Hay-lo Beneatha answers the telephone with this greeting, a combination of "Hey" and "Hello."
He's got a conked head A "conked head" refers to a hairstyle adopted by some black men during the forties and early fifties. Because of what was defined as "self hatred" by psychologists who studied the phenomenon, oftentimes a group that believes itself to be oppressed will mimic the life-style and, sometimes, even mimic the appearance of the "dominant group." During this period in history, some black men (especially those connected with show business) would have their hair straightened through a chemical process that was both demeaning and extremely painful. Looking at old photographs of Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and other entertainers of that period, we see that they adopted this style. Many times though, men within the criminal element in the black community also wore their hair in this "conked" style when the style became a symbol of affluence. As a result, people within the black community often had negative perceptions about those who adopted this style. If those men were not a part of the entertainment industry, they were either denizens of the underworld or full-fledged or potential gangsters. The person whom Walter Lee describes as having a "conked head" is a part of the entertainment world; he is a musician at the Green Hat, a bar that Walter Lee frequents.
I don't want that on my ledger A religious woman, Mama is referring to the book of checks and balances that she believes is kept in Heaven, listing all the good and all the bad that a person does while on earth.
if the salt loses its savor When Ruth says that Beneatha is fresh — and then adds that Beneatha is as "fresh as salt" — Beneatha counters with a pedantic response, a phrase from the Bible, just to show off her knowledge. Beneatha uses the quote with some pretentiousness to press the point that she knows the Bible from an intellectual point of view but that she does not believe in its religious messages. The phrase used by Beneatha is taken from three places in the Bible: Matthew 5:13 "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." Mark 9:50 "Salt is good: but if the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." Luke 14:34-35 "Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither for the land, nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
Lena Eggleston is a high-minded thing Mama is so distraught over Walter's having lost the family's remaining money that, at first, she decides against moving into Clyboume Park and tries to make herself satisfied with the thought of remaining in her cramped Southside apartment. Mama reminisces about her youth and how she had always wanted more than what had been offered to her. She realizes now, she says, in her moment of defeat, that she was foolish to set her sights so high. She says that everyone around her used to laugh at her; they would say, "That Lena Eggleston is a high-minded thing. She'll get her due one day." Mama implies that perhaps her misfortune now is the "due" that her detractors warned her of.
The lion is waking This phrase refers to all of the African countries that were beginning to demand their independence of colonial rule. The reference was somewhat unsettling to colonial rulers of that day because of the suggested imagery of the fates of those caught in the presence of an awakening, ferocious lion. This phrase also refers to the Lion of Judah.
make down bed a couch that does not convert into an actual bed but is made up at night with a bed coveting and pillow to look like a bed.
