A Raisin in the Sun Beneatha Younger Quotes

BENEATHA
Well – we are dead now. All the talk about dreams and sunlight that goes on in this house. It’s all dead now. (3.1.98)

After Walter announces that he's going to accept Lindner's offer, Beneatha believes that all is lost. She feels like there's no hope for her family to ever escape their struggle.

BENEATHA (Laughing herself)
I guess I always think things have more emphasis if they are big, somehow.
RUTH (Looking up at her and smiling)
You and your brother seem to have that as a philosophy of life. (2.3.12-3)

Beneatha and Walter both think big, but in different ways. We kind of get the impression that neither one of them will ever quite be happy with what they have. They'll always want more. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Isn't it good to have goals?

BENEATHA
Get over it? What are you talking about, Ruth? Listen, I’m going to be a doctor. I’m not worried about who I’m going to marry yet – if I ever get married. (1.1.268)

Beneatha wants to make her very life a challenge to gender stereotypes.