Dreams - "A Raisin in the Sun"
...fect environment for growth. Just as she cares for Beneatha’s well being in the beginning of the play, when Mama tells her “Beenie honey, it’s too drafty for you to be sitting ‘round half dressed. Where’s your robe?”(40). Mama wants Beneatha to carry out her dream to be a doctor. We realize this when she is talking to Ruth about what she wants to do with the insurance check money. Mama tells Ruth, “Some of it got to be put away for Beneatha and her schoolin’ and ain’t nothing going to touch that part of it. Nothing” (44). She cares deeply for Ruth as well, consoling her when Walter ignores her when she is trying to tell him why she is not feeling well. It is definitely evident that Mama cares for her grandson Travis. She is constantly looking after him, and going behind him and doing everything for him that she can. Even when it comes to making his bed, Mama easily comes behinds him and fixes it for him, despite the fact that Ruth may think he should learn to do it on his own (40). Mama just wants the best that she can give for Travis. The fact that Mama allows Ruth and Walter to live in her house shows that she cares deeply for Walter and his family. She wants to see them grow, but at the same time, at a place where she can be there to see it all unfold, and where she can be a part of it. This is why Mama wants to buy a house, with a back yard where Travis can play and not sleep on the couch anymore, where there will be more than enough room for herself, Ruth, Walter, Travis and Beneatha. The true passions as a mother to see her son succeed in life and become the man of the household is expressed when Mama is talking to Walter, “Listen to me now, I say I been wrong, son. That I been doing to you what the rest of the world been doing to you. (She turns off the radio) Walter-(She stops and he looks up slowly at her and she meets his eyes pleadingly) What you ain’t never understood is that I ain’t got nothing that wasn’t for you. There ain’t nothing as precious to me…There ain’t nothing worth holding on to, money, dreams, nothing else-if it means it’s going to destroy my boy…I paid the man thirty-five hundred dollars down on the house. That leaves sixty-five hundred dollars…The rest you put in a checking account-with your name on it. And from now on any penny that come out of it or that goes in it is for you to look after. For you to decide. (She drops her hands a little helplessly) It ain’t much, but it’s all I got in the world and I’m putting it in your hands. I’m telling you to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be”(107). The plant also symbolizes her dream to own a house and, more specifically, to have a garden and a yard. Mama lets us know this when she is talking to Ruth, “But Lord, child, you should know all the dreams I had ‘bout buying that house and fixing it up and making me a little garden in the back (She waits and stops smiling) And didn’t none of it happen “(45). With her plants, she practices her gardening skills. Through taking care of it by watering it, always making sure it is getting sunlight. Her success with the plant helps her to believe that she would be successful as a gardener. Her persistence and dedication to the plant fosters her hope that her dream may come true. She tries to give the plant enough lights and water not only to grow but also to flourish and become beautiful, just as she attempts to provide for her family with meager yet consistent financial support. Mama also imagines a garden that she can tend along with her dream house. As Mama puts it, “Well, I always wanted me a garden like I used see sometime at the back of the houses down home. This plant is close as I ever got to having one” (53). The small potted plant acts as a temporary stand-in for her much larger dream. Her relentless care for the plant represents her protection of her dream. Despite her cramped living situation and the lifetime of hard work that she has endured, she maintains her focus on her dream, which helps her to persevere. Still, no matter how much Mama works, the plant remains feeble, because there is so little light. Similarly, it is difficult for her to care for her family as much as she wants and to have her family members grow as much as she wants. Her dream of a house and a better life for her family...