“Raisin in the Sun”
Lorraine Hansberry
Examine the following poem:
Dream Deferred
By: Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
What is the mood of the poem? How does the poet feel about dreams?
What is the tone of the poem? If you were to hear the poet read it, what would be the sound of his voice?
What simile does the poet use? What does it mean? A Raisin in the Sun?
Do you agree with Hughes? Give examples from personal experiences, books, and television or film plots about whathappens when dreams are lost.
Essential Questions
Do “generation gaps” prevent parents and children from truly understanding one another?
Does financial hardship prevent domestic harmony?
Does money buy happiness?
To what degree does housing discrimination still exist in NYC?
What are some of the advantages to living in an urban environment? The disadvantages?
Where does the concept the “American Dream” come from?
What does the American Dream mean to those included from within the culture?
What does it mean to those excluded from the culture?
What are the obstacles that prevent people from achieving their dream?
Where does “success” fit in with the “American Dream?”
How does one’s family create one’s concept of success and self-worth?
What does the modern “American Dream” look like? Does it exist?
Do the factors of success, family, inclusion, and self-worth still affect the American Dream as they have in the past?
Study Guide Questions
Act I Scene One
1. Why did Walter ask Ruth what was wrong with her?
2. Why was Ruth upset when Walter gave Travis the money?
3. Who are Willy and Bobo?
4. Walter said, "Damn my eggs . . . damn all the eggs that ever was!" Why?
5. Who is Beneatha?
6. Why was Mama getting a check for $10,000?
7. Why did Beneatha say she wouldn't marry George?
8. What was Beneatha's attitude towards God?
9. What happened to Ruth at the end of Act I Scene One?
Act I Scene Two
1. Who is Joseph Asagai?
2. What did Ruth find out at the doctor's office?
3. Why is Asagai's present to Beneatha appropriate?
4. Why is Asagai's nickname appropriate?
5. What does Mama say is "dangerous"?
6. Where did Ruth actually go instead of the doctor's office?
7. Why did Mama call Walter a disgrace to his father's memory?
Act II Scene One
1. What was Beneatha's family doing when George came in?
2. What are "assimilationist Negroes"?
3. What did Mama do with her money?
4. What was Walter's reaction to Mama's purchase? Ruth's reaction?
Act II Scene Two
1. How did Ruth find out Walter hadn't been going to work?
2. Where had Walter been going instead of to work?
3. What did Mama do for Walter?
Act II Scene Three
1. Who was Karl Lindner, and why did he visit the Youngers' house?
2. What was Walter's reaction to Lindner?
3. What presents did Mama get?
4. What news did Bobo bring to Walter?
Act III
1. Why didn't Beneatha want to be a doctor anymore?
2. How did Asagai define "idealists" and "realists"?
3. What does Asagai ask Beneatha to do?
4. What fault does Mama find with herself?
5. What solution does Walter have?
6. Why didn't Walter take the money Lindner offered?
7. Did the Youngers stay or move?
Vocabulary
Directions: Using the dictionary on your computer define the following vocabulary words for the play.
AMIABLY
EXASPERATED
LUDICROUS
REBUFFS
AMID
EXUBERANCE
MENACINGLY
REVELATION
ARROGANT
FORLORNLY
MONOLOGUE
TENTATIVELY
ASSIMILATIONISM
FURTIVELY
MUTILATED
TYRANT
CLICHÉ
FUTILE
OMINOUS
VICIOUSLY
DESPAIR
HAPHAZARDLY
PENETRATED
VINDICATED
ECCENTRIC
HEATHENISM
PLUNDER
WROUGHT
EPITAPH
INAPPROPRIATELY
PRESUMABLY
Important Characters
Walter Lee Younger- A 35-year-old chauffeur who has a young son, Travis, with his wife, Ruth. The family lives in small apartment with Walter's mother and sister in the South Side of Chicago. Hansberry describes Walter as a lean, intense man with nervous movements and erratic speaking patterns.
Lena Younger (Mama)-The 60-something matriarch of the family. She has recently lost her husband Walter Sr., and will be the recipient of a $10,000 life insurance check.
Beneatha Younger- Walter's 20-year-old sister, a college student who invades the Younger household with her modern ideas and philosophies on race, class, and religion. She is a handsome intellectual who has worked hard to refine her speech.
Ruth Younger-Walter's wife and Travis' mother. In her early thirties, Ruth is exceptionally pretty, but is aging before her time because of her impoverished surroundings. During her 11 years of marriage, she often bore the responsibility of keeping the household running, in addition to working as a domestic servant.
Travis Younger-Walter and Ruth's 10-year-old son.
Joseph Asagai-A Nigerian college student pursuing Beneatha.
George Murchison-Beneatha's boyfriend and fellow classmate, who hails from a wealthy black family.
Mrs. Johnson-The Youngers' nosy neighbor, who points out the dangers of moving into Clybourne Park
Karl Lindner- A white, middle-aged representative from the Clybourne Park Improvement Society.
Bobo-A fellow investor in the liquor business, along with Willy and Walter.
Willy-A partner in the liquor business scheme who eventually runs off with Walter and Bob's investment money.
Themes
Although many of the themes were introduced prior to reading the play, during the reading it is possible to deal with themin more depth. Each small group should select a different theme to investigate and present to the class. On chart paper, develop aflowchart highlighting examples of the theme from the beginning, middle, and end of the screenplay to present to the
class. Specific citations should be highlighted. Groups might want to present these themes through dramaticinterpretations of appropriate sections of the play.Individuals, partners, or small groups might select a theme that is particularly meaningful and explain why in one of the
following ways (citations from the screenplay should be included).
• A visual and/or musical presentation of a particular theme.
