Walter and Beneatha disagree on how the money should be spent. Walter wants to leave when he gets frustrated and Mama tries to stop him. Asagai and Murchison argue over Beneatha. Ruth and Walter disagree on whether or not Travis can have money for school. All of the following are themes in the play except: a. You may use a name more than once or not at all. Travis E. Lindner I—I experiment with different forms of expression. Beneatha wants Mama to use all of the insurance money to finance her education.
Joseph Asagai believes that black Americans should assimilate into the dominant American culture. Walter is excited when he learns that Ruth is expecting a baby. Lindner represents the Clybourne Park Welcoming Committee. Beneatha thinks George Murchison is a fool. The Youngers are honored that Mr.
Lindner wanted to make them an offer. Mama makes the finals decision that the family will move. Asagai is from Nigeria. Ruth becomes frantic and upset when Mama talks about canceling the move. This material is available only on Freebooksummary. We use cookies to give you the best experience possible.
Sorry, but only registered users have full access. How about getting full access immediately? Become a member. This material doesn't solve your task? She shuts herself into their bedroom. Mama sits down with Walter who is upset by—and ashamed of—his poverty, his job as a chauffeur, and his lack of upward mobility.
Finally, Mama tells him that Ruth is pregnant and that she fears that Ruth is considering having an abortion. Walter does not believe that Ruth would do such a thing until Ruth comes out of the bedroom to confirm that she has made a down payment on the service. This scene includes two phone calls: one for Walter from Willy about the liquor store investment and the other for Beneatha from Joseph Asagai, her good friend and fellow intellectual.
These phone calls serve parallel functions for those who receive them and demonstrate what is important to both of the characters: Walter is waiting to move quickly on the investment, while Beneatha cannot wait to see Asagai and introduce him to her family. While most of their dreams involve the acquisition of some markers of success, such as a home, large cars, and privileged education, Beneatha has to begin by first ridding herself of the bugs that plague her current situation.
The interaction between Beneatha and Asagai reveals how serious Beneatha is about finding her identity. Beneatha does not want to assimilate into, or become successful in, the dominant white culture of the s. Yet while she wants to break free of conforming to the white ideal, she still wants to acclimate herself to an educated American life. Indeed, her seeking of her roots in Africa to forge her identity even though her family has been in America for five generations precedes the New African movement of the s.
In this movement, Black Americans embraced their racial history, stopping their attempts to assimilate, even in physical appearance. In his opinion, her hair should look as it does naturally: she should stop straightening it to look like white hair and instead wear an afro. Unsure of her identity as a Black woman joining an overwhelmingly white world, Beneatha turns to Asagai to see if he can supply a lost part of her self. Ruth does not want to have an abortion, but she considers it because she sees it as the only way to keep the family together.
It is possible that Hansberry is attempting to make a bold feminist statement with this plot twist. During the s, abortion was illegal, but Ruth has valid reasons for not wanting her pregnancy. Obviously, Ruth is not an immoral or evil woman. She simply wants to do the best for the family that she already has. Walter, on the other hand, lacks this singular dedication to his family.
Asagai, I am looking for my identity Asagai repeats Beneatha's words to her, poking fun at her desperation to connect with her African heritage. Beneatha made this statement to Asagai when they first met, a remark he had found amusing. One for Whom Bread — Food — Is Not Enough Asagai gives Beneatha the Nigerian name "Alaiyo," which he translates roughly as: "One for whom bread — food — is not enough," meaning that his perception of Beneatha is that she is a totally developed person, both intellectually and spiritually, and that she demands answers to all of life's questions.
Merely going through the motions of life is not enough for a person like Beneatha; she has to question every philosophy for herself. She is, to Asagai, a person for whom "bread — food — is not enough. You don't have to ride to work on the back of nobody's streetcar Prior to the civil rights movement, which reached its peak in the sixties, segregated facilities, separating whites from blacks, were common in the south, where "Jim Crow" laws made it legal.
Even in the northern cities, vestiges of segregation were apparent. In the south, whites rode in the front of buses, blacks in the back. An interesting aspect of this particular "Jim Crow" law was that a black person might be permitted to sit in the front of the bus if there were no white person on the bus who needed that seat.
If a white person boarded the bus and a black person was seated in the front, the black person knew, almost instinctively, that he had to get up in deference to the white person who needed that seat. During the thirties and forties, the mass exodus of blacks from the south to the northern cities was an attempt to flee segregation injustices, including being forced to ride at the back of buses.
Not until Rosa Parks dramatically refused to sit at the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in , an act which accelerated the civil rights movement, did most blacks in the south even think about the absurdity of the "Jim Crow" laws. Mama's generation worked hard so that their children could have a "better life," which, to her, meant a life without segregation. To those of Mama's generation, it should have been enough that Walter Lee's generation can ride at the front of a bus.
Mama cannot understand why Walter Lee wants more from life than to sit anywhere he wants on public transportation. Walter, in contrast, and others of his generation, take that particular "freedom" for granted. Walter wants the larger freedom of being totally independent of everyone; he wants to be able to earn his living without having a "boss"; more important, he wants to be able to generate his own income without being dependent on a salary as a chauffeur.
In short, Walter is questioning the reasons he cannot live the way his bosses live. When he asks why his wife cannot wear pearls, he is asking why he has to resign himself to poverty, being ever grateful that he no longer has to ride at the back of a bus.
To Mama, that particular measure of equality is enough; to Walter, it is an outrage. Previous Act I — Scene 1. Next Act II — Scene 1. Removing book from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked pages associated with this title. Are you sure you want to remove bookConfirmation and any corresponding bookmarks? My Preferences My Reading List.
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