Raisins in the Sun: Lena Younger - Essay Example

“Raisins in the Sun Lena Younger. Lorraine Hansberry’s “Raisins in the Sun” is written in the historical context of Chicago’s housing rights struggle in the early twentieth century. The plot of the drama is based on Hansberry’s own experience of racial discrimination and segregated housing in post-World War II America. Hansberry’s family lived in Chicago, where housing was rigidly segregated on racial lines. Bombings, demonstrations, attacks on blacks who tried to reside in white neighborhoods, and racially restrictive zoning laws were common. In the 1930s, The Hansberry’s attempted to move into a ‘restricted’ white neighborhood in Chicago. They were confronted by vigilante violence and the young Hansberry narrowly escaped being struck by a brick thrown through the window by a shrieking, racist mob (Mathews, 556). In 1959, Hansberry became the first black, and the youngest person, to win the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for “Raisins in the Sun” (Washington, 75). The Younger family, comprising of Lena Younger, Beneatha (her daughter), Walter (son), Ruth (daughter-in-law) and Travis (grandson), lives is a run-down, cramped apartment in the black ghetto of Chicago’s Southside. Each member of the family has a dream: Lena dreams of a new house, Beneatha aspires to become a doctor, Walter reaches out for economic success and Ruth yearns for an easier life. When Lena receives her dead husband’s insurance check of ten thousand dollars, these different dreams bring about conflict in the family. Walter loses a substantial part of the sum in a poorly conceived business scheme. Lena buys a house in an all-white neighborhood. The Younger’s are covertly threatened by their prospective neighbors. Finally, the conflict is resolved with the family defiantly moving to their new house. Lena Younger, as the dynamic protagonist of “Raisins in the Sun,” is motivated by the good of her family and displays commendable heroism. Lena Younger is the protagonist, or central character, of the drama. In an interview, Hansberry comments that “Raisins in the Sun” lacks a central character. This is debatable, as it is through Lena that the reader is “able to hold on to the play and become involved in a way that the central character is supposed to guarantee” (Hansberry, qtd. In Mathews, 557). Lena, as Mama, dominates the narrative and enjoys the empathy of the audience. “The overpowering personality of Lena Younger, particularly her moral rectitude and selfless nature, tends to overshadow Walter, and this accounts in part for the tendency of many readers and audiences to focus their attention almost entirely on her” (Washington, 110). Mama’s spirituality is an integral part of her character. Her actions are dictated by a deep religious faith and morality. Walter and Beneatha are raised as regular church goers. Her religion is the source of her fortitude and strength. The simplicity and absolute completeness of her faith is deeply moving. Lena is the epitome of principled living. She rejects Walter’s dream of opening a liquor store, as selling liquor to people would weigh on her conscience. Her patience and understanding are admirable. Mama emphasizes Travis’ need for nourishing food and playing space; she sympathizes with Ruth’s pain; she patiently attempts to understand Walter’s point of view; she supports Beneatha’s aspirations. Mama’s unconditional love and boundless compassion form the cement which holds the Younger family together and touches an emotional chord in the audience. It is this which enables her to forgive Walter for losing the money earmarked for Beneatha’s education. In fact, Hansberry herself delineates Lena Younger in terms of a strong protagonist, giving her a bearing which “is perhaps most like the noble bearing of the women of the Hereros of Southwest Africa” and a face “full of strength” (Hansberry, 1.1. Line). Mama’s tremendous strength of character is magnetic in its attraction. As the central character of the narrative, it is through her dynamism that the conflict in the play is resolved. Lena’s character is dynamic. She has the “ability both to change and accept changes” (Saber, 459). Lena represents an older generation of Blacks who migrated to the north during the industrial boom of the early twentieth century. Their version of the American Dream is limited: not getting lynched, moving to the North, and living with dignity and without overt racial segregation. Beneatha and Walter have moved beyond Lena’s simple aspirations. Lena is aware that the times have changed and Walter and Beneatha are not like her. She sadly concedes, “You my children but how different we done become” (Hansberry, 1. 1. Line). Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor and repudiates the faith which is the bedrock of her mother’s life. When Beneatha denies the existence of God, Mama slaps her daughter and chastises her. Walter sees economic prosperity as the way to true realization of the American Dream. Lena succinctly defines the difference between herself and her son: “Once upon a time freedom used to be life now it's money. I guess the world really do change” (Hansberry, 1.2. Line). Lena cannot empathize with Walter’s almost obsessive focus on money, or his choice of a liquor store as an enterprise. She sees blacks as working people and not as entrepreneurs and has conscientious objections towards encouraging people to drink. She refuses to finance Walter’s business venture. The conflict in the play rises because of the clash of ideologies between Lena and Walter. However, as a dynamic character, Lena changes when she encounters conflict. She sees her refusal pushing Walter into despair. He does not report to his job as a chauffeur. He drinks, is cynical and lashes out at Ruth. Once Lena realizes the adverse psychological effect of her action on Walter, she immediately changes. She gives Walter the money to invest in his liquor store, simply admitting, “Walter I been wrong” (Hansberry, 2. 2. Line). She builds up his self-esteem and hands over the reins of the family to him. She resolves the conflict between herself and her son due to her selfless motivation. Lena Younger is motivated by the good of her family. It is her selfless concern for the common good which activates her character and guides her behavior. She “tries to identify a means by which the family can transcend racism, poverty, and discord” (Mathews, 565). She is determined to help her daughter realize her dream of becoming a doctor and unequivocally sets aside a sum for Beneatha’s education. When she sees Walter giving in to despair, she gives him control of the remaining money. Lena makes a categorical declaration of her devotion and selfless concern for her family when she tells her son, “What you ain't never understood is that I ain't got nothing, don't own nothing, ain't never really wanted nothing that wasn't for you. There ain't nothing as precious to me . . . There ain't nothing worth holding on to, money, dreams, nothing else if it means if it means it's going to destroy my boy” (Hansberry, 2. 2. Line). Lena, with her deep understanding of each member of her family, becomes increasingly aware of the compelling need to move out of the cramped apartment in Southside Chicago in order to save her family from disintegration. She realizes the truth of Beneatha’s statement “we've all got acute ghetto-itus” (Hansberry, 1. 2. Line). The Younger family is divided as the adults lash out at each other. Ruth decides to abort her unborn child; Beneatha abhors her brother; Walter seeks a way of escape from his status in life and drifts away from his wife. As Lena watches this self-destruction, she sees the purchase of a house as the only available means of holding her family together and preserving their affection for each other. Travis needs a room and space to play; Beneatha is ready to burn down the cockroach infested apartment; Ruth equally detests their present accommodation and longs for space and sunshine; Lena herself has long dreamt of a house of her own. She goes out and buys a house for the family, courageously choosing an all-white neighborhood because it was the best option available to them. This is an act of undoubted heroism. Lena’s choice of a house in an all-white community has the hallmark of a modern hero. She rises above and beyond normal expectations to take a radical decision. She understands the danger inherent in her choice of residence. When Mrs. Johnson rather gleefully emphasizes the very real possibility of the Younger’s being bombed in Clybourne Park, Lena tells her, “We done thought about all that Mis’ Johnson” (Hansberry, 2. 