Eggs

I come in many different shapes and sizes: hard-boiled, sunny side up, scrambled, and poached are just a few.  

Although I am just a food, I am a symbol of  new life and the cyclic nature of humanity. I am also a symbol of fertility as people used to eat me to ensure that they would be blessed with children. To many, I have a religious significance because I am painted during Easter in order to symbolize the emergence of Jesus. My yolk represents inner beauty and the light people contain on the inside.  

When Ruth tells Walter to "eat his eggs", he gets upset because he believes that she is preventing him from accomplishing his dreams. This is very ironic because Walter is preventing Beneatha from accomplishing her dreams of becoming  doctor by taking the check. Not only does he do this, but also he implies her dream is not achievable because she is a woman by saying "ain't many girls who decide to be a doctor." Since the eggs symbolize new life and doctors are the protectors of life, he hates to see his American Dream deferred in favor of Beneatha's.  He is against eating the eggs because it means that he would  have to accept the way his life is and that he wouldn't be able to change it. Also, gender roles are enforced because Ruth is the one who is cooking while Walter laments his situation. Since eggs show female fertility, Ruth is expected to show Walter that she has eggs because women only had worth once they had proved that they could have children. Eventually, this results in Ruth's pregnancy and her desire to have an abortion.