Did I do this correctly for realism in A Raisin in the Sun?

Question

1. Walter : "A job. (Looks at her) Mama, a job? I open and close doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine and I say "Yes, sir; no sir ; very good sir; shall I take the Drive, sir ? Mama that ain't no kind of job...that ain't nothing at all."

My explanation : Walter represents a frustrated black member of a society upon whom limitations have been place on. He is not happy about his current situation of life and wants to change things for the better. Walter wants more than he can currently provide. African Americans were still greatly discriminated during this time .

2. George:"...Let's face it baby, your heritage is nothing but a bunch of raggedy-assed spirituals and some grass huts."

Explanation : It brings out how he does not truly care about his African heritage. He has detached himself from his race and community with his materialistic attitude and his educational supremacy . He sees African people just like white people : inferior. He sees society just as it is. He doesn't care at all what other people like Beneatha say.

3. Mama: "There is always something to love and if you ain't learned nothing. Have you cried for that boy today? I don't mean for yourself and the family cause we lost the money. I mean for him: what he had been through and what it has done to him. Child when do you think is this time to love somebody the most? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then you ain't through learning - because that ain't the time at all. It's when he's at the lowest and can't believe in hisself' cause the world done whipped him so!

Explanation: Even though Walter loses the money, Mama still tells Beneatha to love and support him. She criticizes Beneatha for her lack of sympathy and for placing her own concerns about her own dream before concerns about Walters lost of pride. She wants Beneatha to cry for Walter and everything he has been through and try to understand how hard he has been trying to make everything better for his family. Even though they are all facing a difficult situation , Mama wants her to know that yes they lost the money but that she should realize that Walter was doing this only to make it better for the family. She should realize how hard Walter was trying. She shouldn't get mad at him. Mama says that Walter right now needs support and love from Beneatha not anger.

Is this ok ?

Answer 1

1 and 3, yes. I do not think George's disdain for African heritage expresses realism. It expresses his own feelings, which are real, but does not describe a realistic situation the Youngers face. Instead, look for the speech or exchange of speeches about how the little boy sleeps on the couch in the living room, etc. That passage describes realism.

Answer 2

Let me add that Mama's moving speech is less about a "realistic" or concrete situation than it is an expression of a more general reality as she sees it, and as the playwright sees it: the experience of being African American in America.