Travis's Role in A Raisin in the Sun: Key Themes

Introduction: Travis Among the Themes of the Play

In Lorraine Hansberry's A 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 are 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 is 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 another regard, Travis represents the future — the family's ongoing perseverance and the potential for new life and all that is good. It is the implicit suggestion that Ruth is considering an abortion that prompts Mama to take the initiative and put 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 discusses Travis's importance to the most prominent themes in A Raisin in the Sun — family commitment, materialism, and life.

Travis and the Family's Financial Struggle

At 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 financial difficulties. The father's materialistic pursuits contrast with Travis's simple need for fifty cents, not for himself but because the school requires it.

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 struggling but he does not 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.

Conclusion: Travis as the Heart of the Play

Travis represents, one could say, the heart of A Raisin in the Sun. Though he is not a major character, his innocence and goodness reflect the importance of the play's central themes — the need for family members 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 and honest needs. Walter learns several valuable lessons over the course of 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 to work for his way in the world — carrying groceries for others. This is what it takes for a family to truly survive and thrive.

Works Cited

Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun.