Mama is from the generation that has worked to make a better life for the next generation. Mr. Younger's life has been marked by arduous toil; his death and the $10,000 insurance money provides his promise of affording his children with a better life. Nevertheless, Mama wants to be prudent in dispensing with this hard-earned money, and she does not easily agree with the other members of the family on how it should be spent. Walter Lee, who works as a chauffeur, dreams of being an entrepreneur; he desires are in the direction of owning his own business, specifically a liquor store; moreover, he is selfish in his expectations that Mama should primarily consider his goals.
In Act I, Walter Lee knows that his practical mother will not want to give him the insurance money for his business plans, so he suggests to his wife that she
"just sip your coffee, see, and say easy like you been thinking 'bout that deal
…show more content…
Of course, Mama is very angry when she hears this and she then learns that Willy has not opened any checking account as she instructed him. So, in order to recoup his loss, Will says that he will call back Mr. Lindner from the new neighborhood who offers to buy them out so that they will not move into the white subdivision. Now, the family is very upset with Walter Lee for his surrender to Mr. Lindner. But, before the man comes, Mama tells him,
I come from five generations....of slaves and sharecroppers, but ain't nobody in my family never let nobody pay 'em no money tht was a way of telling us we wasn't fit to walk the earth. We ain't never been that--dead inside.
This message reaches Walter Lee and when Mr. Lindner arrives, Walter, as the man of the family, rejects the offer, telling the man that his family does not intend to cause trouble. With this, Mama is proud of her son. Moving day comes and Mama gathers her frail plant and departs for the final
Walter comes up with another plan to take money from Linder, president of the Clyburn home association. Earlier, he offered the family money not to move in their neighborhood but Walter declined. However, after his devastating loss, he called up Linder to make a deal to get more money. Walter Younger’s defining moment was when Mama told him he was not a man and his father would not be pleased with his decision. This seemed to cause something to rise in him to change his perspective on
Walter does not feel like he is the man of the house so Mama and Walter sit down and discuss it. She tells him,
Finally the check comes. Walter and his prospective partner, Willy Harris, get very excited. He finally has his chance to take the control he feels he deserves. Then the bombshell news of Ruth’s pregnancy and imminent abortion comes, Walter is thrown off balance. To try and settle matters, Mama goes out and buys the house.
Developmental psychology is viewed as different approaches which aims to look at how children and adults develop. Theories such as Bowlby 's attachment theory can explain how a child 's development can be altered by their attachment, thus leading to the ideology of the nature vs nurture debate, nature referring to the process of biological maturation while nurture is referring to the impact of the environment or surroundings, which involves the idea that a person learns through experiences. (McLeod, S. A, 2012)
After telling the exciting news of the family moving into their own house, Walter was furiated. Mama found Walter half drunk at the bar later that day, from the aggravation and negative energy the family gave off on him earlier that day. Walter and Mama have a conversation at the bar, and Mama is willing to give him 6,500 dollars and she ask him to promise her he will put half away in the bank for Beneatha's education, giving Walter the rest toward his business partnership. At this part of the book Walter saw that Mama had trusted Walter with the money his father had worked so hard for all of his life. He promised Mama that he would not let her down. Knowing Walter being so tempted by his dream of the liquor business, he finally had a decent amount of money to put him and his family into a good position. Walter no thought in the mind, puts the full 6,500 dollars towards the liquor business leaving nothing for Beneatha. Walter being so greedy, thought he knew what was best, and yet he is running into a bigger problem he would had never
In the beginning of the play, Walter Lee Younger presents as a character that values money over his own family. He has plans of entering the world of business by investing in a liquor store; however, Walter does not receive full support from the other members of his family. Mama is hesitant on giving a portion of the $10,000 to
Exposition : The Younger family has recently lost their head of the family, Mama’s husband, and are going to be given 10,000$ from their insurance. They are an African American family in the working class that lives on the South side of Chicago and struggling with financial difficulties.
