Significance Of Mama In The Play

Ruth just want to get out of poverty and to have a happy family. She doesn’t want to lose her opportunity to get out of the too small dilapidated apartment of which her family is forced to live in do to their lack of finances.

     Ruth has an intriguing personality. She is very loving towards her family. She will do all in her power to improve the lifestyle of her family. When it appears that the deal for the house in Clybourne Park will fall through, she promises to dedicate all of her time to make the investment work. “Lena-I’ll work… I’ll work 20 hours a day in all the kitchens

Reading this story from momma's point of view creates the feeling that one is in the story. The reader can feel and picture every character in the story.

In the 1950’s through the 1960’s women were not respected in there everyday lives, in the job field or in general. They did not have the rights they deserved, so during this time the “women’s movement” began. Women fought for their rights and fought for the self-respect that they thought they deserved. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the character Mama, expresses her feelings of pushing or extracting a new side for a woman. Her role explains that woman can be independent and can live for themselves. Through her behavior in this play she demonstrates that women can support and guide a family. Mama is in charge of the family, which is unusual, since men are traditionally the “head of a family”. Through Mama’s wisdom

Mama’s issue seems to be her low-self-esteem. One example of this is when she describes herself of being man-like and large. “I am a large, big.boned woman with rough, man.working hands” (Walker, 5). The way Mama views herself physically affects her internally and the decisions she made in her life regarding both of her daughters lead back to her inner conflict. Mama tries to steer the readers away from herself because she doesn’t consider herself much of anything. However, the way she physically describes herself is not what she hopes to be. For example, in Mama’s dream, she is on a television show with her older daughter Dee and she is a hundred pounds lighter with nicer hair. “… a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights” (Walker 5). This shows the inner struggle Mama faces with the way she views herself. Her insecurity has led her to want to look like other people; she does not particular like the way she looks but must endure it. Mama’s other issue is her lack of worldliness. Mama knows her place and knows not to look directly into someone’s eyes. One example of this is her fear

She wants a yard for her grandson to be able to play in, and a little garden of her own. She wants her children to have everything they want and for their dreams to come true. And she wants her family to stay together. But Mama sees her family crumbling in front of her. She sees Ruth, willing to have an abortion because she knows that she can’t raise another child in their environment and situation. She sees Beneatha, turning away from God and being unsatisfied with the men in her life. She sees her son Walter being worn down by a restlessness to have more and be more. Mama sees all of this eating away at them and their relationships and she wants nothing more than to stop it. She hopes that home she buys for them can bring them back together and that they will be able to live in peace in a white neighborhood even though the odds are against it. In Mama, the universal feeling of hope in human beings is manifested.

Although she is happy with mama’s decision to buy a house, Ruth is more concerned with receiving the affection of her husband and keeping him happy than the consequences or the moral implications his decisions will have. Ruth maintains the apartment they live in and most of the time, goes along with whatever Walter says. This is where Ruth and Mama differ; Mama wants Walter to be happy but not at the cost of doing something morally wrong, Ruth will do whatever it takes to make Walter happy. We see this when Ruth is contemplating having an abortion in order not to complicate living arrangements in the apartment and to allow Walter the financial means to pursue his goals. She also intends to keep it from Walter so spare him the burden of having to make a decision like that. When Mama find out about the abortion, she is appalled and says, “…we a people who give children life, not who destroys them.” Mama also succeeds in expressing her rich values and nurturing nature in Act III, Scene Three, when it is discovered that Walter has lost the remainder of the insurance money when his liquor store investment partner disappears with the money. Beneatha goes into a rage and openly expresses her hatred and contempt for her brother, and says, “He’s no brother of mine.”(Hansbury 3.3)

Mama is one character that had great acting qualities. She was the typical grandmother in both the

She is the oldest and wisest member of the family, and her word is respected. Mama puts family above herself, contrasting from Beneatha’s willingness to temporarily use her family to put her through school. When Mama received the life insurance check from her deceased husband, she used the money to buy a new house. She sensed that the family was restless and breaking, and she used her money to change the scenery for them and give them a place to live that they could be proud of. She makes sure to take care of her family, contributing what everyone else did, and taking less; working a job and also taking care of everyone at home. Mama has old fashioned, traditional beliefs, and she clashes with the others at certain moments in order to hold her ground and traditions. When Beneatha says she isn’t religious, Mama slaps her and makes her say, “In my mother’s house there is still God.”(page 54) She makes sure to enforce her beliefs in her house, also making it clear how she feels about Ruth wanting an abortion. Mama is the leader of the household, and as such she is the only one who is willing to put trust in Walter in order to empower him. After she bought the house, she gave the remainder of the money to him, trusting him to make a heavy decision. Even after he hurt her by wasting the money, she still gave him the power of the head of the family to make the final decision on

