Compare and contrast Mama and Beneatha from A Raisin in the Sun.

Mama
andoperate as foils in the play. Hansberry uses theto compare and contrast the difference in
values between Mama's generation and Beneatha's. Mama's generation was that which migrated from
the South to northern cities like Chicago, the setting of the play, in the early part of the
twentieth-century. Beneatha's generation embraced Civil Rights, pan-Africanism, and later, would
embrace Black Pride, which encouraged a singularly black aesthetic, as well as black
nationalism.

Beneatha's generation had more access to education and
opportunity than her mother's. This is exemplified not only by the erudite language that
Beneatha uses, which befuddles her mother, but also by her experiments with different hobbies.
For example, Beneatha announces that she will start guitar lessons, a pastime which makes no
sense to either Mama or :

Mama: How come you done taken it
in your mind to learn to play the guitar?

Beneatha: I just want to, that's
all.

Mama: (Smiling)  Lord, child,...