Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, has many compelling and complex characters
that add to the plotline of the story. However, three of these characters can
be classified into one of these groups: those who make things happen, those who
watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened. A character who makes
things happen in this story is Mama, the strong-willed leader of the family.
Mama is determined throughout the entire plot to make life just a little better
for her family and to make their dreams come true, which she believes she can
accomplish by buying a new, bigger house. As Mama receives ten thousand dollars
after the death of her husband, she chose to buy the family a house while also
providing some money to her daughter for her medical education and some money
to her son for businesses investments. Mama just wants to see her family happy
and successful, and she makes a point of ensuring that that is exactly what
happens. Consequently, a character who watches things happen is Travis, Mama’s
grandson. Although Travis is a minor character, he is there to watch the chaos
of his family unfold. Because of all of the arguments, distress, and sadness
the other members of the family cause each other, Travis is often forgotten about
and sent away to prevent him from getting in the way. However, as a young boy
who reveres and cares for every person in his family, he respects them and
stays out of their way. The character that wonders what happened is Ruth, Mama’s
daughter-in-law and Travis’ mother. Ruth married Mama’s son Walter in hopes of
having a wonderful life together, yet things took a turn for the worst and they
are living in a state of anger and despair. Ruth states to Walter, “I don’t
know where we lost it…but we have,” (Hansberry, 87). This expresses Ruth’s
confusion as to what happened with her family. They do not get along anymore
and disagree with each other, and it affects the family’s ability to function.
These three characters represent the activist, the bystander, and the confused.
No comments:
Post a Comment