• A collage or medley representing the importance of the theme.
• A reading from a novel, a poem, or another play that illustrates the importance of the theme.
• Creation of an art work that illustrates the meaningfulness of the theme.
DON’T SELL OUT.
You can respond to this theme in writing, orally, or artistically.
• Write about how and why Walter Lee’s opinion about selling out changes throughout the play.
• Write a story about a time you sold out and how it made you feel.
• Find clips from videos or sections from books showing how and why an individual sold out his/her beliefs or values.
• Write a poem about selling out.
THE STRENGTH OF FAMILY.
• Write about how the Younger family sustains its members.
• Discuss or write about why it is difficult to be a member of a family; use examples from the screenplay to help explain
your point.
THE PROBLEM OF CONFLICTING EXPECTATIONS.
• Write about the phrase “my time,” which reoccurs throughout the play. What does this mean to the individualcharacters?
• Write a poem or song titled “My Time.” What does this phrase mean to you?
• Discuss the positive and negative connotations of a phrase like “my time.” Examine how believing that it is “my time”
can lead to conflicting expectations with others.
LOVE AND TRUST PREVAIL OVER DECEIT AND SELFISHNESS.
• Discuss or write about how love wins out in the screenplay. Why do you think it wins?
• Search for other works of literature with this theme or ones in which love and trust do not win out.
• Write about or discuss a time in your life when love and trust did win/did not win. Why?
• Write a short story or poem that explores this theme.
STEREOTYPING AND PREJUDICE.
• In a small group read aloud the scene of the visit from Mr. Lindner. Comment on the stereotypes you observe. What causes these stereotypes? How do they make the other charactersfeel? Could they be avoided?
• Write about how the Youngers’ lives might be different if these stereotypes did not exist. Have the Youngers come tobelieve the stereotypes?
can find others that hold personal meaning for them.
Significant Quotes from the Play
• “It means...One for whom Bread—Food—Is Not Enough. Is that all right?” Asagai
• “You ain’t satisfied or proud of nothing we done.”Lena to Walter
• “It makes a difference to a man when he walk on floors that belong to him.” Lena
• “If this is my time...my time to say goodbye...then I say it loud and good! Hallelujah! And goodbye, misery.” Ruth
• “I’m telling you to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be.” Lena
• “As I say, the whole business is a matter of caring for the other fellow.” Linder
• “When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right.” Lena
• “That’s all dad—we don’t want your money.” Walter
USE OF LANGUAGE
Lorraine Hansberry uses language to help develop her characters. As in Shakespearean drama, the language in A Raisin inthe Sun reflects the social and economic status of the characters in the play. It is helpful to understand thatthe language of the characters helps viewers respect who they are.
These examples of how they use language helps us to know Hansberry’s characters.
RUTH: What you mean, out? He ain’t hardly had a chance to be in there good yet.(9)
WALTER: Un-hunh. That’s what you mad about, ain’t it? The things I got to talk about with my friends just
couldn’t be important in you mind, could they! (11)
TRAVIS: Teacher says we got to do something ‘bout teaching colored kids ‘bout their history. So they set up a
fund to buy special books that tell all about the things the poor Negroes did. (13-14)
LENA: Near ‘bout. ‘Cept-’cept, Lord have mercy, when the war, praise God, come along a few years back. That
sure changed things for a while. My husband had been a porter on the railroads all his life, and just as soon as
we heard they had started taking colored in the de-fense plants and all, me and him both marched right on over
and took the classes they was giving in the welding and all. (41)
ASAGAI: Because I suppose all Africans are revolutionaries today, even those who don’t know that they are. It
is the times. In order to survive we must be against most of what is. (50)
BENEATHA: Mama, you don’t understand. It’s all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don’t acept. It’s
not important. I an not going out and commit crimes or be immoral because I don’t believe in God. I don’t even
think about it. It’s just that I get so tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through
its own stubborn effort. There simply is no God! There is only Man, and it’s he who makes miracles! (76)
LENA: Now-you say after me: “In my mother’s house there is still God.” (Silence.) “In my mother’s house there
is still God.” (77)
LINDNER: Well-it’s what you might call a sort of welcoming committee, I guess. I mean they-we-I’m the
chairman of the committee-go around and see the new people who move into the neighborhood and sort of give
them the lowdown on the way we do things out in Clybourne Park....And we also have the category of what the
association calls-(he looks eleswhere)-uh-special community problems.... (161)
In small groups, have the students respond to or complete the following.
• What do each of these quotes tell you about each person’s character, beliefs, fears, frustrations? What emotions are
you likely to hear in the person’s voice?
• Prepare one quote to present to the class as you believe the character would deliver it to the audience. Try it using
different tones of voice. Does the meaning change?
• If the quote is in non-standard English, rewrite it in standard English. Now, answer the same questions about each
rewritten quote.
• Prepare to deliver the quote you rewrote to the class as originally written and in standard English. Whatdoes each version suggest about the character?
Essay Topics
- Which character do you most admire? Which character do you least admire? Explain your answers.
- Is Walter jealous of Beneatha, who plans to become a physician?
- Write an essay that identifies the internal and external conflicts the Younger family faces.
- Is Mama right to attempt to impose her moral values on Walter.
- What is the most important lesson Walter learns by the end of the play?
- Write an informative essay explaining the unjust restrictions placed on black Americans in mid-20th Century America.
- To what extent have those restrictions been eliminated since the 1950's?
- Racial profiling and affirmative action are controversial issues confronting America today? What are they? Should America permit racial profiling under certain circumstances? Do you believe affirmative action is necessary?
- What obstacles continue to block black Americans from enjoying all that they are entitled to as American citizens?