Money Hungry

“No wonder everybody thinks that my money-hungry ways will get me into more trouble than I can handle. Shoot, even my girls think that. Momma too.” 

This quote foreshadows the relationship conflicts that are central to the text. Raspberry strains her relationships with her friends by almost stealing money from Ja’nae and then repeatedly demanding that she pay it back. Her obsession with money also negatively affects her relationship with Momma and ultimately causes Momma to throw away most of her money in a fit of anger. Raspberry is entrepreneurial, creative, and clever, but her money-hungry ways get her in trouble with those she cares about most.

“Before I walk away, I turn around and say something I know is gonna hurt Momma bad. ‘He a doctor, Momma. What do you think somebody like him wants with somebody like you, who lives in the projects with gangbangers and junkies?’” 

Raspberry intends to upset Momma in this quote by implying that Dr. Mitchell could not be interested in her because of their economic status. Though Raspberry also dreams of a better life, she resents Momma for keeping her relationship with Dr. Mitchell a secret from her. This quote illustrates the inner conflict Raspberry feels—like Momma, she wants to escape from the projects where they live, but she wants her and Momma to do this together as they have approached most of the hardship in their life.

“Now Zora’s broke half the time. That’s why she’s trying to make a little dough with me today. She’s hoping she can earn enough money to get those new sneakers she wants. They cost $120, and her dad says she’s gotta pay half the cost if she wants ’em.”

This quote illustrates Zora’s relationship to money and how it contrasts with Raspberry’s. While Raspberry feels she needs to earn as much money as possible as a safeguard against homelessness, Zora seeks to buy $120 sneakers. The fact that Zora’s father can also afford to pay for the sneakers but insists that Zora pay for half also shows Zora’s financial privilege and contrasts with Raspberry’s financial concerns.

“People said Momma should go to one of them shelters for women and kids. She wouldn’t. She said she was in a shelter when she was little, and something bad happened to her there. Only she never would say what.”

Raspberry explains why Momma never pursued the possibility of staying at a shelter when they were experiencing homelessness. Momma herself had to stay in a shelter when she was young and presumably experienced some kind of abuse or assault. Although Momma is unable to shield Raspberry from the experience of homelessness, this quote illustrates her desire to shield Raspberry and her innocence from a potentially unsafe situation. Momma strives to do what she can, even in challenging circumstances, to keep Raspberry safe. This quote also points to the larger societal issue of those in precarious housing situations being at greater risk for assault and harm.

“‘One day,’ she’d say, ‘we gonna have our own place. With a family room, and a fireplace. What color room you want? Yeah, I figured you’d want blue…but what about letting me paint some clouds on the walls for you? And a few stars, so we don’t forget that even bad times is sprinkled with a little good,’ she’d say, reaching up at the sky like she was gonna grab a fistful of stars and hand ’em to me.” 

During their period of homelessness, Momma ensured that she and Raspberry always looked to the future and remained hopeful that their circumstances would improve. This quote illustrates Momma’s commitment to this vision and an important lesson she imparts on Raspberry—that even bad times can have a silver lining. This lesson is one of the most important that Raspberry learns throughout the text, although it takes her until nearly the end of the story to internalize it.

“’Cause if you got money, people can’t take stuff from you—not your house, or your ride, not your family. They can’t do nothing much to you, if you got a bankroll backing you up.”

Raspberry outlines her views on money and why she is so committed to getting as much of it as possible. She explains that money not only has the power to change someone’s material conditions, but also can supply protection, security, and safety. Later on in the text, Raspberry loses almost all of the money she has saved when Momma throws it out the window in anger. This action alerts neighborhood thieves to the presence of money in their home, and Momma and Raspberry become victims of a robbery. By the end of the text her conviction that “they can't do nothing much to you” if you have money is proven false.

“Our first night, Momma cried till the streetlights went off. She said she was just tired, but I think she was sad over ending up right back in the projects where she started out all them years ago.”

Raspberry recalls the day that she and Momma met Dr. Mitchell and Zora at a local soup kitchen. During their discussion, Dr. Mitchell and Momma realize they grew up in the same projects. Now, Dr. Mitchell is a doctor and Momma is still in the same projects she grew up in. This quote illustrates the cycle of poverty that Momma so desperately looks to escape and informs Momma’s decisions throughout the text to work multiple jobs, finish her college degree, and apply for the home in Pecan Landings.

“Now Zora and them are talking about how greedy I am. How I’m always trying to make a dollar. They’re right. But as long as I got two hands, I ain’t never living in the street no more. Ain’t never gonna be broke, neither.”

Raspberry believes that if she works hard enough and saves enough money, she can afford a better life for her and Momma. She does not see any issue with her preoccupation with money because she views her ability to work and make money as the way to obtain a better life for herself. This quote does not account for how Raspberry’s greed will negatively affect her and eventually create problems in her relationships with those around her.

