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.