crocheted doilies The totally bare, classic-line furniture of the fifties contrasted starkly with the furniture of the forties. In the forties, it was customary to place crocheted doilies on the arms and head rests of an overstuffed living room sofa and two sofa chairs, which were usually already covered with slipcovers. This was done in an effort to protect the furniture and to hide worn places; the country was just coming out of the Great Depression and great value was placed on one's possessions — especially if a family was poor. Having "forties furniture" in the fifties is a clear indication of poverty.
Chicago's Southside the area in Chicago in which many blacks live; referred to as "the ghetto," the poor neighborhood of Chicago.
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.
a settled woman a woman who looks older than her actual years mainly because she has resigned herself to her "lot in life."
always in his voice there is a quality of indictment a description of Walter, who has grown increasingly accusatory about the bleakness of his financial future.
affecting tea party interest Because Ruth is overwhelmed by her own concerns (mainly, that she might be pregnant), she becomes annoyed and therefore sarcastic when Walter tries to involve her in his conversation about the lives of wealthy whites. Ruth "affects" or "puts on" a tea party voice, purposely sounding pretentious in order to make Walter leave her alone.
slubborness Ruth refers to Travis' habits as being "slubborn" when she really means both "sloppy" and "stubborn." Because of Ruth's lack of formal education, she is not aware (but the audience is) that this is not a real word.
not a single penny for no caps A popular children's toy in the fifties, especially for little boys, was the "cap pistol" or "cap gun, "into which "caps" were placed, producing the sound of a miniature firecracker, making the children feel as though they were actually firing a real pistol. Ruth admonishes Travis even before he asks for money for caps, revealing her negative feelings about caps and cap guns.
fly-by-night proposition a reference to Walter Lee's idea for a business, a proposition that appears to his family to be risky, irresponsible, and unreliable.
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.
my girl didn't come in today Ruth works as a domestic, a cleaning woman, for wealthy whites who have traditionally referred to these cleaning women as "girls" — a term that the domestics found degrading but never complained openly about for fear of losing their jobs. Even though the cleaning woman was around thirty, as Ruth is, she was still called a "girl." Even Mama's being in her sixties does not mean that she would not also be referred to as the cleaning "girl" or just "the girl," most especially when the white employers were talking among themselves.
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."
