebrations in North America, raising sunflower symbolism to include harvest, bounty, and supply. Sunflowers have been produced for generations not for their beauty, but for the edible seeds, oil, dye pigments (from the petals), and stalk pith, which is used to make paper.
Sunflowers are the state flower of Kansas, which is known as the Sunflower State, and are the present of choice on third wedding anniversaries in the modern world. Giving sunflowers shows devotion in flower language. A world free of nuclear weapons is a more recent sunflower meaning. Officials from Russia, the United States, and Ukraine commemorated the surrender of Ukraine’s final nuclear bomb in 1996 by scattering and sowing sunflower seeds.
Why does Walter want an insurance check?
Walter and his friends Willy and Bobo want to invest the insurance money in a liquor business. Walter sees this investment as a way to get out of his tedious and demanding work as a chauffeur. In other words, the booze store represents an opportunity for advancement. Walter’s desire to start his own company and advance in his career is tied to his desire to reclaim his male dignity. Walter communicates his experience of being emasculated and unable to live up to his father’s legacy throughout the play. His occupation in the service business contributes to his sense of emasculation.
Walter’s father, Mama explains, would not approve of his chauffeuring job: “My husband always believed being any kind of a servant wasn’t a fit thing for a man to have to be.” Walter laments the myriad ways in which the women in his family and society collude to keep him in a submissive position and deprive him of any sense of self-worth, in addition to his humiliating employment situation. As a result, Walter sees the insurance money as an opportunity to redeem himself as a son and a man.
What does the dresser symbolize in A Raisin in the Sun?
They depict Beneatha’s search for her African ancestors as well as his Nigerian culture. Beneatha takes on the character of a Nigerian princess when she wears the robe.