Mama's Plant
Throughout the entire play there is the consistent mentioning of Mama's plant. She talks about it in the beginning of the play and continues to bring it up in the discussions of moving to the new neighborhood. At first light, in the early morning she pulls out her plant and recoginize it as the start to a new dream for her family. Mama talks about how there is always something left to love in the last act of the play. Does the plant symbolize something that Mama can still hold onto and love? What else could it represent?
10 comments:
I think plants symbolize Mama's mind toward her family. She never gives up her family no matter what happen. Plant also can represent as Mama's hope and desire which mama want to kept as safe as possible.
I think that the plant is symbolic of the entire Younger family. Mama says that it does not get enough light, but it is still alive. This is similar to her family that is still persevering after spending many years in poor living conditions and enduring numerous hardships. The plant, like the Younger family, is finally getting a new home at the end of the play.
I'd also say the plant represents the family and the dream of escaping. It lives for years in a stifling atmosphere where sunlight is sparse and the air is dirty. Like the family, it's surviving but it's so far from thriving. With the check and money earned in blood the family buys the tools for Mama to properly attend to the plant (rather than the improvised utensils). The new home is the blossoming of the dream of escaping. Mama walks out, only to come back and grab the plant, never to set foot there again. It would be interesting to see the plants growth in Clybourne Park.
This may be kind of a stretch but maybe the plant represents the old life, perhaps even representing her husband. It is something that she needs to hold on to because it represents a part of her she doesn't want to let go of, despite everything else that she is letting go of by moving to a new place.
I think it could symbolize wanting to be back in a more natural state. This family like many others is constantly pushed toward the edges of society and forced into positions they would never normally be in. By connecting with the Earth she can attach at least a vestige of a normal life.
The plant may symbolize the Younger family and the transition they make from a small home into a larger home and a better future. Mama says that the plant isn't growing very well, which symbolizes the constant conflict that takes place within the family at the beginning of the play. Towards the end of the play, the plant seems to be growing and prospering, which may symbolize that the conflict will subside and a better future will occur from the decision Walter made to move into a larger house. The plant could also symbolize something that Mama can still hold onto and love despite the conflict that occurs within the family.
I think the plant represents their dream of rising above suppression. Plants are a resource of the earth, which the Younger family wants to own, and which their ancestors had to work the cotton plants of, but did not own. Mama on the other hand owns her own plants and wants to own a whole garden of them as her own.
i think the plant helps show Mama's need to hang onto to something and to nurture it, just like she must do with her family. This helps demonstrate Mama's need to help the family grow and to provide support and the essentials to survive. Even though the plant is barely making it, Mama is doing all she can to keep it alive in a tough environment.
Thinking of this I'm guessing as well the plant represents the family. Mama is finally thinking that she can't take care of the plant anymore in that house and is ready to start over. I think she will always hold onto the plant trying to keep it alive no matter how hard the conditions are. It could also symbolize a new race in a traditional society since the family is moving into a all white neigherhood. The plant will hopefully grow in a new environment.
I think that the plant could symbolize something that Mama can still hold onto and love. I think more so that it represents the life of their family. Living in their one bedroom apartment is continually growing harder. As things get more and more on edge it seems as though the plant thrives less and less. In order to fix the plant and in turn fix the family, the plant needs to be moved to a location to where it could thrive more just as the family needs to be moved to a place where it can thrive more.
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