2. Line). In spite of the hazards, Lena decides that the family must move from the ghetto if they are to remain together. Although she belongs to an older generation of blacks who practically accept a limited version of the American Dream, Lena Younger is “The Black matriarch incarnate: The bulwark of the Negro family since slavery; the embodiment of the Negro will to transcendence. It is she who, in the mind of the Black poet, scrubs the floors of a nation in order to create Black diplomats and university professors. It is she who, while seeming to cling to traditional restraints, drives the young on into the fire hoses and one day simply refuses to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery” (Saber, 458). She transcends her present circumstances in her attempt to give her family meaning and value in their lives. She is willing to fight in order to safeguard her family identity and the welfare of its members. When she sees her family falling apart, she boldly discards conventional options and marches into uncharted territory in search of a solution. Lena says, “We was going backwards ‘stead of forwards ---. When it gets like that in life – you just got to do something different, push on out and do something bigger” (Hansberry, 2. 1. Line). When Walter goes on to lose the money, Lena is devastated. But she rises from the ashes of her sorrow to forgive Walter and goad him into retaining his pride in his heritage. It is completely Lena’s moral support which makes him turn down Linder’s offer to buy them out of moving into Clybourne Park. It is Lena’s words Walter echoes, when he tells Linder that the Younger family are very proud people. Lena Younger’s character is heroic in its dimensions. “Raisins in the Sun” explores racism and the struggle of early twentieth century Blacks to break down the social barriers which keep them from realizing the American Dream. The drama portrays the various facets of this Dream through the aspirations of the Younger family. The Younger’s strive against the circumstances of their lives and against each other to reach out for their varied aspirations. The group identity of the family is threatened by the conflict engendered by the needs and actions of the characters. It is Lena Younger who directs the unfolding of the action in the play. She is the protagonist who is the focal point of the narrative. It is her binding decision about the use of the insurance money which governs the plot. Her selflessness, strength of character and sterling integrity arouse the empathy of the audience. She is willing to sacrifice her needs for the good of the family. As the aspirations of the various characters play out, Lena changes to suit the changing circumstances. It is her dynamism which resolves the conflict of the drama. She accepts Walter’s need to try his hand at business. She holds the family together in spite of the rancor generated by Walter losing the precious money. She forges bonds of affection and pride of belonging in every member of the family. Lena courageously buys a house in a white community. She then inspires the others in the family to boldly confront the consequences of their choice. The Youngers’ are willing to face the prospect of vigilante violence in their new neighborhood because Lena makes it clear by her example that dignity transcends money and is worth clinging to. She exerts a compelling hold on the audience. She is the primary character on whose strength the plot and development of the play rest. It is through Elena Younger that Hansberry asserts her belief that racial segregation will one day be a thing of the past. Elena Younger is the undoubted hero of “Raisins in the Sun.” Works Cited. Hansberry, Lorraine. “Raisins in the Sun.” Literature and the Writing Process Third Edition. Ed. Editor's Name(s). City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Print. Matthews, Kristin L. “The Politics Of “Home” In Lorraine Hansberry's “A Raisin In The Sun.”  Modern Drama 51.4 (2008): 556-578. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Saber, Yomna. “Lorraine Hansberry: Defining The Line Between Integration And Assimilation.” Women's Studies 39.5 (2010): 451-469. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Nov 2013. Washington, Charles J. “A Raisin in the Sun Revisited.” Black American Literature Forum, Vol. 22, No. 1, Black Women Writers Issue (Spring, 1988). JStor. pp. 109-124. Web. 15 Nov 2013. Act I. Scene I (WALTER exits. MAMA enters. She is a woman in her early sixties, full-bodied and strong. She is one of those women of a certain grace and beauty who wear it so unobtrusively that it takes a while to notice. Her dark-brown face is surrounded by the total whiteness of her hair, and, being a woman who has adjusted to many things in life and over- come many more, her face is full of strength. She has, we can see, wit and faith of a kind that keep her eyes lit and full of interest and expectancy. She is, in a word, a beautiful woman. Her bearing is perhaps most like the noble bearing of thewomen of the Hereros of Southwest Africa rather as if she imagines that as she walks she still bears a basket or a vessel upon her head. Her speech, on the other hand, is as careless as her carriage is precise she is inclined to slur everything but her voice is perhaps not so much quiet as simply soft) MAMA Who that 'round here slamming doors at this hour? (See crosses through the room, goes to the win- dow, opens it, and brings in a feeble little plantgrowing doggedly in a small pot on the window sill. She feels the dirt and puts it back out) RUTH That was Walter Lee. He and Bennie was at it again. MAMA My children and they tempers. Lord, if this little old plant don't get more sun than it's been getting it ain't never going to see spring again. (She turns from the window) What's the matter with you this morning, Ruth? You looks right peaked. You aiming to iron all them things? Leave some for me. I'll get to 'em this afternoon. Bennie honey, it's too drafty for you to be sitting 'round half dressed. Where's your robe? BENEATHA In the cleaners. MAMA Well, go get mine and put it on. BENEATHA I'm not cold, Mama, honest. MAMA I know but you so thin . . . BENEATHA (Irritably) Mama, I'm not cold. MAMA (Seeing the make-down bed as TRAVIS has left it) Lord have mercy, look at that poor bed. Bless his heart he tries, don't he? (She moves to the bed TRAVIS has sloppily made up) RUTH No he don't half try at all 'cause he knows you going to come along behind him and fix everything. That's just how come he don't know how to do nothing right now you done spoiled that boy so. MAMA (Folding bedding) Well he's a little boy* Ain't supposed to know 'bout housekeeping. My baby, that's what he is. What you fix for his breakfast this morning? RUTH (Angrily) I feed my son, Lena! MAMA I ain't meddling (Underbreath; busy-bodyish) I just noticed all last week he had cold cereal, and when it starts getting this chilly in the fall a child ought to have some hot grits or something when he goes out in the cold RUTH (Furious) I gave him hot oats is that all right! MAMA I ain't meddling. (Pause) Put a lot of nice butter on it? (RUTH shoots her an angry look and does not reply) He likes lots of butter. RUTH (Exasperated) Lena MAMA (To BENEATHA. MAMA is inclined to wander con- versationally sometimes) What was you and your brother fussing 'bout this morning? BENEATHA It* s not important, Mama. (She gets up and goes to look out at the bath- room, which is apparently free, and she picks up her towels and rushes out) MAMA What was