“I don’t know why Ja’nae even goes there. She knows how Mai feels about her mixed race, and how Ming feels about being mixed, too. Ming don’t want to be called black, African American, or Korean. He says he’s biracial. Mai don’t want to be called Korean or biracial. She’s black. Call her anything different, and she will go off on you.” 

This quote sets up the conflict that will become central to Mai’s character. Raspberry illustrates the differences in Mai and Ming’s identities and Mai’s struggle to fit in as a biracial girl in her predominantly Black community. Mai’s struggle with her identity and resentment towards her Korean father is developed throughout the text. The fact that her conflict is still unresolved at the end of the story shows the nature of developing one’s identity is an ongoing process that does not always have a clear or concise endpoint.

“Ja’nae just don't get it. I don’t even spend my own money on me. I watch money. Count it. Smell it. But I don’t spend it. I can’t. You spend it, and it’s gone. Then you got nada, nothing.”

Raspberry explains why she is resistant to lending Ja’nae the $200 she’s asked to borrow. This quote offers further insight into Raspberry’s relationship with money and how it acts primarily as an object or symbol for her. For Raspberry, money is not about spending it or using it. She is resistant to the idea of spending it at all. She hoards money and constantly seeks ways to acquire more of it as if the physical pile of money she accrues can act as a talisman protecting against danger or difficulty. She worries that spending money or giving it away even temporarily will not only lessen her physical pile but decrease her security and safety as well.

“When you living on the streets, you do what you gotta do. Like I gotta take the money. It’s mine. And I can’t walk home and leave what’s mine behind. If I did, where would I be? On the streets again, sure ’nuff.” 

Raspberry grapples with her conscience after taking Ja’nae’s half of the money earned from cleaning Ms. Neeta’s house. Part of her understands that to take the money is wrong, and yet she tries to rationalize her choice by falling back on what she learned through her experience of homelessness. At first Raspberry views the decision to return the money as a weakness or as putting her on the slippery slope to the streets again. The fact that Raspberry does return the money to Ja’nae shows that her moral compass has not been entirely misshapen by greed. She chooses her friend over money, although the decision is not an easy one for her.

“Maybe I shouldn’t care if Momma gotta work another gig long as we’re getting a new house out of this. But then I think, all her working is only gonna get us a bigger place for me to be by myself in.” 

Raspberry feels conflicted upon learning that Momma has gotten yet another part-time job to pay for them to move out of the projects. As much as Raspberry herself dreams about finding a better place to live, the cost of less time with Momma simply doesn’t outweigh the benefits. Though Raspberry and Momma conflict during much of the text, the experiences and hardships they have endured together have solidified their bond and cause them to be exceptionally close. Raspberry here implies that she would rather have less money and live in a worse location than sacrifice more time with Momma. This quote shows where Raspberry’s heart and values truly lie, as much as she likes to emphasize her love of money and gaining wealth.

“‘You look a lot like your dad, only darker,’ I say, staring at the picture, then back at Mai again. Mai grabs a handful of her thick, wavy black hair and pulls it away from her face. ‘I look like myself,’ she says, turning away from the painting. ‘Not nobody else. Just me.’” 

After Mai’s outburst at her family’s food truck, Raspberry chases her back to the Kim family’s home. Mai’s feelings of resentment and frustration about her biracial identity have reached a breaking point, and in this quote, she expresses the depths of her emotion about this issue. Mai articulates her desire to be seen for who she is: whole in and of herself instead of disparate parts.

“Ja’nae got a good heart. She always want to do the right thing no matter what.” 

Ja’nae insists that the girls stay and clean Ms. Baker’s boardinghouse, despite the extent of the filth. Ja’nae is naturally giving and concerned about those around her. This is especially true when it comes to taking care of the elderly because she lives with her grandparents. This quote juxtaposes Raspberry’s later actions in which she lashes out at Ja’nae for not paying back her loan promptly. Instead of falling back on the understanding that Ja’nae is demonstrably truthful and always looking to do the right thing, Raspberry allows her greed to take over and treats Ja’nae unkindly. This quote foreshadows and underscores how Raspberry’s later actions are unwarranted and at odds with what she knows to be true about Ja’nae.

“Money won’t never do you wrong.”

Raspberry meets a tenant of the boardinghouse, who reveals that he keeps stockpiles of money around him, much like Raspberry does. He instructs her to take a handful of the money he keeps in a bag in the refrigerator, and Raspberry comes away with $70. This statement is almost immediately disproven when Raspberry’s friends stop speaking to her after Ms. Baker refuses to pay them the full amount they agreed to. Instead of sharing the extra cash she received with her friends, Raspberry pockets the money and keeps it a secret, choosing her greed over her relationships.

“I would rather throw it all away, than for you to think it’s okay to steal.”

