The Daly Post

Scene involving Mama and Walter discussing the importance of money: Walter : Standing in the kitchen with a rundown, boiling look. Mama... you just don't understand. I'm not quite sure what you don't understand, but whatever it is you just simply don't get. Everyday, I wake up and all I do in this life of mine is serve other people. These people that I work for live in big, fancy houses and wear nothing but smiles upon their faces. Tell me, what do I get? Nothing. "Money is life" (Hansberry 74) Mama, can't you see? Money is what makes you happy. Money is what makes you successful. God, I don't think I could emphasize the statement even more; "Money is life[!]" (Hansberry 74). It's not like I'm asking for pink elephants or a flying Pegasus. I'm asking for a life -- full of happiness and love. No wonder I went off and spent all that money to be put into the liquor store. It was my only chance to re-route my life, your life, all of...

Why did Hansberry choose to add Mama to his story? Although Mama can come across as a "dream-crusher", she acts as a symbol of progress for her children throughout the play.  Beneatha and Walter, Mama's children, can be easily identified as characters who tend to fall behind present day culture . Beneatha, who is studying to be a doctor, falls into these stereotypes once Walter has spent her college money. Without the money, she lost faith in humanity and felt as if she could no longer do anything to help people. In comparison to Beneatha, Walter has this dream of owning a liquor store as he believes that the profit would be beneficial to himself and his family. Once his money was gone, he wouldn't do anything but drink all day. Just like Beneatha, he had lost hope in his dream.  Both characters looked at money as the pathway to success. Once that path was gone, the characters both lost their ambition. They have both assimilated to society as they refer to the...