A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Study Guide Questions

Act I, Scene 1

1. Why does Ruth scramble Walter’s eggs, even though he says does not want them scrambled? What does this indicate about their relationship and about whether or not they try to listen to one another?

2. Why does Ruth tell Travis to get his mind off the money that is coming the next day? What does this indicate about Travis?

3. Why does Walter give his son more money than he needs for school? How does this leave Walter, in terms of money he himself needs in order to get to work? What does this indicate about Walter’s personality?

4. What do you think the significance of Beneatha’s name might be? What words does her name sound like? What might the author be conveying about Beneatha and her effect on other people by giving her this name?

5. If you were to draw a conclusion about why Walter is so concerned with how much money Beneatha’s schooling will cost. Aside from his wanting money for the liquor store, what might it be? Why might he be so resentful of his sister wanting to continue her education so far as to go to medical school?

6. Why do Ruth and Walter refer to themselves as “colored,” rather than “black”?

Act I, Scene 2

1. Which theme that has been raised before is referred to in the reference to roaches “marching…like Napoleon”? Who was Napoleon? What relevance might references to him have for this play?

2. What issue in particular is alluded to when Beneatha says, “All everyone seems to know about when it comes to Africa is ‘Tarzan’”?

3. What theme is reiterated by the fuss over Beneatha’s hair?

4. When the check arrives, why does Mrs. Younger just stare at it for some time before the family urges her to open the envelope? What is her reaction to actually seeing the check?

5. What family problem between Walter and Ruth is again reflected in his saying to his mother, about his wife: “I can talk to her later”?

6. What impending crisis are we reminded of when Ruth says that Walter’s drinking behavior makes her sick to her stomach?

Act II, Scene 1

1. What do you think has prompted Beneatha to cut her hair short and into an “Afro” hairstyle?

2. Do you think politics is the only reason Beneatha declares she hates assimilationists? If not, what could another factor be?

3. What does it show about Ruth’s awareness of racial tensions that in a casual chat with George Murchison she refers to bombings?

4. What do you think prompts Walter to assert that he has been to New York plenty of times when his wife flatly contradicts him?

5. Why does Walter launch into a string of insults to George Murchison? Why might Walter be so resentful of Murchison?

6. How do you think Walter knew that Murchison was insulting him by calling him “Prometheus,” even though he didn’t know who Prometheus was?

7. What quality do we see in Mrs. Younger when she tells her son, “When it gets like that in life—you just got to do something different, push on out and do something bigger”?

Act II, Scene 2

1. What qualities do we see in George Murchison at the beginning of the scene that Beneatha might not like? Why does Beneatha refer to him as a fool, when speaking of him to her mother? In what ways would she consider him foolish?

2. When Mrs. Johnson says, “I’m just soooooo happy for y’all,” do you think she is being honest or hypocritical? What later actions or words of hers either confirm or deny that she is speaking honestly here?

3. In your opinion, why has Walter’s drinking gotten worse?

4. Do you think Mrs. Younger made the right decision in deciding to give money for the liquor store venture to Walter? Why or why not?

5. What do we understand clearly when Travis asks his father if he’s drunk?

6. At the end of the scene, when Walter says he will hand the world to his son, do you think this will really happen? Why or why not?

Act II, Scene 3

1. Why do you think Karl Lindner goes to such lengths to talk about everybody getting along before he gets to his reason for talking to them?

2. Who catches on first to what his purpose in talking to them is about? How do you know?

3. What is so cruelly ironic in Lindner statement: “They’re not rich and fancy people; just hard-working, honest people who don’t really have much but those little homes and a dream of the kind of community they want to raise their children in”?

4. Do you believe Linder when he says to the family, “I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn’t enter into it”? Why or why not?

5. What is the disturbing reminder when Mama says that her children have all the energy of the dead?

6. How is this theme carried forward in Walter saying, “they just dying to have out there… a fine family of fine colored people”? What is the tone set by Walter’s remark?

7. What conversation are we reminded of when Mama prepares to take her plant to the new house and says “It expresses ME!” How does the plant express Mrs. Younger?

8. What change in Walter do we see when he sobs to Bobo “THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY FATHER’S FLESH”?

Act III

1. What do you think accounts for Beneatha’s deep pessimism at the beginning of the act? Do you think it is all because of the lost money?

2. What qualities do we see in Joseph Asagai which enable him to break through Beneatha’s mood to consider her own self-pity?

3. Do you see any symbolism in Asagai asking Beneatha to “come home with” him to Africa in the future? Do you see any meaning other than the literal one of her going to Nigeria?

4. Why do you think the word “dreams” appear so many times throughout this act? What theme is reiterated?

5. Do you think life can be broken down into the takers and the “tooken”? Is it a matter of “getting over” before one gets “gotten over on”? Why or why not?

6. What do you think Mrs. Younger is referring to when she says to Walter, “You making something inside me cry, son. Some awful pain inside me”? What is the source of that pain, in your opinion?

7. What resolution of conflict is apparent when Beneatha says to Lindner “That’s what the man said” on page 148? What new attitude does this convey?

8. In your opinion, what accounts for Walter’s transformation of character? From what source or sources did he get whatever it took for him to develop the courage he shows at the end of the play?