they fighting about? RUTH Now you know as well as I do. MAMA (Shaking her head) Brother still worrying his self sick about that money? RUTH You know he is. MAMA You had breakfast? RUTH Some coffee. MAMA Girl, you better start eating and looking after yourself better. You almost thin as Travis. RUTH Lena MAMA Un-hunh? RUTH What are you going to do with it? MAMA Now don't you start, child. It's too early in the morning to be talking about money. It ain't Christian. RUTH It's just that he got his heart set on that store MAMA You mean that liquor store that Willy Harris want him to invest in? RUTH Yes MAMA We ain't no business people, Ruth. We just plain working folks. RUTH Ain't nobody business people till they go into business. Walter Lee say colored people ain't never going to start getting ahead till they start gambling on some different kinds of things in the world investments and things. MAMA What done got into you, girl? Walter Lee done finally sold you on investing. RUTH No. Mama, something is happening between Walter and me. I don't know what it is but he needs something something I can't give him any more. He needs this chance, Lena. MAMA (Frowning deeply) But liquor, honey RUTH Well like Walter say I spec people going to al- ways be drinking themselves some liquor. MAMA Well whether they drinks it or not ain't none of my business. But whether I go into business selling it to 'em is, and I don't want that on my ledger this late in life. (Stopping suddenly and studying her daughterin-law} Ruth Younger, what's the matter with you to- day? You look like you could fall over right there. RUTH I'm tired. MAMA Then you better stay home from work today RUTH I can't stay home. She'd be calling up the agency and screaming at them, "My girl didn't come in today send me somebody! My girl didn't come in!" Oh, she just have a fit ... MAMA Well, let her have it. I'll just call her up and say you got the flu RUTH (Laughing) Why the flu? MAMA 'Cause it sounds respectable to 'em. Somethingwhite people get, too. They know 'bout the flu. Other- wise they think you been cut up or something when you tell 'em you sick. RUTH I got to go in. We need the money. MAMA Somebody would of thought my children done all but starved to death the way they talk about money here late. Child, we got a great big old check coming tomorrow. RUTH (Sincerely, but also self-righteously) Now that's your money. It ain't got nothing to do with me. We all feel like that Walter and Bennie and me even Travis. MAMA (Thoughtfully, and suddenly very far away) Ten thousand dollars RUTH Sure is wonderful. MAMA Ten thousand dollars. RUTH You know what you should do, Miss Lena? You should take yourself a trip somewhere. To Europe or South America or someplace MAMA (Throwing up her hands at the thought) Oh, child! RUTH I'm serious. Just pack up and leave! Go on away and enjoy yourself some. Forget about the family and have yourself a ball for once in your life MAMA (Drily) You sound like I'm just about ready to die. Who'd go with me? What I look like wandering 'round Europe by myself? RUTH Shoot these here rich white women do it all the time. They don't think nothing of packing up they suit- cases and piling on one of them big steamships and swoosh! they gone, child. MAMA Something always told me I wasn't no rich white woman. RUTH Well what are you going to do with it then? MAMA I ain't rightly decided. (Thinking. She speaks now with emphasis) Some of it got to be put away for Beneatha and her schoolin' and ain't nothing going to touch that part of it. Nothing. (She waits several seconds, trying to make up her mind about something, and looks at RUTH a little tentatively before going on)Been thinking that we maybe could meet the notes on a little old two-story somewhere, with a yard where Travis could play in the summertime, if we use part of the insurance for a down payment and everybody kind of pitch in. I could maybe take on a little day work again, few days a week RUTH (Studying her mother-in-law furtively and concentrating on her ironing, anxious to encourage without seeming to) Well, Lord knows, we've put enough rent into this here rat trap to pay for four houses by now MAMA (Looking up at the words t( rat trap" and then looking around and leaning back and sighing in a suddenly reflective mood ) "Rat trap" yes, that's all it is. (Smiling) I remember just as well the day mend Big Walter moved in here. Hadn't been married but two weeks and wasn't planning on living here no more than a year. (She shakes her head at the dissolved dream) We was going to set away, little by little, don't you know, and buy a little place out in Morgan Park. We had even picked out the house. (Chuckling a little) Looks right dumpy today. But Lord, child, you should know all the dreams I had 'bout buying that house and fixing it up and making me a little garden in the back (She waits and stops smiling) And didn't none of it happen. (Dropping her hands in a futile gesture) RUTH (Keeps her head down, ironing) Yes, life can be a barrel of disappointments, sometimes. MAMA Honey, Big Walter would come in here some nights back then and slump down on that couch there and just look at the rug, and look at me and look at the rug and then back at me and I'd know he was down then . . . really down. (After a second very long and thoughtful pause; she is seeing back to times that only she can see) And then, Lord, when I lost that baby little Claude I almost thought I was going to lose Big Walter too. Oh, that man grieved hisself ! He was one man to love his children. RUTH Ain't nothin' can tear at you like losin' your baby. MAMA I guess that's how come that man finally worked hisself to death like he done. Like he was fighting his own war with this here world that took his baby from him. RUTH He sure was a fine man, all right. I always liked Mr. Younger. MAMA Crazy 'bout his children! God knows there was plenty wrong with Walter Younger hard-headed, mean, kind of wild with women plenty wrong with him. But he sure loved his children. Always wanted them to have something be something. That's where Brother gets all these notions, I reckon. Big Walter used to say, he'd get right wet in the eyes sometimes, lean his head back with the water standing in his eyes and say, "Seem like God didn't see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worth while." (She smiles) He could talk like that, don't you know. RUTH Yes, he sure could. He was a good man, Mr. Younger. MAMA Yes, a fine man just couldn't never catch up with his dreams, that's all. (BENEATHA comes in, brushing her hair and look-ing up to the ceiling, where the sound of a vacuum cleaner has started up) BENEATHA What could be so dirty on that woman's rugsthat she has to vacuum them every single day? RUTH I wish certain young women 'round here who I could name would take inspiration about certain rugs in a certain apartment I could also mention. BENEATHA (Shrugging) How much cleaning can a house need, for Christ's sakes. MAMA (Not liking the Lord's name used thus) Bennie! RUTH Just listen to her just listen! BENEATHA Oh, God! MAMA If you use the Lord's name just one more time BENEATHA (A bit of a whine) Oh, Mama RUTH Fresh just fresh as salt, this girl! BENEATHA (Drily) Well if the salt loses its savor MAMA Now that will do. I just ain't going to have you 'round here reciting the scriptures in vain you hear me? BENEATHA How did I manage to get on everybody's wrong side by just walking into a room? RUTH If you weren't so fresh BENEATHA Ruth, I'm twenty years old. MAMA What time you be home from school today? BENEATHA Kind of late. (With enthusiasm) Madeline is going to start my guitar lessons today. (MAMA and RUTH look up with the same expres- sion) MAMA Your what kind of lessons? BENEATHA Guitar. RUTH Oh, Father! MAMA How come you done taken it in your mind to learn to play the guitar? BENEATHA I just want to 9 that's all. MAMA (Smiling) Lord, child, don't you know what to get tired of this now like you got tired of that little do with yourself? How long it going to be before you play-acting group you joined last year? (Looking at RUTH) And what