Money is perhaps the most prominent symbol in Money Hungry. Money represents different things for different characters depending on their proximity to money, their ability to acquire it, and what they choose to spend it on. For Raspberry, money is a symbol of safety and freedom. Raspberry’s views on money can be best summarized in this quote: “If you got money, people can’t take stuff from you—not your house, or your ride, not your family” (21). Raspberry explains here that money insulates from hardship and harm. Both objects and people are protected and safe when one has money. Raspberry is forced to reckon with her relationship to money throughout the text and ultimately concludes that while money can certainly give one an advantage in life, it is ultimately fleeting: “I think how hard I worked to get my money, and how fast it was gone” (164). Raspberry does not cease to be interested in money at the end of the text, but she understands that no amount of money can prevent bad things from happening in life, such as the robbery that she and Momma experience.

For Momma, money is a symbol of upward mobility and a new life.