"Mama, you don't understand. It's all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don't accept. It's not important. I am not going out and be immoral or commit crimes because I don't believe in God. I don't even think about it. It's just that I get tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves for its own stubborn effort. There simply is no blasted God - there is only man and it is he who makes miracles!" (Act I, Scene 1, Page 51)
Ouch. Imagine raising a daughter to believe in God and then having to listen to her completely dismiss God and his powers. It's no wonder Beneatha got smacked across the face. Mama has to worry about providing a good life for her children, and on top of that she has to tolerate this blasphemy from her daughter. In Mama's time, something this rude deserved a slap in the face, and Bennie has to deal with that tradition from her mother's time. Mama struggles to understand the questioning personalities of young people during the time of this story. Beneatha is growing up in a generation that has the tendency to question everything and search for answers, and she is naturally an inquisitive person. Mama doesn't quite understand this questioning mentality, and Beneatha can't relate to Mama's strict standpoints: what's right is right, and what's wrong is wrong. No gray areas. All black and white. Bennie and Mama need to experience a blending of their viewpoints.
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