Quote 1
MAMA
…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." (1.1.206)
Lena's life's dreams are not for herself but for her family's future generations. Big Walter's mention in the play serves as a reminder of the sacrifices parents make for their children.
Quote 2
(MAMA enters from her bedroom. She is lost, vague, trying to catch hold, to make some sense of her former command of the world, but it still eludes her. A sense of waste overwhelms her gait; a measure of apology rides on her shoulders. She goes to her plant, which has remained on the table, looks at it, picks it up and takes it to the windowsill and sits it outside, and she stands and looks at it a long moment. Then she closes the window, straightens her body with effort and turns around to her children) (3.1.66)
Mama's loss of hope is expressed in her physicality and also in the casting out of her beloved little plant. She put all her faith in her son Walter, but he has sorely disappointed her. With his failure, her dreams have died.
Quote 3
MAMA
Of course, baby. Ain’t no need in ‘em coming all the way here and having to go back. They charges for that too. (She sits down, fingers to her brow, thinking) Lord, ever since I was a little girl, I always remembers people saying, "Lena – Lena Eggleston, you aims too high all the time. You needs to slow down and see life a little more like it is. Just slow down some." That’s what they always used to say down home – "Lord, that Lena Eggleston is a high-minded thing. She’ll get her due one day!" (3.1.69)
Lena blames herself for dreaming too big, figuring that she was wrong to buy the house. She even seems to imply that maybe she was wrong to ever migrate north from the South in the first place. Her family has had to deal with a lot of hardship in Chicago, which makes her doubt if any of it was worth it.
Quote 4
MAMA
Them houses 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 (2.i)
Hansberry offers an example of institutionalized racism through Lena's search for housing in Chicago. Racist laws made leaving the slums much more difficult for African Americans.
Quote 5
MAMA
You ain’t satisfied or proud of nothing [your dad and I] done. (1.2.231)
Lena is hurt that Walter doesn't feel proud of the family legacy he comes from. She worked hard with her husband to provide a future for their children. Now, though, Walter is ashamed of their working-class lifestyle and shabby apartment. Walter dreams of "bigger and better" things.
Quote 6
MAMA
Plenty. My husband always said being any kind of a servant wasn’t a fit thing for a man to have to be. He always said a man’s hands was made to make things, or to turn the earth with – not to drive nobody’s car for ‘em – or – (She looks at her own hands) carry they slop jars. And my boy is just like him – he wasn’t meant to wait on nobody. (2.2.78)
Despite their background, the Youngers are a proud people. Like his father, Walter wishes to be more than somebody's servant. He wants to be his own man. In this passage it seems like Mama admired this trait in her late husband and is proud that her son thinks this way as well.
Quote 7
MAMA
Son – I come from five generations of people who was slaves and sharecroppers – but ain’t nobody in my family never let nobody pay ‘em no money that was a way of telling us we wasn’t fit to walk the earth. We ain’t never been that poor. (Raising her eyes and looking at him) We ain’t never been that – dead inside. (3.1.97)
Lena tells her son that they come from a family of proud people. In her mind, taking money from Lindner would make them worse than slaves. At least during slavery, they didn't have a choice. If Walter takes the money and submits to racism willingly, she feels her family will really have lost its soul.
Quote 8
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. (1.1.148-9)
Lena lovingly helps Travis with all of his chores at the risk of not asking him to do anything for himself. Throughout the play, we see that Lena has a special tenderness for her grandson. Perhaps, it's easier for her to feel hope for the young boy than it is for own children, who are now adults.
Quote 9
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. (1.1.206)
Lena tells us that Big Walter was far from perfect. Even though he was flawed, he had some positive qualities. Lena claims that the best of these was his love and support for his children. It's clear throughout the play that Walter shares many of his father's strengths and weaknesses.
Quote 10
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 understand in no form or fashion. What is it that’s changing, Ruth? (1.1.292)
Lena feels her children breaking away from her and feels helpless to do anything about it. Her concern over the divide growing between her and her children is one of the things that makes her character truly universal. So many mothers have felt the same thing for so many years.
Quote 11
MAMA
If you a son of mine, tell her! (WALTER picks up his keys and his coat and walks out. She continues, bitterly) You…you are a disgrace to your father’s memory. Somebody get me my hat! (1.2.240)
Lena expects her son to demonstrate some of the character that her husband had. Her husband valued his children above all else. When Walter doesn't express any desire for Ruth to not have an abortion, Mama is incredibly disappointed in him. To Lena, this is a real betrayal of his father's memory.
Quote 12
(WALTER comes to MAMA suddenly and bends down behind her and squeezes her in his arms with all his strength. She is overwhelmed by the suddenness of it and, though delighted, her manner is like that of RUTH and TRAVIS) (2.3.112)
Lena's relationship with Walter is mirrored in Ruth's relationship with Travis. Hansberry's two examples of mother-son relationships demonstrate a family dynamic that is both tough and tender at times.
Quote 13
MAMA
Yes – death done come in this here house. (She is nodding, slowly, reflectively) Done come walking in my house on the lips of my children. You what supposed to be my beginning again. You – what supposed to be my harvest. (3.1.105)
After Walter gives his family a preview of the performance he's going to give Lindner, Lena believes that the future of her family has taken a turn for the worst. She's devoted her entire life to her family, and now it seems like it's all been for nothing.
Quote 14
MAMA
Yes – I taught you that. Me and your daddy. But I thought I taught you something else too… I thought I taught you to love him. (3.1.111)
Lena expects Bennie to love her brother no matter what he does, suggesting that one should always be able to depend on one's family for love.
Quote 15
MAMA (Opening her eyes and looking into WALTER’S)
No. Travis, you stay right here. And you make him understand what you doing, Walter Lee. You teach him good. Like Willy Harris taught you. You show where our five generations done come to. (WALTER looks from her to the boy, who grins at him innocently) Go ahead, son – (She folds her hands and closes her eyes) Go ahead. (3.1.129)
Lena wants her son to understand what kind of example he is setting for his own son. She wants Walter to see past his ego and realize that his decision affects their entire family.
Quote 16
MAMA
I am afraid you don’t understand. My son said we was going to move and there ain’t nothing left for me to say. (3.1.137)
Lena proudly stands by her son's decision. This statement implies that she truly is relinquishing leadership of the family to him and that she feels like Walter finally has earned it.
Quote 17
MAMA (Still staring at [the check])
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! (1.2.165-6)
The arrival of Walter's life insurance check is a momentous event. The Younger family is beside itself with the possible doors that money opens.
Quote 18
MAMA (She holds the check away from her, still looking at it. Slowly her face sobers into a mask of unhappiness)
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 somewhere very far off) Ten thousand dollars they give you. Ten thousand dollars. (1.2.169)
After Lena receives the much-anticipated money, she realizes there is no price someone can put on a lost loved one. It seems she would remain in total poverty if she could have her husband back.
Quote 19
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… (1.2.229)
This statement from Lena shows a real generational gap between her and her son. There's a good chance that her parents were born slaves. Lena would have grown up with the idea that just being free was a big accomplishment. However, Walter is further separated from slavery and so being a free man just isn't enough. To him, the goal is to make money and move up the socioeconomic ladder. What do you think about this? Is Walter not appreciating what he has? Or is Lena just out of touch with the times?
Quote 20
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. (1.1.202)
Lena remembers the pain of losing her child and watching her husband break apart after the fact. The suffering was almost too much for Big Walter to bear. We wonder if Big Walter blamed himself for his child's death and for his family's struggles.