Momma expresses her disgust at learning (mistakenly) that Raspberry stole money from Ja’nae’s grandfather. Momma feels personally responsible for Raspberry’s greed, stemming from the fact that they were forced to be without a home for a period of time. Momma articulates in this quote that she would rather continue to live in poverty than for Raspberry to develop skewed morals. Even though she learns that Raspberry did not steal the money from Ja’nae’s grandfather, this quote and scene are important in establishing just how out of hand Raspberry’s obsession with money has become. She hasn’t stolen the money from Ja’nae’s grandfather, but Raspberry has acted decidedly greedy when it comes to money in other instances.

“I got too much on my mind to be a thirteen-year-old […] I’m gonna forget everything but filling up my money drawer again, and keeping Momma and me off the streets.”

Raspberry makes the astute observation that the problems she has been trying to fix are far beyond what any 13-year-old should be expected to handle. Raspberry decides to forget about everything else in her life (conflicts with her friends, Momma and Dr. Mitchell’s relationship, not getting the house in Pecan Landings) and focus solely on making back the money Momma threw away. Raspberry’s intention to single-mindedly focus on keeping her and Momma off of the streets underscores just how much Raspberry has to think about problems that go beyond her 13 years of age.

“We both make the same sounds when we cry; like a tired baby that’s been crying a long time, because nobody cared enough to come see about it.”

Raspberry and her mother weep over losing most of their possessions in the robbery. In comparing them to neglected babies, the text illustrates their vulnerability and how they’ve been affected and worn down by their financial struggles. The fact that the people at Pecan Landings refuse to rent to them highlights how systemic racism works to keep Raspberry and Momma in a disadvantaged position despite their efforts at upward mobility. Raspberry illustrates the neglect that society has shown them because of their socioeconomic status.

“‘We’re lucky. Spring is on the way. A few blankets to keep the evening chill off of us, and we’ll be okay,’ she says, going to her bedroom, stuffing pants and work clothes in a green plastic bag. Not seeing, until it’s too late, me standing there wetting myself like a baby.”

Raspberry has a visceral reaction to Momma’s immediate solution to the robbery: going back on the streets. Their reactions show just how much their past continues to haunt them. Momma at once reverts to going back on the street rather than reaching out to a network of friends or trying to find a better solution. Despite all of her progress and work to improve their station in life, Momma still lives in fear that they are always one misstep or hardship from the streets. Raspberry’s reaction to this news shows the anxiety that lingers in her body, which manifests in wetting herself out of pure fear. Neither Raspberry nor Momma has recovered from their period of homelessness, and now faced with it again they are forced to confront the ways this trauma continues to affect them.

“I close my eyes, and I’m back on the streets again. Dreaming that same old dream. I’m too tired to wake myself up. So I push the cart. All night long, I push the cart.”

Raspberry has a recurring dream in which she is back on the street. At this point in the story, Momma and Raspberry have been robbed and have broken into the house in Pecan Landings. Raspberry notes she is too tired to wake up; she feels defeated by this latest blow to her and Momma’s finances. The repetition of her pushing the cart is symbolic of the monotony of living on the street and simply trying to survive. Raspberry and Momma have spent considerable time simply trying to survive from one day to the next, and this dream is representative of that struggle.

“You don’t have to shoot people, or hurt them, when they mess with your head and stuff. Just give ’em time. They gonna do something to make they own lives miserable […] Natural consequences, Raspberry Cherry. Just leave people be for long enough, and they will screw things up for themselves, sure ’nuff.”

After the robbery, Odd Job offers words of advice to Raspberry, who seeks retribution. By the end of the text, Raspberry does not see justice, but Odd Job’s statement leaves open the suggestion that natural consequences will find them. This quote also precedes Odd Jobs’ offering Momma and Raspberry a place to stay, which suggests that the hardships they have experienced have reached a turning point and now things will begin to improve for them. His statement enables Raspberry to let go of her anger and begin looking forward, knowing that seeking payback or retribution will only hinder her healing and progress.

“I think about all that money she threw away. Think about us living in the streets and maybe heading right back there again I want to tell Momma that I’m tired of living like this. But then I see her pulling at the nasty carpet in the living room. saying how she thinks the floor underneath might be in good shape.”

Raspberry acknowledges her exhaustion at feeling like she and Momma constantly live on the edge of homelessness. She stops short of bringing this up with Momma, however, when she bears witness to Momma’s unfailing optimism and ability to envision a better life. Despite all they’ve been through, Momma looks for the potential in every situation and strives to see the good that exists alongside the bad. The apartment Odd Job offers them is no exception, and Momma at once begins to envision what changes she can make to this space that will give her and Raspberry a better life.

“I think how hard I worked to get my money, and how fast it was gone. ‘At least I got Momma,’ I say, looking out the window. ‘No matter what, I still got her.’”

Near the end of the text, Raspberry demonstrates the growth she has undergone. This statement contrasts her earlier views in which money was of the utmost importance and her relationships were second to her pursuit of money. Now, after losing all of the money she worked so hard to gain, Raspberry realizes that her relationship with Momma is the constant in her life and that money, while important, is fleeting.