Major Themes in Raisin in the Sun Essay

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Raisin in the Sun: Travis and Important Themes

In Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun, the themes of identity, materialism, pride, heritage, family, upward mobility, equality and even life and death all play a part in the story’s development and plot. The play’s main characters the Youngers—an impoverished African American family living in a one bedroom apartment. After receiving an inheritance, Mama puts a down payment on a new home that the family can expand into—but the home is in a white neighborhood, which leads to a tense scene between Walter and a man who offers to buy him out of his purchase in order to avoid conflict in the white community. Travis is the son of Walter and Ruth and set to become an older brother (so long as Ruth does not have an abortion). In one regard, Travis, as a child in a poor family, represents the financial strain that comes with raising children in a family. In another regard, Travis represents the future—the family’s ongoing perseverance and the potential for new life and all that is good. Indeed, it is the implicit suggestion made by Ruth that she is considering an abortion that prompts Mama to take the initiative and put make a down payment on a house with a portion of the inheritance money so that the whole family can have more room to grow. Travis also represents the innocence of youth and the goodness of soul that must be followed at all times. This paper will discuss Travis’ importance to the most prominent themes in Raisin in the Sun—family commitment, materialism, and life.

In the beginning of the play, Travis is shown “asleep on the make-down bed at center” in the family living room of the one bedroom apartment (Hansberry 27). His presence there in the family room, where he sleeps, symbolizes the family’s poverty: they cannot even afford a bedroom for the boy. When he wakes and is told to get ready for school, he reminds his mother that he needs fifty cents to pay the teacher.

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He is scolded and told not to think about money (since the family doesn’t have any) and when he asks if he could ask his grandmother, he is scolded again. This scene depicts the family’s money problems. The father’s materialistic pursuits contrast with Travis’s simple need for 50 cents (not for himself but because the school requires payment). But since the family doesn’t have the money to give, Travis thoughtfully asks, “Could I maybe go carry some groceries in front of the supermarket for a little while after school then?” (Hansberry 32). In this way, Travis also represents the theme of commitment: he knows that the family is broke but he doesn’t hold that against the ones he loves. Instead, he offers to make himself useful and earn the money by carrying groceries for people. The boy has a good spirit and in this manner he also symbolizes the theme of life.

In this way, Travis contrasts with the other characters as they impact the themes of the play. The father’s materialism contrasts with Travis’s purity. Travis’s commitment to the family and to earning a wage for himself contrasts with Walter’s scheme to get rich through a naïve investment in a liquor store (which leads to him being robbed of his investment). Travis works hard with what skills he has (he can carry groceries) and earns the money he needs to pay his school. He doesn’t complain about this but willingly and gladly does it because he loves life. This contrasts with his mother’s….....

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