was it the year before that? RUTH The horseback-riding club for which she bought that fifty-five-dollar riding habit that's been hanging in the closet ever since! MAMA (To BENEATHA) Why you got to flit so from one thing to another, baby? BENEATHA (Sharply) I just want to learn to play the guitar. Is there anything wrong with that? MAMA Ain't nobody trying to stop you. I just wonders sometimes why you has to flit so from one thing to an- other all the time. You ain't never done nothing with all that camera equipment you brought home BENEATHA I don't flit! I I experiment with different forms of expression RUTH Like riding a horse? BENEATHA People have to express themselves one way or another. MAMA What is it you want to express? BENEATHA (Angrily) Me! (MAMA and RUTH look at each other and burst into raucous laughter) Don't worry I don't expect you to understand. MAMA (To change the subject) Who you going out withtomorrow night? BENEATHA (With displeasure) George Murchison again. MAMA (Pleased) Oh you getting a little sweet on him? RUTH You ask me, this child ain't sweet on nobody but herself (Vnderbreath) Express herself ! (They laugh) BENEATHA Oh I like George all right, Mama. I mean I like him enough to go out with him and stuff, but RUTH (For devilment) What does and stuff mean? BENEATHA Mind your own business. MAMA Stop picking at her now, Ruth. (She chuckles then a suspicious sudden look at her daughter as she turns in her chair for emphasis) What DOES it mean? BENEATHA (Wearily) Oh, I just mean I couldn't ever really be serious about George. He's he's so shallow. RUTH Shallow what do you mean he's shallow? He's Rich! MAMA Hush, Ruth. BENEATHA I know he's rich. He knows he's rich, too. RUTH Well what other qualities a man got to have to satisfy you, little girl? BENEATHA You wouldn't even begin to understand. Any- body who married Walter could not possibly understand. MAMA (Outraged) What kind of way is that to talk about your brother? BENEATHA Brother is a flip let's face it. MAMA (To RUTH, helplessly) What's a flip? RUTH (Glad to add kindling) She's saying he's crazy. BENEATHA Not crazy. Brother isn't really crazy yet he he's an elaborate neurotic. MAMA Hush your mouth! BENEATHA As for George. Well. George looks good he's got a beautiful car and he takes me to nice places and, as my sister-in-law says, he is probably the rich- est boy I will ever get to know and I even like him sometimes but if the Youngers are sitting around waiting to see if their little Bennie is going to tie up the family with the Murchisons, they are wasting their time. RUTH You mean you wouldn't marry George Murchison if he asked you someday? That pretty, rich thing? Honey, I knew you was odd BENEATHA No I would not marry him if all I felt for him was what I feel now. Besides, George's family wouldn't really like it MAMA Why not? BENEATHA Oh, Mama The Murchisons are honest-to- God-real-Kve-rich colored people, and the only people in the world who are more snobbish than rich white people are rich colored people. I thought everybody knew that. I've met Mrs. Murchison. She's a scene! MAMA You must not dislike people 'cause they well off,honey. BENEATHA Why not? It makes just as much sense as disliking people 'cause they are poor, and lots of people do that. RUTH (A wisdom-of-the-ages manner. To MAMA) Well, she'll get over some of this BENEATHA Get over it? What are you talking about, Ruth? Listen, I'm going to be a doctor. I'm not wor- ried about who I'm going to marry yet if I ever get married. MAMA and RUTH If! MAMA Now, Bennie BENEATHA Oh, I probably will ... but first I'm going to be a doctor, and George, for one, still thinks that's pretty funny. I couldn't be bothered with that. I am going to be a doctor and everybody around here better understand that! MAMA (Kindly) 'Course you going to be a doctor, honey, God willing. BENEATHA (Drily) God hasn't got a thing to do with it. MAMA Beneatha that just wasn't necessary. BENEATHA Well neither is God. I get sick of hearing about God. MAMA Beneatha! BENEATHA I mean it! I'm just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has He-got to do with anything? Does he pay tuition? MAMA You 'bout to get your fresh little jaw slapped! RUTH That's just what she needs, all right! BENEATHA Why? Why can't I say what I want to around here, like everybody else? MAMA It don't sound nice for a young girl to say things like that you wasn't brought up that way. Me and our father went to trouble to get you and Brother to church every Sunday. BENEATHA Mama, you don't understand. It's all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don't accept. It's not important. I am not going out and be immoral or commit crimes because I don't believe in God. I don't even think about it. It's just that I get tired of Him get- ting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no blasted God there is only man and it is he who makes miracles! (MAMA absorbs this speech, studies her daughter and rises slowly and crosses to BENEATHA and slaps her powerfully across the face. After, there is only silence and the daughter drops her eyes from her mother's face, and MAMA is very tall before her) MAMA Now you say after me, in my mother's house there is still God. (There is a long pause and BENEATHA stares at the floor wordlessly. MAMA repeats the phrase with precision and cool emotion) In my mother's house there is still God. BENEATHA In my mother's house there is still God. (A long pause) MAMA (Walking away from BENEATHA, too disturbed for triumphant posture. Stopping and turning back to her daughter) There are some ideas we ain't going to have in this house. Not long as I am at the head of this family. BENEATHA Yes, ma'am. (MAMA walks out of the room) RUTH (Almost gently, with profound understanding) You think you a woman, Bennie but you still a little girl. What you did was childish so you got treated like a child. BENEATHA I see. (Quietly) I also see that everybody thinks it's all right for Mama to be a tyrant. But all the tyranny in the world will never put a God in the heavens! (She picks up her books and goes out. Pause) RUTH (Goes to MAMA'S door) She said she was sorry. MAMA (Coming out, going to her plant) They frightens me, Ruth. My children. RUTH You got good children, Lena. They just a little off sometimes but they're good. MAMA No there's something come down between me and them that don't let us understand each other and I don't know what it is. One done almost lost his mind thinking 'bout money all the time and the other done commence to talk about things I can't seem to under- stand in no form or fashion. What is it that's changing, Ruth. RUTH (Soothingly, older than her years) Now . . . you taking it all too seriously. You just got strong-willed children and it takes a strong woman like you to keep 'em in hand. MAMA (Looking at her plant and sprinkling a little water on it) They spirited all right, my children. Got to ad- mit they got spirit Bennie and Walter. Like this little old plant that ain't never had enough sunshine or noth- ing and look at it ... {She has her back to RUTH, who has had to stop ironing and lean against something and put the back of her hand to her forehead) RUTH (Trying to keep MAMA from noticing) You . . .sure . . . loves that little old thing, don't you? . . . MAMA Well, I always wanted me a garden like I used to see sometimes at the back of the houses down home. This plant is close as I ever got to having one. {She looks out of the window as she replaces the plant) Lord, ain't nothing as dreary as the view from this win-dow on a dreary day, is there? Why ain't you singing this morning, Ruth? Sing that "No Ways Tired." That song always lifts me up so (She turns at last to see that RUTH has slipped quietly to the floor, in a state of semiconsciousness) Ruth! Ruth honey what's the mat-ter with you . . . Ruth! Curtain SCENE Two It is the following morning; a Saturday morning, and house cleaning is in progress at the YOUNGERS. Furniture has been shoved hither and yon and MAMA is giving the kitchen-area walls a washing down. BENEATHA, in dun- garees, with a handkerchief tied around