Ruth is the character who refers to "marching roaches" at the end of Act II, Scene One. This is the point at which Mama announces that she has taken the insurance money and bought the family a house in Clybourne Park.
Ruth is ecstatic with the news:
Well -- well! -- All I can say is -- if this is my time in life -- MY TIME -- to say goodbye...to these Goddamned cracking walls!...and these marching roaches!...and this cramped little closet which ain't now or never was no kitchen!...then I say it loud and good, HALLELUJAH! AND GOODBYE MISERY...I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOUR UGLY FACE AGAIN!
The "marching roaches" are a reference to the filth and crowding among which poor people in the projects live, just as the "cracking walls" are exemplary of neglect and eventual decay.
Hansberry makes reference to these things to illustrate the circumstances in which the Younger family lives, compared to the circumstances of those in Clybourne Park. She lives in "misery," while those in their future neighborhood -- in which the Youngers are unwanted because they are black -- live the American Dream of home ownership.
The attainment of the American Dream is one of the play's major themes. To live in poverty, amidst "marching roaches," is to be deprived of that dream.
Moreover, Ruth is a character who represses her emotions throughout much of the play. This is one of the ways in which she subordinates her own needs to care for others. This is the only scene in which she asserts her own need to live in a better home, in a space that is worthy of her and her future child. The buying of the house signals a newly found hope in this character.
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