Quote 22
MAMA
You making something inside me cry, son. Some awful pain inside me. (3.1.95)
Lena is heartbroken to hear that her son has sold out his family. She can't believe that his suffering has made him sink so low.
Quote 23
MAMA
Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain’t through learning – because that ain’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in hisself ‘cause the world done whipped him so! When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is. (3.1.113)
Lena tells Bennie that people need love the most when they are suffering the most. She urges her daughter to see past the bad decisions people sometimes make when they are in pain.
Quote 24
MAMA
Well, I always wanted me a garden like I used to see sometimes at the back of the houses down home. This plant is close as I ever got to having one. (She looks out of the window as she replaces the plant) Lord, ain’t nothing as dreary as the view from this window on a dreary day, is there? (1.1.296)
Lena has never had the garden of her dreams, so she settles on a little potted plant. However, on some level she seems to have more hope than the rest of them.