A Raisin In The Sun By Lorraine Hansberry

Symbolic Relationships
A symbol is an object, person, or saying, that has another meeting other than its literal meaning. Many different symbols are present in “A Raisin in the Sun.” These symbols also relate to the views of people during this time period, and even personal experiences from the author Lorraine Hansberry. Symbols from this text focus on somewhat controversial issues of not only this time period, but also now. The major symbols in “A Raisin in the Sun” that focus on relationship and family include, “Eat Your Eggs”, Mama’s plant, and Beneatha's hair.
The first symbol, “Eat Your Eggs,” is present early on in the text and focuses on the relationships between a man and woman. Ruth yells at Walter to eat his eggs instead of naging,

fighting, and convincing Ruth. It is meant to show how women can keep men from achieving their goals. In “A Raisin in the Sun,” Walter says,
That’s it. There you are. Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs. (Sadly, but gaining in power) Man say: I got to take hold of this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work. (Passionately now) Man say: I got to change my life, I’m choking to death, baby! And his woman say – (In utter anguish as he brings his fists down on his thighs) – Your eggs is getting cold!” (Hansberry Act 1, Scene 1, pg 83).
In this quote Walter is yelling at Ruth for not being supportive in his dreams and goals. Ruth wasn’t in the mood that morning to hear about his ideas and problems. Walter was tired of not being paid attention to, or listened to by his wife. Walter, along with many people during this time period, believed women were just supposed to work in the house. He let her know what she was doing wrong and by her only saying “eat your eggs,” she was getting in the way of his dreams. Since she wasn’t supporting his idea she was just in the way and leading to his downfall. This symbol of women in the way of men appears in many texts. Another text where this gender symbol is shown is in “Man Vs Woman” by Noel Horlanda. In this poems Horlanda opens with these lines, “In every man’s success, There is a woman behind, In every man’s downfall, There is always a woman involved,” (Horlanda lines 1-4). In these four lines Horlanda shows that women can be so influential on a man they either cause their success or their downfall. If a woman doesn’t support her man, similar to Ruth not supporting Walter, then the man will fail and the woman has caused the downfall. So Ruth not supporting Walter is distracting him from his dream so he will fail due to a woman, as shown in his argument.
Another symbol in “A Raisin in the Sun,” shows the importance and effect of family instead of relationships.

In Hansberry’s text, Mama’s emotions and dreams could be exhibited through her plant. She took care of that plant so well and did so because it was similar to being apart of the family. Mama also takes pride in her care and the growth of this plant which means she takes pride in her family and their successes. This shows that she is proud of her family and cares a lot about them. The plant also symbolizes her dream which is to own her own house with a garden in the back. In “A Raisin in the Sun,” the stage directions

state,
(MAMA enters from her bedroom.

She is lost, vague, trying to catch hold, to make some sense of her former command of the world, but it still eludes her. A sense of waste overwhelms her gait; a measure of apology rides on her shoulders. She goes to her plant, which has remained on the table, looks at it, picks it up and takes it to the windowsill and sits it outside, and she stands and looks at it a long moment. Then she closes the window, straightens her body with effort and turns around to her children) (Hansberry 66; Act 3, Scene 1)
This quote shows how Mama’s emotions are shown by her actions toward the plant. Recently Mama put all of her faith and a great sum of money in her son, Walter, and trusted he would do big things with the money like he promised. But, Walter ended up failing, and disappointing his mother. Mama's loss of hope is expressed through her actions and also in the suffering of her beloved little plant. She put all her faith in her son Walter, but he has disappointed her. With his failure, her dreams have

died.
The final symbol in “A Raisin in the Sun” is Beneatha's hair and this symbol focuses on culture and relationships. At the start of the play Beneatha had straight hair similar to caucasian hair. She had straight hair because she had conformed to society, since society favored white women over black. At this point she was focused more on looking normal rather than embracing her culture. Then, Asagai came to visit her and asked why her hair looked like that. The relationship between Asagai and Beneatha was powerful because Asagai’s opinion made her change her look. By doing so she realized she should embrace her heritage. She then cuts her hair short and leaves it curly so it looks similar to an afro. By doing this she sends a powerful message that she is embracing her heritage and where she came from. In many poems this symbol is present, especially in “My Culture, My Pride,”. This poem by Jacques Maytea states, “Its inheritance is our strength. Our whereabouts and our which is which. Our breakthrough and our future. Our undivided tension, and our nation in colors,” (Mateya lines 5-9). In this poem, Mateya refers to culture and heritage in a positive tone showing the embrace and effect heritage and culture have on a person. In the poem culture is referred to as who you as, it is the reason why you act like how you act and determines your future. The poem also talks about a nation of colors which is America, there are people of all races in this country. Beneatha was African American and she initially struggled to embrace her culture, but once she did she realized being herself was beautiful. She acted how she did due to her culture which is what the poem states. The poem also addresses that culture can cause tension and this remains true to this day, but during the time period that “A Raisin in the Sun” was written cultural tensions were extremely high. The author Lorraine Hansberry suffered some of the effects of cultural tensions. Overall, Beneatha’s new hairstyle showed the embrace of her culture and break from society’s stereotypes.
“A Raisin in the Sun” had many important symbols that revolved around relationships or family members. “Eat Your Eggs” was a powerful symbol about women getting in the way of the dreams of men, which is an unpopular view on gender roles. Mama’s plant symbolizes her hopes, dreams, emotions, and love for her family. Beneatha’s hair represented the embracing of culture and heritage while she broke the mold of society. These symbols were also able to reflect the views of people during the time period that this text was written. Overall, “A Raisin in the Sun” is a very symbolic text that references relationships and views of people in society at this time.