Major Themes in Raisin in the Sun

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. 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 concern about having another baby: she is afraid a new baby will put too much strain on the family. If she had the kind of pluck and courage that Travis has, the kind of youthful innocence and willingness to do the work to make the money, she wouldn’t worry so much.
Travis’s commitment and his spirit (his vitality) are what help to bring the real issues of the play to the fore. Even though he is not a major character, he represents the innocence that the characters must aspire to gain or repossess in order to stay a family, in order to stand up for themselves in a white neighborhood that would sooner see them leave than welcome them in as fellow neighbors. Walter learns, eventually, the necessity of committing to one’s family. Mama’s purchase of the home with some of the inheritance reflects the goodness and love of life that Travis represents (for she does not want to see her daughter have an abortion and kill the life inside her). And the family’s decision (led by Walter) to stay in the home rather than take a buyout shows that in the end, the theme of commitment rises above the lure and temptation of materialism. Having lost one small fortune already on a naïve gamble to get rich, Walter does not want to repeat his mistake and instead he puts his family’s real and immediate interests ahead of his own superficial desires. Travis is there as a sign of the need for the father to make this commitment: the family comes first, and the family needs room to grow. That is what life is really about—not materialistic happiness.
In conclusion, Travis represents the heart, it could be said, in Raisin in the Sun. Though he is not a major character, his innocence and goodness reflect the importance of the major themes of the play—the need for family to be committed to one another, the need for life to have room to grow (both figuratively and literally), and the need for materialistic desires to take a backseat to real, honest needs. Walter learns some valuable lessons in the play—but these are lessons that Travis already seems to appreciate and respect in his youthful innocence: as a child he is ready to make sacrifices (sleeping in the living room) and work to make his way (carrying groceries for others). This is what it takes for a family to live and truly survive and thrive.

Works Cited
Hansberry, Lorraine. Raisin in the Sun.
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