Mothers and Sons What constitutes social responsibility, in other words, manhood, for the black man?

What role does a mother play? What role does a wife play? What role does a son play? In her work, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry gives us a character who finds himself immersed in gut wrenching conflict, the resolution of which he thinks lies in how others, primarily his mother and wife, treat him. The playwright painstakingly examines this through not only the dialogue assigned to her characters, but through her detailed stage direction, as well. In a desperate attempt to establish credibility as a father figure in a female dominated household, Walter Lee Younger defies his wife's refusal of their son's request for fifty cents by cavalierly tossing him the money as the boy prepares for school. This serves as a counterpoint to an earlier exchange between mother (Ruth) and son (Travis): "Travis: (Eating) This is the morning we supposed to bring the fifty cents to school. Ruth: Well, I ain't got no fifty cents this morning. Travis: Teacher say we have to. Ruth: I don't care what teacher say, I ain't got it. Eat your breakfast, Travis. Travis: I am eating. Ruth: Hush up now and just eat! (The boy gives her an exasperated look for her lack of understanding, and eats grudgingly) Travis: You think Grandma would have it? Ruth: No! And I want you to stop asking your grand-mother for money, you hear me? Travis: (Outraged) Gaaaleee! I don't ask her, she just gimme it sometimes! Ruth: Travis Willard YoungerI got too much on me this morning to be-Travis: Maybe Daddy-Ruth: Travis!" I would assert this exchange, while emphasizing the foundation of what might be considered a more or less normal relationship between mother and son, more importantly illustrates the thread of authority flowing through the female side of the family. In other words, it is the grandmother who is seen as the primary resource in this household. Travis brings up his father, Walter, as an afterthought. And when the boy poses the possibility of actually earning the money he needs by carrying groceries at the supermarket, his mother angrily rebuffs him. Why is not yet clear. What is clear is that the boy is denied

not only the opportunity to earn money, but the opportunity to consider it an honorable solution to his dilemma. Ruth attempts to diffuse her son's subsequent anger in the face of this denial by smothering him in what amounts to condescending affection. The playwright's extensive stage direction, the effect of which is especially apparent in the film version, is critical here, first because it confirms stereotypes with regard to traditional mother/son relationships, second because it sets the stage for the father/son duality which functions in opposition to thread of female dominance so resented by Walter: "Ruth: (Mocking; as she thinks he would say it) Oh, Mama makes me so mad sometimes, I don't know what to do! (She waits and continues to his back as he stands stockstill in front of the door) I wouldn't kiss that woman good-bye for nothing in this world this morning! (The boy finally turns around and rolls his eyes at her, knowing the mood has changed and he is vindicated; he does not, however, move toward her yet) Not for nothing in this world! (She finally laughs aloud at him and holds out her arms to him and we see that it is a way between them, very old and practiced. He crosses to her an allows her to embrace him warmly but keeps his face fixed with masculine rigidity. She holds him back from her presently and looks at him and runs her fingers over the features of his face. With utter gentleness--) Nowwhose little old angry man are you? Travis: (The masculinity and gruffness start to fade at last) Aw gaaleeMama... Ruth: (Mimicking) Aw gaaaaalleeeee, Mama! (She pushes him, with rough playfulness and finality , toward the door) Get on out of here or you going to be late. Travis: (In the face of love, new aggressiveness) Mama, could I please go carry groceries? Ruth: Honey, it's starting to get so cold evenings." So, in the guise of loving concern, we have confirmation of the ongoing, however unwitting insistence that the male continue to rely on the female for resources. In other words, Hansberry has set the stage for Walter's entrance: "Walter: (Coming in from the bathroom and drawing a make-believe gun from a make-believe holster and shooting at his son) What is it he wants to do? Ruth: Go carry groceries after school at the supermarket. Walter: Well, let him go... Travis: (Quickly, to the ally) I have toshe won't gimme the fifty cents... Walter: (To his wife only) Why not? Ruth: (Simply, and with flavor) 'Cause we don't have it. Walter: (To RUTH only) What you tell the boy things like that for? (Reaching down into his pants with a rather important gesture) Here, son-(He hands the boy the coin, but his eyes are directed to his wife's. TRAVIS takes the money happily)

Travis: Thanks, Daddy. (He starts out. RUTH watches both of them with murder in her eyes. WALTER stands and stares back at her with defiance, and suddenly reaches into his pocket again on an afterthought) Walter: (Without even looking at his son, still staring hard at his wife) In fact, here's another fifty cents...Buy yourself some fruit todayor take a taxicab to school or something!" This is a play written for the small stage, and the small audience, as well. The intimacy of the set, a small apartment without even a kitchen, focuses the intensity of the dialogue as it evolves within the context of what is almost maddeningly detailed stage direction having primarily to do with attitude. We have a wife with murder in her eyes not moments after having evidenced an unyielding love toward her son. We have a husband and father in glaring defiance of his wife's authority over the boy. These attitudes Hansberry wants to portray are best seen up close in spite of the fact that they are a reflection of a world in turmoil. It is a world in which racial, as well as gender identity is being reexamined. Walter is an angry man. With virtually no exposure to the fundamentals of acquiring wealth, his anger is exacerbated by his ignorance. It is not the ignorance of an illiterate man; it is the ignorance of a chauffeur suffering from all the misinformation a haphazard exposure to wealth will bring. And his exposure occurs on a daily basis as social revolution swirls all about him. It is a world in which many, like Walter, see the shortest route to manhood as the ability to get rich quick, an ability with special appeal in the face of Walter's emasculation at the hands of a culture which says: as a man you must provide for your family; as a black you will never have the means to honestly do so. He is essentially powerless, so he finds himself exercising power in the only venue left to him, his home. Ironically, however, the real battle lies not between Walter and the world. Nor does it lie between Walter and his wife, nor his wife and Travis. The real battle is between his mother, Lena, and a culture which conspires at every turn to not only undermine her efforts to raise a responsible man from boyhood, but to devalue her contributions to society, as well, by relegating her to the lowest rung on the ladder of success, servitude. The brilliance of Hansberry's play is in how Lena ultimately proves the winner. She doesn't win by guile, the style most appealing to Walter. She doesn't win by way of transient

allegiance to passing fads or fancies, the style most appealing to her daughter, the aspiring doctor. Her victory is more enduring by virtue of her steadfast commitment to principle; she has struck no Faustian bargains. As a result, we find that same commitment expressed in the actions of her shamed son when he finds himself face to face with a love that transcends even his own foolishness in having lost the money upon which they all thought they must depend. Having been reared by this very woman, this icon of reliability and faith, he ultimately has no choice but to emulate her. How does he do so? By standing on principle. He speaks for the honor of his father and his family by declaring his commitment to a better life despite the machinations of those who would bribe or patronize him into shameful submission. Thus, Walter learns that the manhood he so desperately sought has nothing to do with how he is treated, everything to do with what he values. It is, ironically, a lesson he learns at the feet of his mother.