Mama's Plant

In the play, A Raising in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, Mama's plant is a subtle but important symbol. The plants is described as "barley surviving" during the beginning of the book, but Mama still nurtures and cares for it. She even dedicates the only window to the plant, as to try to make sure it gets ample sunlight. The plant represents Mama's hope for her family. She hopes her family will be able to come together and be happy and unified. At the beginning of the book, the plant is wilted and flawed, which is a comparison to the way that her family is flawed. Mama describes the plant by mentioning, "If this little old plant don't get more sun than it's been getting, it ain't never going to see spring again" (Hansberry 40). Despite these flaws, Mama still takes pride in the plant and waters it every day, just like her family. She also dedicated much of her efforts to trying to make sure that her family will be able to live a good life together, and much like how she spends a lot of time and thought on the plant, she pays $3,000 for a down payment on a nice house to try to fulfill that dream for her family. One of Mama's favorite things about the new house that they purchased is that it has plenty of windows, and lots of light. This shows how Mama thinks the sunlight will help her family to grow and be happy, similarly to how a plant will with ample light.

Religion in The Diamond as Big as the Ritz

In The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, religion plays a key part in the book. Though it is not blatantly obvious at first, there are many subliminal references and symbols of god and religion, specifically Christianity. John's hometown, Hades, is actually an allusion to hell, named after the Greek god of the underworld. This is a direct contrast the the Washington estate, which is the "garden of eden", a garden of paradise from the bible. Another reference to hell is made in Braddock's dungeon, where one of the men yells, "Come down to hell". Braddock continues to mock them, showing how he thinks of himself as a powerful god who controls who is in eden and who is in hell. There are also references to the fact that Americans have turned away from god, and only chose to worship money. One example is the "twelve fishermen". Fitzgerald describes the village below the mountain, saying , "An immense distance under the sky crouched the village of Fish, minute, dismal, and forgotten" (Fitzgerald 78). The twelve fishermen represent the twelve disciples, and the town represents God's place in America. The village is "minute" and "forgotten", showing how religion has become neglected in this time or materialism and greed. The end of the book, when planes attack Braddock's estate, is supposed to be like judgment day, where God comes back and wreaks havoc for Braddock's greed and his sins. When Braddock tries to offer a diamond as a bribe to God, God shows that the divine is not in the same league as humans, because God is not greedy or corrupt. Braddock, on the other hand, thinks that money and wealth trump everything, so he is unpleasantly surprised when his bribe is turned down. He realizes that he is not the most powerful being as he had previously thought, and god destroys eden to show that Braddock is not, in fact, in control of who is in eden and who is in hell.

Favorite Great Gatsby Passage

Often the most profound and important revelation of a book is at the end. Such is true with F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, where nick sits thinking to himself, "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter- to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...." (Fitzgerald 180). What Nick is trying to say is that Gatsby was never going to be able to be satisfied with what he'd achieved. Gatsby is supposed to represent all the people trying to achieve the American dream, who think that when the reach their "goal", generally of becoming rich, they will be happy. Though Gatsby is able to become very wealthy, he still isn't happy because he wants Daisy to love him. Then when he finally does get Daisy to love him, he isn't happy because he wants Daisy to tell Tom that she "never loved him". This shows that Even though Gatsby can achieve these goals, the pleasure is temporary, and he is soon anxious about the next thing that he wants. This constant consumption and want for more is unsustainable, and thus is why Gatsby eventually gets shot and dies. Similarly, the greed and constant desire for more eventually leads from the prosper and hope of the 1920s, to the Great Depression, which is the collapse of the American dream. This was similar to the situation Fitzgerald was in, where he was always drinking despite his large amount of wealth that should've satisfied him, and supports my last post about how money doesn't but happiness.