Mama is the mother of both Beneatha and Walter Lee. She is head of the family as well as maternal and religious. Mama wants to use the insurance money from her husband to buy a house for her family. Mama is proud of who she is and of her African heritage and believes in its importance. Mama is a good example of a black matriarch trying to keep her family in line and out of trouble. She is strict and yet very loving. She thinks that all people have accepted the black community and decides to put a down payment on a house in a white neighborhood.
             Walter Lee is a dreamer. He wants to be rich so he and his friends think up schemes to make money. Walter wants to invest the money from his fathers insurance into a liquor store. He feels like no one listens to him anyone and wants to feel important and wanted again.
             Beneatha is an intellectual. She is in her twenty's and is attending college, for her dream is to become a doctor. Beneatha struggles to find herself as a well-educated black woman. She is very proud about her African heritage and is intrigued by Joseph Asagai (a young man who also attends her college and is from Nigeria.) Beneatha hopes her mother will use the money from her father's insurance money to pay for her medical school.
             Ruth is Walter Lee's wife and Travis' mother, Ruth takes care of the Youngers' small apartment and works as a cook. She is about thirty and feels her marriage to Walter has faded, and wished to rekindle their love.
             Each character in this play has their own opinion about everything, accept for one. They are all dreamers and they wish to do something great with the insurance money. Mama wants a better life for her family and decides buying a house will help. Walter Lee wanted to own a liquor store, Beneatha wanted to become a doctor and hopes to use the insurance money to play for her tuition, and Ruth wanted to get away from the run-down neighborhood. ...