Two mothers, each overcoming obstructions and privation, each with their own approach in loving their children, are both doing the best they know how. Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun," and Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie," are masterpieces of American literature. Both stories feature mothers single-handedly leading their families through hardship and adversity. Williams' Amanda and Hansberry's Lena show us two different aspects of mothering adult children. By identifying the factors that encompass their lives-poverty, racism and single parenthood-we can better understand the relationship each has with their families.
             Lena and Amanda must face the difficult task of surviving with their children in poverty; this strains the connections they have with their children. Poverty is evident in the author's notes of both plays. Williams describes the Younger's living conditions by saying "their primary feature is that they have clearly had to accommodate the living of too many people for too many years – and they are tired." Hansberry also introduces these conditions: "...that flower warty growths in overcrowded urban centers of lower middle-class population..." as he describes the Wingfield apartment. Lena Younger makes comments under her breath regarding the way her daughter in law, Ruth, raises her grandson, Travis. Lena's family is about to understand what a life without monetary difficulties is like as they will soon receive a life insurance check. Lena, however, does not recognize her current state of penury in the same way her children do, "Somebody would have thought my children all but starved to death the way they talk about money late." She says to her son, Walter, of their financial situation "...I ain't got nothing, don't own anything, ain't never really wanted nothing that wasn't for you. There ain't nothing as p...