111 RUTH I’ll get it.
112 MAMA Lord, ain’t this a popular place tonight.
113 RUTH (At the phone) Hello—Just a minute. (Goes to door) Walter, it’s Mrs. Arnold. (Waits. Goes back to the phone. Tense) Hello. Yes, this is his wife speaking … He’s lying down now. Yes … well, he’ll be in tomorrow. He’s been very sick. Yes—I know we should have called, but we were so sure he’d be able to come in today. Yes—yes, I’m very sorry. Yes … Thank you very much. (She hangs up. WALTER is standing in the doorway of the bedroom behind her) That was Mrs. Arnold.
114 WALTER (Indifferently) Was it?
115 RUTH She said if you don’t come in tomorrow that they are getting a new man …
116 WALTER Ain’t that sad—ain’t that crying sad.
117 RUTH She said Mr. Arnold has had to take a cab for three days … Walter, you ain’t been to work for three days! (This is a revelation to her) Where you been, Walter Lee Younger? (WALTER looks at her and starts to laugh) You’re going to lose your job.
118 WALTER That’s right … (He turns on the radio)
119 RUTH Oh, Walter, and with your mother working like a dog every day—
120 (A steamy, deep blues pours into the room)
121 WALTER That’s sad too— Everything is sad.
122 MAMA What you been doing for these three days, son?
123 WALTER Mama—you don’t know all the things a man what got leisure can find to do in this city … What’s this—Friday night? Well—Wednesday I borrowed Willy Harris’ car and I went for a drive … just me and myself and I drove and drove … Way out … way past South Chicago, and I parked the car and I sat and looked at the steel mills all day long. I just sat in the car and looked at them big black chimneys for hours. Then I drove back and I went to the Green Hat. (Pause) And Thursday—Thursday I borrowed the car again and I got in it and I pointed it the other way and I drove the other way—for hours—way, way up to Wisconsin, and I looked at the farms. I just drove and looked at the farms. Then I drove back and I went to the Green Hat. (Pause) And today—today I didn’t get the car. Today I just walked. All over the Southside. And I looked at the Negroes and they looked at me and finally I just sat down on the curb at Thirty-ninth and South Parkway and I just sat there and watched the Negroes go by. And then I went to the Green Hat. You all sad? You all depressed? And you know where I am going right now—
124 (RUTH goes out quietly)
125 MAMA Oh, Big Walter, is this the harvest of our days?
126 WALTER You know what I like about the Green Hat? I like this little cat they got there who blows a sax … He blows. He talks to me. He ain’t but ’bout five feet tall and he’s got a conked head and his eyes is always closed and he’s all music—
127 MAMA (Rising and getting some papers out of her handbag) Walter—
128 WALTER And there’s this other guy who plays the piano … and they got a sound. I mean they can work on some music … They got the best little combo in the world in the Green Hat … You can just sit there and drink and listen to them three men play and you realize that don’t nothing matter worth a damn, but just being there—
129 MAMA I’ve helped do it to you, haven’t I, son? Walter I been wrong.
130 WALTER Naw—you ain’t never been wrong about nothing, Mama.
131 MAMA Listen to me, now. I say I been wrong, son. That I been doing to you what the rest of the world been doing to you. (She turns off the radio) Walter—(She stops and he looks up slowly at her and she meets his eyes pleadingly) What you ain’t never understood is that I ain’t got nothing, don’t own nothing, ain’t never really wanted nothing that wasn’t for you. There ain’t nothing as precious to me … There ain’t nothing worth holding on to, money, dreams, nothing else—if it means—if it means it’s going to destroy my boy. (She takes an envelope out of her handbag and puts it in front of him and he watches her without speaking or moving) I paid the man thirty-five hundred dollars down on the house. That leaves sixty-five hundred dollars. Monday morning I want you to take this money and take three thousand dollars and put it in a savings account for Beneatha’s medical schooling. The rest you put in a checking account—with your name on it. And from now on any penny that come out of it or that go in it is for you to look after. For you to decide. (She drops her hands a little helplessly) It ain’t much, but it’s all I got in the world and I’m putting it in your hands. I’m telling you to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be.
132 WALTER (Stares at the money) You trust me like that, Mama?
133 MAMA I ain’t never stop trusting you. Like I ain’t never stop loving you.
134 (She goes out, and WALTER sits looking at the money on the table. Finally, in a decisive gesture, he gets up, and, in mingled joy and desperation, picks up the money. At the same moment, TRAVIS enters for bed) Which text evidence from the selection best supports why Mama feels that she has contributed to Walter's despair?
A: “What you ain’t never understood is that I ain’t got nothing, don’t own nothing, ain’t never really wanted nothing that wasn’t for you.”
B: “It ain’t much, but it’s all I got in the world and I’m putting it in your hands.”
C: Ruth mentions that Walter has not been to work for three days and will lose his job.
D: Mama says, “I’ve helped do it to you, haven’t I, son? Walter I been wrong.”
1 answer
The text evidence that best supports why Mama feels that she has contributed to Walter's despair is:
D: Mama says, “I’ve helped do it to you, haven’t I, son? Walter I been wrong.”
This statement directly indicates Mama's acknowledgment of her role in Walter's struggles and despair, suggesting that she feels a sense of responsibility for his current situation.