her face, is spraying insecticide into the cracks in the walls. As they work, the radio is on and a Southside disk-jockey pro- gram is inappropriately filling the house with a rather exotic saxophone blues. TRAVIS, the sole idle one, is leaning on his arms, looking out of the window. TRAVIS Grandmama, that stuff Bennie is using smells awful. Can I go downstairs, please? MAMA Did you get all them chores done already? I ain't seen you doing much. TRAVIS Yes'm finished early. Where did Mama go this morning? MAMA (Looking at BENEATHA) She had to go on a little errand. (The phone rings. BENEATHA runs to answer it and reaches it before WALTER, who has entered from bedroom) TRAVIS Where? MAMA To tend to her business. BENEATHA Haylo . . . (Disappointed) Yes, he is. (She tosses the phone to WALTER, who barely catches it) It's Willie Harris again. WALTER (As privately as possible under MAMA'S gaze) Hello, Willie. Did you get the papers from the lawyer? . . . No, not yet. I told you the mailman doesn't get here till ten-thirty . . . No, I'll come there . . . Yeah! Right away. (He hangs up and goes for his coat) BENEATHA Brother, where did Ruth go? WALTER (As he exits) How should I know! TRAVIS Aw come on, Grandma. Can I go outside? MAMA Oh, I guess so. You stay right in front of the house, though, and keep a good lookout for the postman. TRAVIS Yes'm. (He darts into bedroom for stickball and bat, reenters, and sees BENEATHA on her knees spraying under sofa with behind upraised. He edges closer to the target, takes aim, and lets her have it. She screams) Leave them poor little cockroaches alone, they ain't bothering you none! (He runs as she swings the spray- gun at h ; m viciously and playfully) Grandma! Grandma! MAMA Look out there, girl, before you be spilling some of that stuff on that child! TRAVIS (Safely behind the bastion of MAMA) That's right look out, now! (He exits) BENEATHA (Drily) I can't imagine that it would hurt him it has never hurt the roaches. MAMA Well, little boys' hides ain't as tough as Southside roaches. You better get over there behind the bureau. I seen one marching out of there like Napoleon yesterday. BENEATHA There's really only one way to get rid of them, Mama MAMA HOW? BENEATHA Set fire to this building! Mama, where did Ruth go? MAMA (Looking at her with meaning) To the doctor, I think. BENEATHA The doctor? What's the matter? (They ex- change glances) You don't think MAMA (With her sense of drama) Now I ain't saying what I think. But I ain't never been wrong 'bout a woman neither. (The phone rings') BENEATHA (At the phone) Hay-lo . . . (Pause, and a moment of recognition) Well when did you get back! . . . And how was it? ... Of course I've missed you in my way . . . This morning? No . . . house cleaning and all that and Mama hates it if I let people come over when the house is like this . . . You have? Well, that's different . . . What is it Oh, what the hell, come on over . . . Right, see you then. Arrividerci. (She hangs up) MAMA (Who has listened vigorously, as is her habit)Who is that you inviting over here with this house looking like this? You ain't got the pride you was bornwith! BENEATHA Asagai doesn't care how houses look, Mama he's an intellectual. MAMA Who? BENEATHA Asagai Joseph Asagai. He's an African boy I met on campus. He's been studying in Canada all summer. MAMA What's his name? BENEATHA Asagai, Joseph. Ah-sah-guy . . . He's from Nigeria. MAMA Oh, that's the little country that was founded by slaves way back . , . BENEATHA No, Mama that* s Liberia. MAMA I don't think I never met no African before. BENEATHA Well, do me a favor and don't ask him a whole lot of ignorant questions about Africans. I mean, do they wear clothes and all that MAMA Well, now, I guess if you think we so ignorant 'round here maybe you shouldn't bring your friends here BENEATHA It's just that people ask such crazy things. All anyone seems to know about when it comes to Africa is Tarzan MAMA (Indignantly) Why should I know anything about Africa? BENEATHA Why do you give money at church for the missionary work? MAMA Well, that's to help save people. BENEATHA You mean save them from heathenism MAMA (Innocently) Yes. BENEATHA I'm afraid they need more salvation from the British and the French. (RUTH comes in forlornly and pulls off her coat with dejection. They both turn to look at her) RUTH (Dispiritedly) Well, I guess from all the happy f aces everybody knows. BENEATHA You pregnant? MAMA Lord have mercy, I sure hope it's a little old girl. Travis ought to have a sister. (BENEATHA and RUTH give her a hopeless look for this grandmotherly enthusiasm) BENEATHA How far along are you? RUTH Two months. BENEATHA Did you mean to? I mean did you plan it or was it an accident? MAMA What do you know about planning or not planning? BENEATHA Oh, Mama. RUTH ( Wearily) She's twenty years old, Lena. BENEATHA Did you plan it, Ruth? RUTH Mind your own business. BENEATHA It is my business where is he going to live, on the roof? (There is silence following the remark as the three women react to the sense of it) Gee I didn't mean that, Ruth, honest. Gee, I don't feel like that at all. I I think it is wonderful. RUTH (Dully) Wonderful. BENEATHA Yes really. MAMA (Looking at RUTH, worried) Doctor say every- thing going to be all right? RUTH (Far away) Yes she says everything is going to be fine . . . MAMA (Immediately suspicious) "She" What doctor you went to? (RUTH folds over, near hysteria) MAMA (Worriedly hovering over RUTH) Ruth honey what's the matter with you you sick? (RUTH has her fists clenched on her thighs and is fighting hard to suppress a scream that seems to be rising in her) BENEATHA What's the matter with her, Mama? MAMA (Working her fingers in RUTH'S shoulders to relax her) She be all right. Women gets right depressed sometimes when they get her way. (Speaking softly, expertly, rapidly) Now you just relax. That's right . . . just lean back, don't think 'bout nothing at all ..nothing at all RUTH I'm all right . . . (The glassy-eyed look melts and then she col- lapses into a fit of heavy sobbing. The bell rings) BENEATHA Oh, my God that must be Asagai. MAMA (To RUTH) Come on now, honey. You need to lie down and rest awhile . . . then have some nice hot food. (They exit, RUTH'S weight on her mother-in-law. BENEATHA, herself profoundly disturbed, opens the door to admit a rather dramatic-looking young man with a large package) ASAGAI Hello, Alaiyo BENEATHA (Holding the door open and regarding him with pleasure) Hello . . . (Long pause) Well come in. And please excuse everything. My mother was very upset about my letting anyone come here with the place like this. ASAGAI' (Coming into the room) You look disturbed too ... Is something wrong? BENEATHA (Still at the door, absently) Yes . . . we've all got acute ghetto-itus. (She smiles and comes toward him, finding a cigarette and sitting) So sit down! No! Wait! (She whips the spray gun off sofa where she had left it and puts the cushions back. At last perches on arm of sofa. He sits) So, how was Canada? ASAGAI (A sophisticate} Canadian. BENEATHA (Looking at him) Asagai, I'm very glad you are back. ASAGAI (Looking back at her in turn) Are you really? BENEATHA Yes very. ASAGAI Why? you were quite glad when I went .away.What happened? BENEATHA You went away. ASAGAI Ahhhhhhhh. BENEATHA Before you wanted to be so serious before there was time. ASAGAI How much time must there be before one knows what one feels? BENEATHA (Stalling this particular conversation. Her hands pressed together, in a deliberately childish gesture) What did you bring me? ASAGAI (Handing her the package) Open it and see. BENEATHA (Eagerly opening the package and drawing out some records and the colorful robes of a Nigerian woman) Oh, Asagai! . . . You got them for me! . . . How beautiful . . . and the records too! (She lifts out the robes and runs to the mirror with them and holds the drapery up in front of herself) ASAGAI (Coming to her at the mirror) I shall have to teach you how to drape it properly. (He flings the material about her for the moment and stands back to look at her) Ah Oh-pay-gay~day, oh-gbah-mu-shay. (A