Mama and Walter disagree over how to spend the insurance money. Mama wants to use most of the money to move out of their cramped apartment, pay for a new house in the suburbs, and then divide the rest between Walter and Beneatha. She hopes they will use their shares to invest in their futures: Walter wants to run a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to go to medical school to become a doctor. Walter wants to use all of the money to open the liquor store, since he believes the family will earn more money and self-respect that way.

Mama experiences a great deal of additional inner conflict over their disagreement. She does not think Walter can handle the responsibility of possessing the money, but she also knows that if he never tastes such responsibility, she will be infantilizing him and limiting his potential. She knows both his self-confidence as a man and as a human being will be blunted if she continues to exercise authority over him. The conflict is resolved when Mama allows Walter to have $6,000 of the $10,00. Walter ultimately loses the money when he hands it over to his friend Willy, but in the process, he matures and becomes a more responsible person.

Walter and Mama clash over how to spend the $10,000 in insurance money. Mama thinks communally about the money, planning to put most of it into a nice house in the suburbs where they can all get away from the ghetto. She wants to divide the rest between Walter and Beneatha, so that both of her children can pursue their dreams.

Walter wants to use the money to open a liquor store, as he thinks a successful business will pave the way for family prosperity and self-respect. Both Mama and Beneatha dislike this idea.

The deeper issue, as Mama understands, is that she doesn't trust Walter to be able to handle the money or to responsibly take on the role of head of the family he yearns to assume since his father died. He wants to be the family patriarch as the sole surviving male, but Mrs. Younger thinks he isn't ready for the role.

Nevertheless, Mama knows that if she continues to infantilize him and deny him opportunities to control his life, she will simply be replicating what the white world does to Black men, which is to infantilize them until their hopes dry up. She therefore gives Walter $6,000 of the money to control, both his and Beneatha's share, in order to show her trust in him and build his sense of self-worth. He loses the money, just as Mama fears, but also learns and grows enough from the experience to later stand up for buying the house.

Walter and Mama disagree about what to do with the insurance money that the Younger family will inherit. Walter wants to open a liquor store, while Mama is totally opposed to the idea. Mama wants to use the money buy her family a larger house in a different neighborhood.

Their conflict involves not only what they will do with the insurance money, but also their different belief systems. Walter pessimistically believes that the only way to achieve one's dreams is to prove one's material wellbeing. In Act I, Mama says, "Once upon a time freedom used to be life—now it’s money. I guess the world really do change." Walter replies to her, "No—it was always money, Mama. We just didn’t know about it." Mama believes that her life's goal is to achieve greater freedoms as an African-American woman, as she still remembers when her community was subject to lynching, and she wants to achieve greater freedom and a better chance for her family by moving to a house that they own. Walter concentrates on the material aspects of the American Dream until the end of the play, when he realizes his pride and freedom are worth more than money.

Walter and Mama have a major conflict. Walter desires to take the insurance money and open an ABC store. Mama is totally against selling alcohol. She is against Walter's dream. She and Walter argue. Mama believes that Walter's dream is superficial. She is very religious. She does not believe in Walter's dream.

Walter argues with Mama. He is convinced that the ABC store will be a success. He believes his mother is against him without good reason. For this reason, he spends much of his time drinking and coming home in an argumentative mood.

Mama begins to see that Walter is suffering beyond words. He feels that he is a black man who has the odds against him. He does not want to spend the rest of his life driving as a chauffeur for a white rich man.

When Walter is at his lowest point, Mama decides to give Walter the money for his dream. Unfortunately, Walter gives the money to Willy. Willy runs off with the money.

Mama was right about Walter's dream. She knew that the dream and Walter's friends were artificial. Nevertheless, Mama trusted Walter with the insurance money. She put her faith in him. This helped change Walter for the better:

When his friend runs off with the money, Walter feels particularly hopeless, ironically, however, he achieves a sense of himself as an adult and leader of his family in part through this event.

What is the conflict between Mama and herself in A Raisin in the Sun?

The internal conflict in Lena Younger, or Mama, shapes the entire play, because she is the beneficiary of her husband’s life insurance policy. The other characters express their desires about what to do with the money but then remind themselves and each other that it is Lena’s money. Now that her husband is dead, she is the head of the family, but, with a residue of patriarchal control, she wants to let Walter be the head. Part of the difficulty he has experienced is the constraints of low wages that have kept him, his wife, and their son living with his parents. The paradox for Lena is that his fervent desire to be successful is embedded in her giving him the money to open his business.

Mama experiences a constant struggle over the extent to which she should shape her son’s future and that of his family. When she learns that Ruth is contemplating an abortion, she is aghast but also conflicted, because she knows it is far from her decision to make.

Although Mama does not resolve her inner conflict when she decides to buy the house, she does seem to solve for herself the issue of whose decision it is and whose money it is. The fact that she could think through such a complicated decision, on the practical, social, and financial levels—and that this older lady is the one to take the courageous step to move to a while neighborhood—at first leaves her entire family speechless. She is confident in this decision, however, because she knows that the house is a real gift; she can leave it the family in future as well as provide a home for them all right away.

What is the conflict between Mama and herself in A Raisin in the Sun?

Mama sees herself as head of the family and yet wants her son, Walter, to grow up. As a result, she is conflicted about how much freedom she can and should allow Walter. At first, she refuses to even listen to Walter and his dreams of the liquor store. Eventually, she relents and lets Walter have control of what's left of the money after she's put a down payment on a house in an all-white neighborhood. After Walter loses the money, she finally realizes she must support her son's decisions if he is to grow up. She says to Benethea that they must support Walter even when he's at his lowest. Eventually, her faith in her son is rewarded when he refuses Linder's offer and says, "He finally came into his manhood today."