Although Mama is a strong motivational force in this drama, she is not its focal point, as many earlier critics assumed. Raisin actually tells the story of Walter Lee — granted that his is a story greatly influenced by Mama. A proud woman, Lena Younger does not have much material wealth, but she walks tall, exudes dignity, and carries herself, as Hansberry says, with the "noble bearing of the women of the Heroes of Southwest Africa [a pastoral people]," as though she walks with a "basket or a vessel upon her head." Her children are her life; she refers to them as her "harvest." With no significant dreams of her own, she lives vicariously through her children, for even her dream of having a house is motivated only by her desire to make living conditions better for her family. She says, upon receiving the $10,000 insurance check, that, for her part, she'd just as soon donate the entire sum to her church.
Because Mama seems to be accustomed to suffering and enduring hardships, the Lindners of the world cannot disturb her inner peace, for she has previously suffered the death of a baby and, more recently, the death of her husband of many years. Her strong faith and deep religious convictions give her the psychological and physical mettle she needs in order to rise to life's challenges. At her lowest point, she asks God to replenish her waning strength and is immediately possessed of a more compassionate perception of Walter Lee's folly.
