dried up grape: 2

My absolute favorite character throughout all of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun was Mama.  She never once lost her temper, even though she had every reason to.  If I'd have lived in that cramped apartment with a delusional son, a self-absorbed daughter, a grumpy pregnant daughter-in-law, and a rowdy grandson, I would surely go crazy.  She was so strong in her faith.  Nothing that her family did or said to her ever made her waiver in her faith, just made her cling to God all the more.  Hansburry uses direct characterization for Mama from the very start.  In the first description of Mama, she mentioned that Mama's "bearing is perhaps most like the noble bearing of the women of the Hereros of Southwest Africa..." (Hansburry, 448).  She shows right away that Mama is a proud, strong woman.  Mama was really the only character who consistently showed love and affection for Travis.  Ruth, Walter, and Beneatha were always teasing him, yelling at him, or telling him to go away so that the adults could talk.  Mama adored her grandson, and made sure he knew it.