Yoruba exclamation for admiration) You wear it well . . . very well . . . mutilated hair and all. BENEATHA (Turning suddenly) My hair what's wrong with my hair? ASAGAI (Shrugging) Were you born with it like that? BENEATHA (Reaching up to touch it) No ... of course not. (She looks back to the mirror, disturbed) (Smiling) How then? BENEATHA You know perfectly well how ... as crinkly as yours . . . that's how. ASAGAI And it is ugly to you that way? BENEATHA (Quickly) Oh, no not ugly . . . (More slowly, apologetically) But it's so hard to manage when it's, well raw. ASAGAI And so to accommodate that you mutilate it every week? BENEATHA It's not mutilation! ASAGAI (Laughing aloud at her seriousness) Oh ... please! I am only teasing you because you are so very serious about these things. (He stands back from her and folds his arms across his chest as he watches her pulling at her hair and frowning in the minor) Do you remember the first time you met me at school? . . . (He laughs) You came up to .me and you said and I thought you were the most serious little thing I had ever seen you said: (He imitates her) "Mr. Asagai I want very much to talk with you. About Africa. You see, Mr. Asagai, I am looking for my identity! 9 ' (He laughs) BENEATHA (Turning to him, not laughing) Yes (Her face is quizzical, profoundly disturbed) ASAGAI (Still teasing and reaching out and taking her face in his hands and turning her profile to him) Well . it is true that this is not so much a profile of a Holly- wood queen as perhaps a queen of the Nile (A mock dismissal of the importance of the question) But what does it matter? Assimilationism is so popular in your country. BENEATHA (Wheeling, passionately, sharply) I am not an assimilationist! ASAGAI (The protest hangs in the room for a moment and ASAGAI studies her, his laughter fading) Such a seri- ous one, (There is a pause) So you like the robes? You must take excellent care of them they are from my sister's personal wardrobe. BENEATHA (With incredulity) You you sent all the way home for me? ASAGAI (With charm) For you I would do much more . . . Well, that is what I came for. I must go. BENEATHA Will you call me Monday? ASAGAI Yes . . . We have a great deal to talk about. I mean about identity and time and all that. BENEATHA Time? ASAGAI Yes. About how much time one needs to know what one feels. BENEATHA You see! You never understood that there is more than one kind of feeling which can exist between a man and a woman or, at least, there should be. ASAGAI (Shaking his head negatively but gently) No. Between a man and a woman there need be only one kind of feeling. I have that for you . . . Now even . . . right this moment ... BENEATHA I know and by itself it won't do. I can find that anywhere. ASAGAI For a woman it should be enough. BENEATHA I know because that's what it says in all the novels that men write. But it isn't. Go ahead and laugh but I'm not interested in being someone's little episode in America or (With feminine vengeance) one of them! (ASAGAI has burst into laughter again) That's funny as hell, huh! ASAGAI It's just that every American girl I have known has said that to me. White black in this you are all the same. And the same speech, too! BENEATHA (Angrily) Yuk, yuk, yuk! ASAGAI It's how you can be sure that the world's most liberated women are not liberated at all. You all talk about it too much! (MAMA enters and is immediately all social charm because of the presence of a guest) BENEATHA Oh Mama this is Mr. Asagai. MAMA How do you do? ASAGAI (Total politeness to an elder) How do you do, Mrs. Younger. Please forgive me for coming at such an outrageous hour on a Saturday. MAMA Well, you are quite welcome. I just hope you understand that our house don't always look like this. (Chatterish) You must come again. I would love to here all about (Not sure of the name) your country. I think it's so sad the way our American Negroes don't know nothing about Africa 'cept Tarzan and all that. And all that money they pour into these churches when they ought to be helping you people over there drive out them French and Englishmen done taken away your land. (The mother flashes a slightly superior look at her daughter upon completion of the recitation) ASAGAI (Taken aback by this sudden and acutely unre- lated expression of sympathy) Yes ... yes ... MAMA (Smiling at him suddenly and relaxing and look- ing him over) How many miles is it from here to where you come from? ASAGAI Many thousands. MAMA (Looking at him as she would WALTER) I bet you don't half look after yourself, being away from your mama either. I spec you better come 'round here from time to time to get yourself some decent home- cooked meals . . . ASAGAI (Moved) Thank you. Thank you very much. (They are all quiet, then ) Well ... I must go. I will call you Monday, Alaiyo. MAMA What's that he call you? ASAGAI Oh "Alaiyo." I hope you don't mind. It is what you would call a nickname, I think. It is a Yoruba word. I am a Yoruba. MAMA (Looking at BENEATHA) I I thought he was from (Uncertain) ASAGAI (Understanding) Nigeria is my country. Yoruba is my tribal origin BENEATHA You didn't tell us what Alaiyo means . . for all I know, you might be calling me Little Idiot or something . . . ASAGAI Well . . . let me see ... I do not know how just to explain it ... The sense of a thing can be so different when it changes languages. BENEATHA You're evading. ASAGAI No really it is difficult . . . (Thinking) It means ... it means One for Whom Bread Food Is Not Enough. {He looks at her) Is that all right? BENEATHA ( Understanding, softly) Thank you. MAMA (Looking from one to the other and not under- standing any of it) Well , . . that's nice . . . You must come see us again Mr. ASAGAI Ah-sah-guy * * . MAMA Yes . . . Do come again. ASAGAI Good-bye, (He exits) MAMA (After him) Lord, that's a pretty thing just went out here! (Insinuatingly, to her daughter) Yes, I guess I see why we done commence to get so interested in Africa 'round here. Missionaries my aunt Jenny! (She exits) BENEATHA Oh, Mama! . . . (She picks up the Nigerian dress and holds it up to her in front of the mirror again. She sets the headdress on haphazardly and then notices her hair again and clutches at it and then replaces the headdress and frowns at herself. Then she starts to wriggle in front of the mirror as she thinks a Nigerian woman might. TRAVIS enters and stands regarding her) TRAVIS What's the matter, girl, you cracking up? BENEATHA Shut Up. (She pulls the headdress off and looks at herself in the mirror and clutches at her hair again and squinches her eyes as if trying to imagine some- thing. Then, suddenly, she gets her raincoat and kerchief and hurriedly prepares for going out) MAMA (Coming back into the room) She's resting now. Travis, baby, run next door and ask Miss Johnson to please let me have a little kitchen cleanser. This here can is empty as Jacob's kettle. TRAVIS I just came in. MAMA Do as you told. (He exits and she looks at her daughter) Where you going? BENEATHA (Halting at the door) To become a queen of the Nile! (She exits in a breathless blaze of glory. RUTH ap- pears in the bedroom doorway) MAMA Who told you to get up? RUTH Ain't nothing wrong with me to be lying in no bed for. Where did Bennie go? MAMA (Drumming her fingers) Far as I could make out to Egypt. (RUTH just looks at her) What time is it getting to? RUTH Ten twenty. And the mailman going to ring that bell this morning just like he done every morning for the last umpteen years. (TRAVIS comes in with the cleanser can) TRAVIS She say to tell you that she don't have much. MAMA (Angrily) Lord, some people I could name sure is tight-fisted! (Directing her grandson) Mark two cans of cleanser down on the list there. If she that hard up for kitchen cleanser, I sure don't want to forget to get her none! RUTH Lena maybe the woman is just short on cleans- er MAMA (Not listening) Much baking powder as she done borrowed from me all these years, she could of done gone into the baking business! (The bell sounds suddenly and sharply and all three are stunned serious and silent mid-speech. In