Mama Analysis

Mama, or Lena Younger, is a strong-willed character in "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry. She is described as a nurturing and caring mother to her family. However, she is disappointed in her son Walter's pursuit of material wealth instead of following his father's example of sacrifice for the family. Mama is also portrayed as outspoken and has strong beliefs, including a desire for her family to have a Christian household. Despite her flaws, she loves her family unconditionally and selflessly uses her inheritance to benefit them. Mama represents the love and strength of many mothers and grandmothers. Hello, my name is Kayla Blaine, and today I will be analyzing the character of Mama from A Raisin in the Sun. Within the story written by Lorraine Hansberry, Mama's character, also known as Minnie Unger, is first introduced within Act 1, Scene 1, as a woman in her early 60s, full-bodied and strong, and her dark brown face is surrounded by total whiteness of her hair. Her old age is described by saying she has a bold face of strength because she is a woman who is adjusted to many things in her life, but she is also labeled as beautiful, and she walks as if there was a vessel upon her head. By describing the specific way that she walks, it shows her as a woman who carries herself straight and high up. Although, on the other hand, Hansberry describes her speech as slurred, filterless, and loud, which juxtaposes her already given description of her sounding so put together. Although there are many instances throughout the reading that express her loudness as a character, though it's not just like as audible volume, but in the aspect that she is a woman who carries herself with confidence and she doesn't take a single ounce of disrespect. With this first impression of Mama, you can already infer her as strong-willed, and though, yes, she is strong-willed, she also has an abundance of care and unconditional love for her family. Within the first dialogue she's included in, Mama quickly expresses her care for Benita when she gives up her own coat for her daughter to wear. She also expresses her care for Travis when she fixes his floppy bed, and then her care for Ruth when she tries to remind her that she needs to be looking out for herself better. These little instances with Ruth, Travis, and Benita characterizes Mama like right off the bat as nurturing. Her side of being nurturing, though, seems to come off slightly different with Walter, because he's just seemingly more stubborn. She has a lot of raised expectations for her son Walter to be like his dad, which is, you know, a strong father who is willing to sacrifice and strive for his family. So her disappointment upon Walter is definitely felt through every reader when he presents his drive for material wealth, rather than how she raised him to stray away from that form of greed. With Mama's disappointment, you can infer her abundance of care for her family, especially for Walter, since she thinks of him so highly, but she's only to be led with disappointment. The author also writes Benita's character as one who takes pride in following dreams, rather than motives that are edged on by materialistic wealth. Additionally, her disappointment with Ben Walter also portrays her loudness as a person through the confidence that she has in what she believes in, which also shows her as outspoken, rather than loud as an audible volume, which was mentioned earlier. She also has expectations and a loud stance for her family to follow a Christian household, although she does prove herself to be hypocritical when she proceeds to use the Lord's name in vain after scolding Benita, who clearly has opposite religious views. And in Act 1, Scene 1, she states, I am just going to have you around here reciting the scriptures in vain, but then uses the Lord's name in vain herself. This expresses that she is proud of her family with having Christian faith, but does also personally struggle with being devoutly Christian. She pushes a strong mindset, and she pushes these strong mindsets and beliefs for her kids and grandchildren to lean upon. So, personally reflecting upon Mama's character, I see my own mother within her. Well, actually, I see many mothers I know within the character of Mama. She loves her whole family unconditionally, even through tough love, because she wants nothing but what is best for them. She is constantly thinking about everyone's well-being, and Lena selflessly uses the money she inherited from her late husband for her entire family, instead of just on herself. Her tendencies of hypocrisy can come off negatively, but I do believe that she is just trying to teach her kids to be better than she is. Many mothers I know, including my own, always put their families first when making their decisions, and they all think of the health of everyone else before their own. So, Mama conveys a mother's love as well as a grandma's love throughout the entirety of her development. Lorraine Hansberry does a phenomenal job of conveying Mama's character and representing many mothers and grandmothers. Her introduction of the character was beautifully lined up with her dialogues that proceeded after by depicting her strength and wisdom when the family began to fall apart. Lena Younger heavily impacted the path of this story, as it seems every character does lean upon her for motivation and strength. She leads the household of the Youngers through occurrences of strife and happiness, as many mothers and grandmas do today.