Ruth cares for her already-living family and decides their low socioeconomic status would make it difficult to support a baby. When Ruth sees her family unifying and stabilizing with the big move, she changes her mind, she softens, welcoming a new addition to their family; an idea that she rejected shortly before. However, Walter is too focused on accomplishing his own dreams and fails to see the results of his negligence to his family. Unlike Ruth, Walter does not immediately believe in the brief stability of his family, and instead, hopes to find success, become the man of the house, and change the Younger pride. He blames his family members for being a hinderance to his dreams.

She went out into town and nobody knew what she was doing.” It’s, it’s a nice house too… three bedrooms, nice big one for you and Ruth… me and Beneatha still have to share our room.” She came back hours later and told everyone some big news. She had bought a house with the money that the came in the check. Although Walter wasn’t supportive of this decision, she still did it anyway

Mama is the heart and soul of the Younger family that keeps everyone together and interact with each other. She keeps everyone in check awaits for the 10,000 dollar to come through, since it can really help the family change their lives in a positive way. Lena Younger (Mama)

Mama is also having to difficulties because of race,she is also struggling because of race . Mama is the mother of Walter and Beneatha, grandma of Travis and mother in law of Ruth. Mama has a plant that represent or symbolizes the younger family and she loves that plant a lot. One quote that shows that she is having trouble because of race, is “ The house they put up for colored in them areas way out all seem to cost twice as much as other houses . I did the best I could ’’ ( Hansberry 93 ). Mama means that in the black neighborhood they would have to pay even more than they payed in the white neighborhood. Also that people don’t want to mix blacks and whites together. Mama didn’t want to waste a lot of money so she bought it where the whites live so the don’t wasted a lot, they expect for dark skin people to pay more than whites should pay. Another quote that I found that relates to race is “ I see ... him … night after night … come in … and look at that rug … and then look at me … the red showing in his eyes … the veins moving in his head … I seen him grow thin and old before he was forty … working and working and working like somebody’s old horse … killing himself … and you you give it all away in one day ”( Hansberry 129 ). Mama is trying to say that in that time there was even less opportunities especially to a dark skin person like big Walter but big Walter did whatever he could to provide for his family even if it takes everything. Also

Everyone in the family even with the consent fighting and bickering all had good intention and were trying to look out for each other. Mama, Ruth and Water both all shared similar dreams for the family. They all wanted a better life for one another. Ruth’s dream is like Mama’s. She wants to build a happy family and believes one step toward this goal is to own a bigger and better place to live. Ruth’s dream is also deferred by a lack of money, which forces her and Walter to live in a crowded apartment where their son, Travis, must sleep on a sofa.

She knows that the family, education and society rule are so important. She is not very well educated, but she insists to maintain the personality that people are supposed to be. “Now don’t you start child. It’s to early in the morning to be talking about money. It ain’t Christian.” (41) In the morning, Ruth and Mama has a conversation in kitchen. Ruth tells Mama that Walter wants to use father’s insurance money to invest a liquor company. Mama cannot completely agree with her son. Mama complains that once upon a time freedom used to be life, but now it’s money. On the other hand, she loves her husband because he is worth to be loved. Mama wishes her sun modeled himself after his father. She never felt shame of being laundryman. She is respectably dressed as much as possible. She is a high head when in front of those white people who despise black people. “I come from five generations of people who was slaves and sharecroppers—but ain’t nobody in my family never ley nobody pay ‘em no money that was a way of telling us we wasn’t fit to walk the warth. We ain’t never been that poor. We ain’t never been that—dead inside.” (143) After she buys the house, the white people in community try to ding out the Youngers’ family. They pay more money to ask them move out. As a black woman, Mama is proud of her skin and keeps her unique personality. She refer to live harder, rather than letting people trampling on her with money.