Ruth Younger

Ruth Younger is an approximately 30-year-old African-American woman, wife of Walter Lee Younger and mother of the ten-year-old Travis. We learn from the stage direction that she is good looking, but that her appearance revelas that life isn’t going the way she had hoped (“disappointment has already begun to hang in her face”, p. 10, ll. 22-23)[1]. This point is further underlined when she describes life as “a barrel of disappointments” (s. 27, ll. 30).

When Ruth is introduced for the first time, she is busy getting everyone up and ready to go off to school and work. She seems to be the organizer of the house, trying to keep everything together. She appears stressed, rushes her son without letting him get a word in edgewise, and tries to raise him in a strict manner (“Hush up now and just eat!” p. 13 l. 26, “Now you get out of here and get ready for your beating”, s. 65 ll. 2-3).

Ruth works for an agency that sends out women to do domestic work in the houses of others. She has a high work et...