n, as with Walter, Beneatha realizes later in the story that it is the furtherance of long-standing family values and morals, which give the foundation upon which to build a wonderful life.These examples illustrate just a few of the many ways in which family beliefs and goals do not always benefit the family unit and are sometimes a source of conflict amongst its members. Consequently, the larger group goals are sometime lost because of the continual race for individual goals. In contrast, the story's ending presents a view of how standing by long term family goals, values and beliefs provides a sense of unity and pride. The collective unity of the family will reinforce the resiliency of the family giving them the ability to surmount any horizontal stressors. Once Mama receives the insurance money, Lena Younger, she believes that the best things to do with it is buy a new house for her family and help to pay for the cost of Beneatha's college education. At first she is very adamant against giving any of the insurance money to Walter because she believes that his uses for the money will not benefit the family. But, as time progress Lena sees how isolated and bitter her son has because none of the family members will back his dream. Lena gives him the money left over after buying the house to spend on his dream. Lena says to her son, "be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be." Walter's deal falls through though and he is faced with an even more 'pride deflating' task of talking with the head of the white 'Welcoming Committee' of their new neighborhood and pretending to be the stereotypical subservient black so that the 'Welcoming Committee' will buy the family's new house and the family can then use that money for Beneatha's education. At this point, Walter begins to realize that Lena’s dream of educating Beneatha would be the venue to homeostasis for the family. But, as the time draws near for Walter to p...