spite of all the other conversations and dis- tractions of the morning, this is what they have been waiting for, even TRAVIS, who looks help- lessly from his mother to his grandmother. RUTH is the first to come to life again) RUTH (To TRAVIS) Get down them steps, boy! (TRAVIS snaps to life and flies out to get the mail) MAMA (Her eyes wide, her hand to her breast) You mean it done really come? RUTH (Excited) Oh, Miss Lena! MAMA (Collecting herself) Well ... I don't know what we all so excited about 'round here for. We known it was coming for months. RUTH That's a whole lot different from having it come and being able to hold it in your hands ... a piece of paper worth ten thousand dollars . . . (TRAVIS bursts back into the room. He holds the envelope high above his head, like a little dancer, his face is radiant and he is breathless. He moves to his grandmother with sud- den slow ceremony and puts the envelope into her hands. She accepts it, and then merely holds it and looks at it) Come on! Open it ... Lord have mercy, I wish Walter Lee was here! TRAVIS Open it, Grandmama! MAMA (Staring at it) Now you all be quiet. It's just a check. RUTH Open it ... MAMA (Still staring at it) Now don't act silly ... We ain't never been no people to act silly 'bout no money RUTH (Swiftly) We ain't never had none before OPEN IT! (MAMA finally makes a good strong tear and pulls out the thin blue slice of paper and inspects it closely. The boy and his mother study it raptly over MAMA'S shoulders) MAMA Travis! (She is counting off with doubt) Is that the right number of zeros. TRAVIS Yes'm . . . ten thousand dollars. Gaalee, Grand- mama, you rich. MAMA (She holds the check away from her, still looking at it. Slowly her face sobers into a mask of unhappi- ness) Ten thousand dollars. (She hands it to RUTH) Put it away somewhere, Ruth. (She does not look at RUTH; her eyes seem to be seeing something some- where very far off) Ten thousand dollars they give you. Ten thousand dollars, TRAVIS (To his mother, sincerely) What's the matter with Grandmama don't she want to be rich? RUTH (Distractedly) You go on out and play now, baby. (TRAVIS exits. MAMA starts wiping dishes absent- ly, humming intently to herself. RUTH turns to her, with kind exasperation) You've gone and got yourself upset. MAMA (Not looking at her) I spec if it wasn't for you all ... I would just put that money away or give it to the church or something. RUTH Now what kind of talk is that. Mr. Younger would just be plain mad if he could hear you talking foolish like that. MAMA (Stopping and staring off) Yes . . . he sure would. (Sighing) We got enough to do with that money, all right. (She halts then, and turns and looks at her daughter-in-law hard; RUTH avoids her eyes and MAMA wipes her hands with finality and starts to speak firmly to RUTH) Where did you go today, girl? RUTH To the doctor. MAMA (Impatiently) Now, Ruth , . . you know better than that. Old Doctor Jones is strange enough in his way but there ain't nothing 'bout him make somebody slip and call him "she" like you done this morning. RUTH Well, that's what happened my tongue slipped. MAMA You went to see that woman, didn't you? RUTH (Defensively, giving herself away) What woman you talking about? MAMA (Angrily ) That woman who (WALTER enters in great excitement) WALTER Did it come? MAMA (Quietly) Can't you give people a Christian greeting before you start asking about money? WALTER (To RUTH) Did it come? (RUTH unfolds the check and lays it quietly before him, watching him in- tently with thoughts of her own. WALTER sits down and grasps it close and counts off the zeros) Ten thousand dollars (He turns suddenly, frantically to his mother and draws some papers out of his breast pocket) Mama look. Old Willy Harris put everything on paper MAMA Son I think you ought to talk to your wife .I'll go on out and leave you alone if you want WALTER I can talk to her later Mama, look MAMA Son WALTER WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE LISTEN TO ME TODAY! MAMA (Quietly) I don't 'low no yellin' in this house, Walter Lee, and you know it (WALTER stares at them in frustration and starts to speak several times) And there ain't going to be no investing in no liquor stores. WALTER But, Mama, you ain't even looked at it. MAMA I don't aim to have to speak on that again. (A long pause) WALTER You ain't looked at it and you don't aim to have to speak on that again? You ain't even looked at it and you have decided (Crumpling his papers) Well, you tell that to my boy tonight when you put him to sleep on the living-room couch . . . (Turning to MAMA and speaking directly to her) Yeah and tell it to my wife, Mama, tomorrow when she has to go out of here to look after somebody else's kids. And tell it to me, Mama, every time we need a new pair of curtains and I have to watch you go out and work in somebody's kitchen. Yeah, you tell me then! (WALTER starts out) RUTH Where you going? WALTER I'm going out! RUTH Where? WALTER Just out of this house somewhere RUTH (Getting her coat) I'll come too. WALTER I don't want you to come! RUTH I got something to talk to you about, Walter. WALTER That's too bad. MAMA (Still quietly) Walter Lee (She waits and he finally turns and looks at her) Sit down. WALTER I'm a grown man, Mama. MAMA Ain't nobody said you wasn't grown. But you still in my house and my presence. And as long as you are you'll talk to your wife civil. Now sit down. RUTH (Suddenly) Oh, let him go on out and drink himself to death! He makes me sick to my stomach! (She flings her coat against him and exits to bedroom) WALTER (Violently flinging the coat after her) And you turn mine too, baby! (The door slams behind her) That was my biggest mistake MAMA (Still quietly) Walter, what is the matter with you? WALTER Matter with me? Ain't nothing the matter with me! MAMA Yes there is. Something eating you up like a crazy man. Something more than me not giving you this money. The past few years I been watching it happen to you. You get all nervous acting and kind of wild in the eyes (WALTER jumps up impatiently at her words) I said sit there now, I'm talking to you! WALTER Mama I don't need no nagging at me today. MAMA Seem like you getting to a place where you always tied up in some kind of knot about something. But if anybody ask you 'bout it you just yell at 'em and bust out the house and go out and drink some- wheres. Walter Lee, people can't live with that. Ruth's a good, patient girl in her way but you getting to be too much. Boy, don't make the mistake of driving that girl away from you. WALTER Why what she do for me? MAMA She loves you. WALTER Mama I'm going out. I want to go off somewhere and be by myself for a while. MAMA I'm sorry 'bout your liquor store, son. It just wasn't the thing for us to do. That's what I want to tell you out WALTER I got to go out, Mama {He rises) MAMA It's dangerous, son. WALTER What's dangerous? MAMA When a man goes outside his home to look for peace. WALTER (Beseechingly) Then why can't there never be no peace in this house then? MAMA You done found it in some other house? WALTER No there ain't no woman! Why do women always think there's a woman somewhere when a man gets restless. (Picks up the check) Do you know what this money means to me? Do you know what this money can do for us? (Puts it back) Mama Mama I want so many things MAMA Yes, son WALTER I want so many things that they are driving me kind of crazy . . . Mama look at me. MAMA I'm looking at you. You 1 a good-looking boy.You got a job, a nice wife, a fine boy and WALTER A job. (Looks at her) Mama, a job? I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine and I say, "Yes, sir; no, sir; very good, sir; shall I take the Drive, sir?" Mama, that ain't no kind of job . . . that ain't nothing at all. (Very quietly) Mama, I don't know if I can make you understand. MAMA Understand what, baby? WALTER (Quietly) Sometimes it's like I can see the future stretched out in front of me just plain as day.The future, Mama. Hanging over there at the edge of my days. Just waiting for me a big, looming blank space full of nothing. Just waiting