Quote 19
MAMA (Quietly)
Oh – (Very quietly)
So now it's life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life – now it's money. I guess the world really do change… (1.2.229)
This statement from Lena shows a real generational gap between her and her son. There's a good chance that her parents were born slaves. Lena would have grown up with the idea that just being free was a big accomplishment. However, Walter is further separated from slavery and so being a free man just isn't enough. To him, the goal is to make money and move up the socioeconomic ladder. What do you think about this? Is Walter not appreciating what he has? Or is Lena just out of touch with the times?
Quote 20
MAMA
Honey, Big Walter would come in here some nights back then and slump down on that couch there and just look at the rug, and look at me and look at the rug and then back at me – and I’d know he was down then… really down. (After a second very long and thoughtful pause; she is seeing back to times that only she can see) And then, Lord, when I lost that baby – little Claude – I almost thought I was going to lose Big Walter too. Oh, that man grieved hisself! He was one man to love his children. (1.1.202)
Lena remembers the pain of losing her child and watching her husband break apart after the fact. The suffering was almost too much for Big Walter to bear. We wonder if Big Walter blamed himself for his child's death and for his family's struggles.
Quote 21
MAMA
I guess that’s how come that man finally worked hisself to death like he done. Like he was fighting his own war with this here world that took his baby from him. (1.1.204)
Lena believes Big Walter died from the pain of having lost a child. He buried himself in work to try and escape memory of the child's death. Eventually, though, all this work brought on his own death, which brought more pain to his family. We wonder if Big Walter somehow knew this was going to happen. Did he work himself to death on purpose so that his family would get the life insurance check? Did he die to try and ease his family's suffering?