A Title Speaks 1,000 Words
The title of this play obviously invokes the thought of a person being trapped under pressure. Just like a raisin in the sun, this person will dry out and will eventually become only a shadow of what they once were. The question is this: up to this point in the play, who do you think is "the raisin in the sun"? Is Mama the raisin due to all the pressure put on her due to the $10,000? Is Walter the raisin due to his enormous amount of frustration? Or is this whole family the raisin? In my opinion, the family as a whole unit is the raisin because they are all being put under pressure (with the decisions involving the money and the move to an all-white neighborhood). So, who do you think the raisin is, and what is the "sun" that is drying them out?
6 comments:
I believe that Walter may be this "raisin in the sun". He has an immense amount of pressure on him. He wants to be able to provide a much better life for his family, but the "sun" the white race has dried up many of his hopes. It is extremely difficult for the black man to make any advances in society during this time period.
I think the whole family is the raisin, they just each have different "suns," that are weighing them down. Ruth's sun is the pregnancy that she isn't sure the family will be able to support, Mama's sun is the money, and the fact that she doesn't know what she wants to do with it, because the family has so many burdons that need to be lifted. Walter's sun is the fact that he is unhappy with the path his life has taken, and he wants to be a better supporter to his family. Beneathea's sun is the changing society around her and trying to deal with her families ignorance
I would also say that raisin refers to the entire family.
Consider this: raisin is French for "grape." Grapes can come in many colors: blue, green, purple, red, brown, etc. The grape may be jammed, jellied, juiced, fermented, or eaten straight-up. Grapes bring joy to people the world over.
I now ask you to consider the simple raisin. They are dried-grapes—grape rejects!--often left in the sun until their sweet juices disappear. They are not colorful, they are a drab and wrinkled black. It is true that raisins are 9/10 sugar, yet their rabbit-dropping appearance renders them inedible to many. What purpose do they serve? They make kids irate that their grandmothers would give them knock-off grapes on a hot summer day rather than the juicy grape. Raisins are used only in cooking, shoving into little red boxes, or making ants on a log. The truly lucky raisin may make it to stardom, where it will be given arms and dark sunglasses, but that road is seldom traveled. They are all forced imitations of grapes, whose fame is portrayed on wine bottles everywhere.
I think there is a striking similarity here that cannot be overlooked. When someone offers you a raisin, just say “No thank-you, sir. I want none of your oppressed, assimilated citrus...”
I agree that the family is the raisin in the sun because each of them has been worn out for various reasons. When I read your post, I immediately thought of Mama. There is a scene when Mama is holding her plant, and Beneatha comments on its ugly and dry look. It looks as though the plant is whithered and dying. Mama responds, "It represents me!" Maybe Mama is already a "burst" raisin, but I think she relates to your ponit.
I think the whole family is a raisin each feeling that the life is being sucked right out of them. Age has to do with how worn out one is. You see a lot of life, curiosity and determination out of Beneatha thought as she is getting older the decisions she has to make are getting tougher and more complicated, while Mama(grandma) represents the dying plant that lacks life and has given up on herself. She has lost the energy to do something more with her life.
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