1.
M A M A : Oh—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 . . .
W A L T E R : No—it was always money, Mama. We just didn’t know about it.
M A M A : No . . . something has changed. You something new, boy. In my time we was worried about not being
lynched . . . You ain’t satisfied or proud of nothing we done. I mean that you had a home; that we kept you out of
trouble till you was grown; that you don’t have to ride to work on the back of nobody’s streetcar—You my children
—but how different we done become.
This exchange occurs in Act I, scene ii when Mama asks Walter why he always talks about money. Walter
responds that “[m]oney is life,” explaining to her that success is now defined by how much money one has. This
conversation takes place early in the play and reveals Mama’s and Walter’s economic struggles. These lines
demonstrate the ideological differences between their generations. Throughout the play, Mama’s views are at
odds with Walter’s and Beneatha’s views. For Walter, money seems to be the answer to everything. Money, he
believes, allows people to live comfortable and carefree lives. It also seems to define a man by measuring his
success and ability to provide for his family. For Walter, who feels enslaved in his job and life, money is the truest
freedom.
Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, characters connect money to discussions of race. Mama says, “Once upon a
time freedom used to be life—now it’s money. I guess the world really do change.” Walter grew up being “free” in
the way that Mama means, but he faced other problems, such as the lack of financial and social freedom that he
talks about here. Walter believes that freedom is not enough and that, while civil rights are a large step for
blacks, in the real world—for the Youngers, the South Side of Chicago in the 1940s and 1950s—blacks are still
treated differently and more harshly than whites. Mr. Lindner, who later comes to persuade the Youngers not to
move into his all-white neighborhood, embodies one example of this racist treatment. Mrs. Johnson later speaks
of reading about the bombing of a black family’s house in the “colored paper” and complains that the racist white
people who were responsible for the bombing make her feel like times have not changed, as if they still live in
turbulent Mississippi, a hotbed of racism during the mid-twentieth century.
2.
W A L T E R : You wouldn’t understand yet, son, but your daddy’s gonna make a transaction . . . a business
transaction that’s going to change our lives. . . . That’s how come one day when you ‘bout seventeen years old I’ll
come home . . . I’ll pull the car up on the driveway . . . just a plain black Chrysler, I think, with white walls—no—
black tires . . . the gardener will be clipping away at the hedges and he’ll say, “Good evening, Mr. Younger.” And
I’ll say, “Hello, Jefferson, how are you this evening?” And I’ll go inside and Ruth will come downstairs and meet
me at the door and we’ll kiss each other and she’ll take my arm and we’ll go up to your room to see you sitting on
the floor with the catalogues of all the great schools in America around you. . . . All the great schools in the world!
And—and I’ll say, all right son—it’s your seventeenth birthday, what is it you’ve decided? . . . Just tell me, what it
is you want to be—and you’ll be it. . . . Whatever you want to be—Yessir! You just name it, son . . . and I hand
you the world!
This speech from Act II, scene ii, which Walter delivers to Travis as he tucks him in bed, closes an important
scene and foreshadows the climax of the play. Walter explains to Travis, and to the audience, that he will move
quickly to invest the money that Mama has just given him (part of it meant for Beneatha’s future schooling costs).
M A M A : Oh—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 . . .
W A L T E R : No—it was always money, Mama. We just didn’t know about it.
M A M A : No . . . something has changed. You something new, boy. In my time we was worried about not being
lynched . . . You ain’t satisfied or proud of nothing we done. I mean that you had a home; that we kept you out of
trouble till you was grown; that you don’t have to ride to work on the back of nobody’s streetcar—You my children
—but how different we done become.
This exchange occurs in Act I, scene ii when Mama asks Walter why he always talks about money. Walter
responds that “[m]oney is life,” explaining to her that success is now defined by how much money one has. This
conversation takes place early in the play and reveals Mama’s and Walter’s economic struggles. These lines
demonstrate the ideological differences between their generations. Throughout the play, Mama’s views are at
odds with Walter’s and Beneatha’s views. For Walter, money seems to be the answer to everything. Money, he
believes, allows people to live comfortable and carefree lives. It also seems to define a man by measuring his
success and ability to provide for his family. For Walter, who feels enslaved in his job and life, money is the truest
freedom.
Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, characters connect money to discussions of race. Mama says, “Once upon a
time freedom used to be life—now it’s money. I guess the world really do change.” Walter grew up being “free” in
the way that Mama means, but he faced other problems, such as the lack of financial and social freedom that he
talks about here. Walter believes that freedom is not enough and that, while civil rights are a large step for
blacks, in the real world—for the Youngers, the South Side of Chicago in the 1940s and 1950s—blacks are still
treated differently and more harshly than whites. Mr. Lindner, who later comes to persuade the Youngers not to
move into his all-white neighborhood, embodies one example of this racist treatment. Mrs. Johnson later speaks
of reading about the bombing of a black family’s house in the “colored paper” and complains that the racist white
people who were responsible for the bombing make her feel like times have not changed, as if they still live in
turbulent Mississippi, a hotbed of racism during the mid-twentieth century.
2.
W A L T E R : You wouldn’t understand yet, son, but your daddy’s gonna make a transaction . . . a business
transaction that’s going to change our lives. . . . That’s how come one day when you ‘bout seventeen years old I’ll
come home . . . I’ll pull the car up on the driveway . . . just a plain black Chrysler, I think, with white walls—no—
black tires . . . the gardener will be clipping away at the hedges and he’ll say, “Good evening, Mr. Younger.” And
I’ll say, “Hello, Jefferson, how are you this evening?” And I’ll go inside and Ruth will come downstairs and meet
me at the door and we’ll kiss each other and she’ll take my arm and we’ll go up to your room to see you sitting on
the floor with the catalogues of all the great schools in America around you. . . . All the great schools in the world!
And—and I’ll say, all right son—it’s your seventeenth birthday, what is it you’ve decided? . . . Just tell me, what it
is you want to be—and you’ll be it. . . . Whatever you want to be—Yessir! You just name it, son . . . and I hand
you the world!
This speech from Act II, scene ii, which Walter delivers to Travis as he tucks him in bed, closes an important
scene and foreshadows the climax of the play. Walter explains to Travis, and to the audience, that he will move
quickly to invest the money that Mama has just given him (part of it meant for Beneatha’s future schooling costs).
