grrrrrr

After much internal debate about what my blog post was going to be about, I have finally decided to do a tier list on the characters in A Raisin In The Sun. Now, you might be thinking, what characters could there be? There are like five important characters- Walter, Beneatha, Ruth, Mama- in the entire novel so what is there to rank? Well, I sure am glad you asked! Today, I’m going to be ranking my top five most useless characters. 

Number five on my list, unfortunately, has to be Bobo. Sorry man but it’s gotta be you. He really is just so useless and offers nothing of substance whatsoever. His only directive in the play is to cry with Walter. It seems like Hansberry kinda took the phrase three’s a crowd to heart and made three business partners instead of just two. Bobo really just didn’t do anything at all; he didn’t sound genuine at all whatsoever and the entire time I saw his name I compared him to one of those gorillas in the circuses that everyone laughs at. 

Next up is Mrs. Johnson. Now I know she might have been a product of internalized racism but she really was just so useless. The only times that the Youngers even mentioned the Johnsons was when they fought over the bathroom and besides that one scene in like Act 2, nothing happens. She just leeches off the Youngers’ food and leaves. What a useless character. Some might say she could be as useless as a pink elephant.

Number third was tricky but I gotta give it to Ruth’s unborn child. This child in question was mentioned in Act 1 and I thought him/her would have been of greater importance but clearly not. They didn’t make any other mentions about what would happen to this child when he/she was born nor did they seem to realize that there was another child being born. They kinda just left it like: LOL a child is being born and abortion is out of the question because Jesus is in our household so I guess we aren’t gonna figure out the logistics of another child being born. I’m kinda disappointed ngl I expected more from this child.

Number 2 is definitely the janitor. Now, you may ask, when was there even a janitor. And to that I respond: That’s why he/she is number 2. The janitor made an appearance when Travis and some of his friends were chasing a giant rat. Now I don’t know why there was a giant rat; I’m not quite sure why it was important to the rhetoric of this piece but there was a janitor killed it. I’m not quite sure why the janitor killed the rat on the street either but I guess street janitors are probably a thing too. The janitor probably also symbolized something like how kids were ok with seeing a death and destruction all around them in the inner city but that feels like a lot of symbolism to put on a single janitor so I’m gonna table that for now. We are finished with the novel so I refuse to analyze it even further. The janitor was useless because I’m not quite sure why he was important to the book and the city he was cleaning up. If he killed the rat, he has to clean that up and that’s just a lot more work for him, so he’s gotta be like the most useless character ever. To just create more work for himself and try to be useful to the story. LMAO you weren’t.

Finally, my number one choice. Oh boy. I sure am excited to reveal this one. I sure hope you guys won’t LEAF after this one. That’s right everyone, number one on my list is Mama’s plant! What really irks me about this one is the fact that this plant could have been useful, once upon a time. Ok, ok I see all that this plant can symbolize and the emotional depth that it adds to the story, but did it really add anything to the story. Naw, not really. This plant was probably mentioned quite a bit throughout the novel but did it really supply anything other than show us how bad at gardening that Mama is? It was almost like a main character that nothing happened with. This plant makes me the angriest because it was treated like a main character but it had no character development throughout the novel. Maybe the plant could have bloomed to show how the Youngers were blossoming into a new part of life. Maybe the plant could have died to foreshadow what might have happened to the Youngers. Maybe the plant could have been left behind to show that the Youngers have left behind their dreams because they accomplished their common dream. But the plant did nothing at all whatsoever. Nothing of worth happened to the plant and Mama cares for the plant like it is her own child. It is not her own child it is worthless and useless and is still treated like a main character. How despicable. 

So there you have it, Megan’s Top 5 Most Useless Characters in A Raisin In the Sun. I hope everyone enjoyed and please subscribe to my YouTube Channel, Y U N G C H I N Z!