Once upon a time freedom used to be life—now
it’s money.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Summary
The next day, Saturday, the Youngers are cleaning their
apartment and waiting for the insurance check to arrive. Walter
receives a phone call from his friend Willy Harris, who is coordinating
the potential liquor store venture. It appears that their plan is
moving smoothly. The insurance check is all Walter needs to pursue
the venture. He promises to bring the money to Willy when he receives
it. Meanwhile, Beneatha is spraying the apartment with insecticide
in an attempt to rid it of cockroaches. Beneatha and Travis start
fighting, and Beneatha threatens him with the spray gun.
The phone rings, and Beneatha answers. She
invites the person on the phone over to the still-dirty apartment,
much to Mama’s chagrin. After hanging up, Beneatha explains to Mama
that the man she has spoken to on the phone is Joseph Asagai, an
African intellectual whom Beneatha has met at school. She and Mama discuss
Beneatha’s worries about her family’s ignorance about Africa and
African people. Mama believes that Africans need religious salvation
from “heathenism,” while Beneatha believes that they are in greater
need of political and civil salvation from French and British colonialism.
Ruth returns from seeing a doctor, who has told her that
she is two months pregnant. She reveals this information to Mama
and Beneatha. Ruth and Beneatha are worried and uncertain, while Mama
simply expresses her hope that the baby will be a girl. Ruth calls
the doctor “she,” which arouses Mama’s suspicion because their family
doctor is a man. Ruth feels ill and anxious about her pregnancy.
Mama tries to help her relax.
Asagai visits Beneatha, and they spend some time together
by themselves. He brings her some Nigerian clothing and music as gifts.
As Beneatha tries on one of the robes, Asagai asks about her straightened
hair. He implies that her hairstyle is too American and unnatural,
and he wonders how it got that way. Beneatha says that her hair
was once like his, but that she finds it too “raw” that way. He
teases her a bit about being very serious about finding her identity,
particularly her African identity, through him. Asagai obviously
cares for Beneatha very much, and he wonders why Beneatha does not
have the same feeling for him. She explains that she is looking
for more than storybook love. She wants to become an independent
and liberated woman. Asagai scorns her wish, much to Beneatha’s
disappointment.
Mama comes into the room, and Beneatha introduces her
to Asagai. Mama then recites Beneatha’s views on Africa and African
people as best she can. When Asagai says goodbye, he calls Beneatha
by a nickname, “Alaiyo.” He explains that it is a word from his
African tribal language, roughly translated to mean “One for Whom Bread—Food—Is
Not Enough.” He leaves, having charmed both women. Finally, the
check arrives.
Walter returns home and wants to talk about his liquor
store plans. Ruth wants to discuss her pregnancy with him and becomes upset
when he will not listen. She shuts herself into their bedroom. Mama
sits down with Walter who is upset by—and ashamed of—his poverty,
his job as a chauffeur, and his lack of upward mobility. Finally,
Mama tells him that Ruth is pregnant and that she fears that Ruth
is considering having an abortion. Walter does not believe that Ruth
would do such a thing until Ruth comes out of the bedroom to confirm
that she has made a down payment on the service.