for me. But it don't have to be. (Pause. Kneeling beside her chair) Mama sometimes when I'm downtown and I pass them cool, quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking 'bout things . . . sitting there turning deals worth millions of dollars . . . sometimes I see guys don't look much older than me MAMA Son how come you talk so much *bout money? WALTER (With immense passion) Because it is life, Mama! MAMA (Quietly) Oh (Very quietly) So now it's life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life now it's money. I guess the world really do change . . . WALTER No it was always money, Mama. We just didn't know about it. MAMA No ... something has changed. (She looks at him) You something new, boy. In my time we was worried about not being lynched and getting to the North if we could and how to stay alive and still have a pinch of dignity too . . . Now here come you and Beneatha talking 'bout things we ain't never even thought about hardly, me and your daddy. You ain't satisfied or proud of nothing we done. I mean that you had a home; that we kept you out of trouble till you was grown; that you don't have to ride to work on the back of nobody's streetcar You my children but how different we done become. WALTER (A long beat. He pats her hand and gets up) You just don't understand, Mama, you just don't understand. MAMA Son do you know your wife is expecting another baby? (WALTER stands, stunned, and absorbs what his mother has said) That's what she wanted to talk to you about. (WALTER sinks down into a chair) This ain't for me to be telling but you ought to know. (She waits) I think Ruth is thinking 'bout getting rid of that child. WALTER (Slowly understanding) No no Ruth wouldn't do that. MAMA When the world gets ugly enough a woman will do anything for her family. The part thafs already living. WALTER You don't know Ruth, Mama, if you think she would do that, (RUTH opens the bedroom door and stands there a little limp) RUTH (Beaten) Yes I would too, Walter. (Pause) I gave her a five-dollar down payment. (There is total silence as the man stares at his wife and the mother stares at her son) MAMA (Presently) Well (Tightly) Well son, I'm waiting to hear you say something . . . (She waits) I'm waiting to hear how you be your father's son. Be the man he was . . . (Pause. The silence shouts) Your wife say she going to destroy your child. And I'm waiting to hear you talk like him and say we a people who give children life, not who destroys them (She rises) I'm waiting to see you stand up and look like your daddy and say we done give up one baby to poverty and that we ain't going to give up nary another one . . . I'm waiting. WALTER Ruth (He can say nothing) MAMA If you a son of mine, tell her! (WALTER picks up his keys and his coat and walks out. She continues, bit- terly) You . . . you are a disgrace to your father's memory. Somebody get me my hat! Curtain ACT II SCENE ONE Time: Later the same day. At rise: RUTH is ironing again. She has the radio going.Presently BENEATHA'S bedroom door opens and RUTH'S mouth falls and she puts down the iron in fascination. RUTH What have we got on tonight! BENEATHA (Emerging grandly from the doorway so that we can see her thoroughly robed in the costume Asagai brought) You are looking at what a well-dressed Nigerian woman wears (She parades for RUTH, her hair completely hidden by the headdress; she is coquettish- ly fanning herself with an ornate oriental fan, mistakenly more like Butterfly than any Nigerian that ever was) Isn't it beautiful? (She promenades to the radio and, with an arrogant flourish, turns off the good loud blues that is playing) Enough of this assimilationist junk! (RUTH follows her with her eyes as she goes to the phonograph and puts on a record and turns and waits ceremoniously for the music to come up. Then, with a shout ) OCOMOGOSIAY! (RUTH jumps. The music comes up, a lovely Nigerian melody. BENEATHA listens, enraptured, her eyes jar away "back to the past." She begins to dance. RUTH is dumfounded) RUTH What kind of dance is that? BENEATHA Afolkdance. RUTH (Pearl Bailey) What kind of folks do that, honey? BENEATHA It's from Nigeria. It's a dance of welcome. RUTH Who you welcoming? BENEATHA The men back to the village. RUTH Where they been? BENEATHA How should I know out hunting or something. Anyway, they are coming back now . . RUTH Well, that's good. BENEATHA ( With the record) Alundi, alundi Alundialunya Jop pu a jeepua Ang gu soooooooooo Aiyaiyae. . . Ayehaye alundi (WALTER comes in during this performance; he has obviously been drinking. He leans against the door heavily and watches his sister, at "first -with distaste. Then his eyes look off "back to the past' as he lifts both his fists to the roof, screaming) WALTER YEAH ... AND ETHIOPIA STRETCH FORTH HER HANDS AGAIN! . . RUTH (Drily, looking at him) Yes and Africa sure is claiming her own tonight. (She gives them both up and starts ironing again) WALTER (All in a drunken, dramatic shout) Shut up! . . . I'm digging them drums . . . them drums move me! . . (He makes his weaving way to his wife's face and leans in close to her) In my heart of hearts (He thumps his chest) I am much warrior! RUTH (Without even looking up) In your heart of hearts you are much drunkard. WALTER (Coming away from her and starting to wander around the room, shouting) Me and Jomo . . . (Intently, in his sister's face. She has stopped dancing to watch him in this unknown mood) That's my man, Kenyatta. (Shouting and thumping his chest) FLAMING SPEAR! HOT DAMN! (He is suddenly in possession of an imaginary spear and actively spearing enemies all over the room) OCOMOGOSIAY . . . BENEATHA (To encourage WALTER, thoroughly caught up with this side of him ) OCOMOGOSIA Y, LAMING SPEAR! WALTER THE LION IS WAKING . . . OWIMOWEH! (He pulls his shirt open and leaps up on the table and gestures with his spear) BENEATHA OWIMOWEH! WALTER (On the table, very far gone, his eyes pure glass sheets. He sees what we cannot, that he is a leader of his people, a great chief, a descendant of Chaka, and that the hour to march has come) Listen, my black brothers BENEATHA OCOMOGOSIAY! WALTER Do you hear the waters rushing against the shores of the coastlands BENEATHA OCOMOGOSIAY! WALTER Do you hear the screeching of the cocks in yonder hills beyond where the chiefs meet in council for the coming of the mighty war BENEATHA OCOMOGOSIAY! (And now the lighting shifts subtly to suggest the world of WALTER'S imagination, and the mood shifts from pure comedy. It is the inner WALTER speaking: the Southside chauffeur has assumed an unexpected majesty ) WALTER Do you hear the beating of the wings of the birds flying low over the mountains and the low places of our land BENEATHA OCOMOGOSIAY! WALTER Do you hear the singing of the women, singing the war songs of our fathers to the babies in the great houses? Singing the sweet war songs! (The doorbell rings) OH, DO YOU HEAR, MY BLACK BROTHERS! BENEATHA (Completely gone) We hear you, Flaming Spear (RUTH shuts off the phonograph and opens the door. GEORGE MURCHISON enters) WALTER Telling us to prepare for the GREATNESS OF THE TIME! (Lights back to normal. He turns and sees GEORGE) Black Brother! (He extends his hand for the fraternal clasp) GEORGE Black Brother, hell ! RUTH (Having had enough, and embarrassed for the family) Beneatha, you got company what's the matter with you? Walter Lee Younger, get down off that table and stop acting like a fool . . . (WALTER comes down off the table suddenly and makes a quick exit to the bathroom) RUTH He's had a little to drink ... I don't know what her excuse is. GEORGE (To BENEATHA) Look honey, we're going to the theatre we're not going to be in it ... so go change, huh? (BENEATHA looks at him and slowly, ceremonously, lifts her hands and pulls off the headdress. Her hair is close-cropped and unstraightened. GEORGE freezes mid-sentence and RUTH'S eyes all but fall out of her head) GEORGE What in the name of RUTH (Touching BENEATHA'S hear) Girl, you done lost your natural mind!? Look at your head! GEORGE What have you done to your head I mean your hair! BENEA Read More