Read the passage from A Raisin in the Sun.

MAMA (to WALTER): Son—(She goes to him, bends down to him, talks to his bent head.) Son . . . Is it gone? Son, I gave you sixty-five hundred dollars. Is it gone? All of it? Beneatha's money too?

WALTER (lifting his head slowly): Mama . . . I never . . . went to the bank at all . . .

MAMA (not wanting to believe him): You mean . . . your sister's school money . . . you used that too . . . Walter? . . .

WALTER: Yessss! All of it . . . It's all gone . . .

There is total silence. RUTH stands with her face covered with her hands; BENEATHA leans forlornly against a wall, fingering a piece of red ribbon from the mother's gift. MAMA stops and looks at her son without recognition and then, quite without thinking about it, starts to beat him senselessly in the face.

BENEATHA goes to them and stops it.

BENEATHA: Mama!

MAMA stops and looks at both of her children and rises slowly and wanders vaguely, aimlessly away from them.

MAMA: I seen . . . him . . . night after night . . . come in . . . and look at that rug . . . and then look at me . . . the red showing in his eyes . . . the veins moving in his head . . . I seen him grow thin and old before he was forty . . . working and working and working like somebody's old horse . . . killing himself . . . and you—you give it all away in a day— (She raises her arms to strike him again.)

BENEATHA: Mama—

MAMA: Oh, God . . . (She looks up to Him.) Look down here—and show me the strength.







Which statement is the best summary of the theme in this passage?

A.People almost always disappoint their family members.
B.Working hard and being honest leads to long-lasting rewards.
C.Showing strength in a crisis makes problems easier to overcome.
D.Unintentional betrayal can lead to severe consequences.