tunity to stop dreaming. This movement away from the family focus is representative of the horizontal and vertical stressors he must contend with. With this in mind, it is no wonder that Walter feels frustration with his family. Lena Younger, Walter’s mother, says, “Your father would have been happy working for another man and caring for his family.” Walter, on the other hand, is more concerned with becoming self-employed without considering the consequences and the effects on his family. As the movie continues, Beneatha, the younger sister of Walter, reveals her epistemology on the existence of God. She speaks to her to her mother, Lena, saying, “I don’t believe in God”. This transaction is demonstrative of the developmental stage that Beneatha is experiencing called autonomy and separation. She is formulating her own concepts, which are based on the horizontal stressors of the world and are in direct conflict with the vertical stressors of her family. Lena’s response to her daughter is a slap to Beneatha’s face. Lena, speaking in a voice full of conviction and quiet control, saying to her insolent daughter, “Now, repeat after me, in my mother’s house--there is God.” Without hesitation and tears in her eyes, Beneatha repeats the overt words her mother spoke and completely understood the covert messages of her mother’s tonality. This event shows another time in which a family member threatens to ruin the inherent stability of the family structure. Beneatha, although believing to be bettering herself, is leaving an important part of herself and her heritage behind. Beneatha's speech about God is her attempt to show her independence and uniqueness in the world, but when she asserts herself in an area that is extremely sensitive to the family heritage and structure, she threatens to wean herself from the only guaranteed support group in life, the family. Once agai...
