A Raisin in the Sun Setting

The setting of "A Raisin in the Sun," by Lorraine Hansberry is critical to the story. The main setting for the story, is the apartment of the Younger family. "The once loved fabric of the couch upholstery has to fight to show itself under acres of crocheted dollies and couch covers which have themselves finally come to be more important than the upholstery" (Hansberry 435). This shows that while the apartment was once a symbol of hope, neatly created by mama, it has now become a symbol of the family's oppression. The couch is stuck underneath the couch covers, exasperated by the weight of them, just as the family is of living in the small apartment. The whole family of four adults, and a young child live within a two bedroom apartment. The only source of light in the apartment is a small window, showing how the family has little hope, just as they have little sun. The family believes that the life insurance check will bring them out of their dispair, and as such out of the small apartment. The apartment seems to represent all the broken dreams that the family has had, and all the challenged that came up along the way. Mama had originally planned on living in the apartment for only a short time, moving into a house. That never happened. Instead, Mama has spent the entirety of her adult life inside the apartment, and needs to move on, and as such will move on to a new segment of her life, one where her dream is the limit, rather the confining walls of the small apartment.