The trailer for the 2008 version of A Raisin in the Sun brings the characters to life in fascinating ways. If you plan on seeing the movie, I recommend only watching part of the trailer for it highlights many of the stories climactic moments–which may be more appreciated in the heat of the film.
In Lorrainne Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, one of the main plot devices that binds the characters of the play is the insurance check. A $10,000 check represents the purchasing power to fulfill endless possibilities of each character's respective dreams. The check reveals what it is that each character wants most, or in some cases, at least what they think they want most. However, in the case of Mama, she overtly reminds the others that life is ultimately not centered around money. Perhaps why she is such a strong character is because she does not depend on the despair and disappointment that follows with hungering and living for money. If she lived that way, she would have gone her entire life bitterly disappointed for this is the first time she possesses such money. We see a life longing for money through Walter. In contrast to Walter, Mama depends on God for peace of mind and the gift of her family around her. Mama exudes a strong-willed quality that suggests that tests of adversity–both social and economic–have shaped the statuesque demeanor she carries as the matriarch of the family. Despite this challenging aura, she has a giving nature as her thoughts are always for her weight-of-the-world bearing family members. However, her kindness is not weakness. For the long-term security of her family's spiritual well-being, she doesn't withhold discipline from a disrespect towards God. As her daughter (Beneatha) disregards God's significance, Mama realizes that not only has education permeated Beneatha's sense of speech, but the content of it echoes secular views of the world. Mama slaps Beneatha, acknowledging that she can't allow Beneatha's spiritual well-being to become compromised. In Mama's life, God is her source of hope, and if her children grow up without that, they may not be able to endure life's cruelties. Again, Walter's views have drifted from the moral foundation his parents raised him under as he turns to intoxication for relief to his despair. Walter and Beneatha's struggles remind Mama of why moral values are so important, and Walter is reminded of this when he looks to his son Travis before he takes the "30 pieces of silver" from Lindner (as Beneatha had alluded). Travis's innocence exemplifies to Walter someone that deserves to live in an ideal world, and as his father he realizes he can not kneel to evil. Walter redeems himself by standing up for what is right, recognizing that the need for a better world of tomorrow exists for Travis. Without acts of strong moral character exhibited by Mama, and momentously Walter, families fall apart. Mama, before all others, realized long ago, that contentment comes not from money, but from the faith that God will support their needs in the end.
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