An hour later, Walter’s loss of the insurance money fills the apartment with “a sullen light of gloom.” Asagai enters the apartment to visit Beneatha, who is deeply upset about the lost money. Beneatha explains the situation to Asagai and he asks her how she is doing. Beneatha responds, “Me? . . . Me, I’m nothing.” She then recounts the story behind her initial desire to become a doctor, telling Asagai of a childhood friend who was severely injured in a sledding accident. Beneatha tells Asagai that she was amazed that “one person could . . . sew up the problem, make him all right again,” although she states that she has now lost her youthful idealism.
