Name ______Date ______
A Raisin in the Sun Study GuideTest Date: THURSDAY, October 31, 2013
How to study:
- Review your character list
- Review your discussion questions and answers
- Review the notes you took on your reading log
Test Format:
- 10 Character Matching (2 points each)
- 15 Multiple Choice Questions—setting, characters, plot, quotes (2 points each)
- 2 Short Answer questions ( points)
- 1 paragraph response questions (10 points)
Topics to Study:
Asagai:
- Describe his character.
- Describe his relationship with Beneatha.
- How does she feel about him? How does he feel about her?
- Where is he from?
Beneatha:
- Describe her character.
- What is her dream?
- Who does she admire?
- Why does she wear Asagi’s Nigerian costumes? What do they represent to her?
- Explain how she feels about Asagi and George Murchison
- How does she react when she finds out that the money is lost?
Mama (Lena):
- Describe her character and relationship with her children, Walter and Beneatha and her daughter-in-law, Ruth
- Why does Mama finally give Walter $6500? Why does she want him to be the new head of household?
- Why does she want to use the money to buy a home (her dream)?
- How is Mama’s plant a symbol? What does it represent?
Ruth:
- Describe her character.
- How does she feel about her pregnancy? What does she contemplate doing?
Walter:
- Describe his character
- What does he want to use the life insurance for?
- What happens between Walter, Willy and Bobo?
- How does he feel about George?
- What is his reaction when his mother buys the house?
Life Insurance:
- How did the family receive it?
- What does Walter want to do with the money? What eventually happens?
- What does Mama do with the money?
- How can the money help Beneatha’s dream?
Title, A Raisin in the Sun:
- Title of a poem by Langston Hughes
- Poem topic—What happens to a dream deferred (that is put off)? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
ClybournePark Improvement Association:
- ClybournePark is the location of the house Mama purchased
- Why do the members of the Association want to buy the house from the Youngers? (Consider the racism of the time period.)
Short Answer
1. Write down everything you know about the setting of the play.
How is the setting of the play important? or What does the setting add to the story?
2. What is the significance of the following symbols?
The plant
Money
Africa
Children
Paragraph Response
1. How does the American Dream shape the characters in the play and their dreams? Choose one of the 4 major characters.
3. Why did the author include the element of Ruth’s pregnancy? What did it add to the story?
4. Who is the main character of the play? Justify your answer.
5. Which characters are realists? Which characters are idealists?