Walter Lee is stubborn, very ambitious, and filled with pride at the beginning of the story. He strives for success with the money “Mama,” also known as Lena got from the life insurance from her husband who recently passed away. Walter was so selfish all he wanted was to provide a better life for he and his family because he was not satisfied with their current standards of living. He wants more and wishes to become rich because he believes he never had enough growing up, but at the same time he wants to provide money and societal respect for his family. He put his trust with the money into a person who betrayed him and he ended up losing it all including his sisters schooling money. After this scene in the play Walter was at his lowest point,
The Younger family has not been able to experience the finer things in life, and Walter, being the authoritative male figure, feels he is at fault knows that a change is needed. Walter’s solution is to use his father’s life insurance money to fund the acquiring of a liquor license. The women of the household are always ordering around Walter. It’s Ruth, Mama, or Beneatha telling him how to run things, and when he gets a chance to take the initiative by using the money to invest in his liquor license, his friend betrays him, and his dreams are crushed.
The Younger family scrapes through life, each person searching for their own version of the American Dream. Walter clings to the original American Dream of being successful, even if that means going against his mother’s wishes. Mama wants a house for her family, this dream causes her to not fully support Walter’s dream. Walter holds on to his dream of being successful and nothing less, however Mama only wants a home for her family, meaning “Her dream is unacceptable to Walter, who will have nothing less than the complete American Dream, since her version of it only amounts to surviving, not living in the fullest sense” (Washington 94). Their dreams are so different and Mama struggles to support Walter’s risky dream of becoming successful through opening a liquor store. Finally out of the goodness of her heart, Mama gives him the remaining part of the insurance money to start his business, however Walter loses this money to a dirty friend. Thus causing pain to not only himself, but also his family. Barriers and issues constantly block or prevent him and his family from attaining the wealth and success that Walter desires so greatly.
Lindner over to finalize the agreement. Walter even tells Mama what he is going to say: “All right, Mr. Lindner—that’s your neighborhood out there! You got the right to keep it like you want! You got the right to have it like you want! Just write the check and—the house is yours.”(144) So even though Walter had his whole speech for Mr. Lindner planned out, he changes his mind at the last moment. The reason for this sudden change is because of the words his mother implied on him earlier. Mama told Walter, “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. We ain’t never been that—dead inside.”(143) Mama is saying that Walter will be disrespecting five generations of Youngers if he goes through with his plans. The statement Mama made helped Walter to realize that by selling the house he was only making himself feel better about the money being lost, but was making everyone else in the family lose more and more respect for him. To show just how upset the family was, Beneatha even told her mother, “Love him? There is nothing left to love.”(145) Beneatha feels that Walter has stooped so low this time that there is nothing there but a soulless body that cannot be loved. Walter makes amends between himself and his family by telling Mr. Lindner, “We
Walter begins to drink, stay away from home, and to constantly argue with his wife, Ruth. Walter's life is contrasted by the role of his recently widowed mother, who holds to more traditional values of acceptance of life's lot and of making the best of any situation. Walter Lee's "Mama" holds Walter's father up as an example of a man with pride and a man that, despite racial injustice in a dualistic society, worked hard to provide for his family. This adds to Walter's frustration. Walter now feels incapable and small in his mama's eyes.
With General Motors participating in a federal government bailout and becoming debt-free, it has set the future standards very high (Kinicki & Williams, 2013). Increasing the profit margin by 4% to provide a 10% profit margin would set GM ahead of other automobile industry competitors. The bailout also released GM from federal corporate taxes for several years in the future. This in itself is a tremendous cost savings.
Walter is furious with Mama for "butchering up his dream" (Hansberry) and when she entrusts him with the money leftover from the down payment, he is irresponsible and losses it. The white residents of Clybourne Park also attempt to defer the dream. Mr. Lindner, a representative of the residents, even offers to buy back their house for more money than they put down. Tempting, but no thanks! Her dream of home ownership seems to be dead until Mama, Ruth, Beneatha and Walter cooperate to achieve to goal. The goal even shifts slight to encompass standing up for themselves by moving into an all-white neighborhood. Even Walter does his part by refusing Mr. Lindner's offer of money.
Walter is upset about what Mama has done. She chose to fulfill her dream of a owning a home over anyone else’s dream.