A Raisin in the Sun: The Generation Gap

"MAMA: Now--you say after me, in my mother's house there is still God." pg. 51

This play makes it very obvious that during the late '50s and early '60s there were a lot of changes in thinking that separated the younger people from the older, especially in African American culture. The older generation had depended so heavily upon religion to get themselves through times of strife and hardship. They had rode it out of slavery and into freedom and a new world. However, in these new times of higher education, philosophy, and free thinking, the younger generation who were going to college and realizing that they could form their own opinions had found religion and freedom were old ideals. They had instead turned their focus to reviving their culture, not depending on God for their success but themselves instead, and to attaining as much wealth as possible. In one instance in the story, Beneatha is finally fed up with her mother's constant thanks and praise to God that she finally just says it. She says that she does not believe in God and she's tired of Him getting all the credit for man's hard work. At this statement, Mama is so enraged that she just slaps her. While Beneatha thought her point was valid and reasonable, Mama could not understand how she could take something that had helped her so much in her life and been so important to her and throw it all away like that. The disagreement between Walter and Mama about the money is another example of how the younger and older generations were separated. Walter is so concerned with making more money. He supposes multiple business adventures and often verbalizes his dreams of making a better life for his family and being able to afford the things they want and need. After listening to his constant theorizing about how to make himself happier, Mama finally tells him that he is basically ungrateful. In her time, the main concern was triumphing over slavery and attaining freedom. Money didn't matter as long as they were free. But, in the new world, where African Americans had achieved that feat, it was no longer satisfying to live in the lower class, even if they were free. Money had become as important to them as it had been to white people for years.