A Raisin in the Sun

“Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.”

by Lorraine Hansberry

Unit Plan Packet

Name: __________________________
Period: _____
 Biographical Information
Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965)

● Born and raised during great depression in Chicago

● mom was educated, dad was attorney for NAACP education valued in her
family—Hansberry got to meet Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois,
Duke Ellington

● family moved to an all-white neighborhood when she was 8, after Dad won a big civil
rights case studied writing and art at University of Wisconsin

● 1953—married a Jewish songwriter and moved to New York

● Raisin in the Sun first produced in 1959—brings up issues of race and women’s rights
that have yet to be tackled in the mainstream

● first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway

● took a long time to raise the money, then to find a theater, but big success

● New York Drama Critics Circle Award, named “The Best American Play” in
1959—Hansberry is youngest and first African American woman to receive this award

● Play is set in Chicago’s South Side

● Died of cancer at age 34

Historical Information

● 1920-1940, mainly in New York City; used to be called the “New Negro Movement”
named after an anthology of notable African-American works entitled ​The New Negro
and published by philosopher Alain LeRoy Locke in 1925.

● Instead of using direct political means, African-American artists, writers, and musicians
employed culture to work for goals of civil rights and equality. For the first time,
African-American paintings, writings, and jazz became absorbed into mainstream
culture and crossed racial lines, creating a lasting legacy.

● Writers include Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Claude
McKay, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and many others. Later writers who were inspired by
this period include Ralph Ellison and Toni Morrison.

● Musicians include Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald,
to name a few.

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 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?

Instructions​:
1) ​Underline​ the line you feel is most important. Why did you choose this line?

2) Answer the following two questions:

a. What do you think this poem has to do with dreams?

​
b. What do you think this poem has to do with ​A Raisin in the Sun?

3) Write your own deferred poem:

A ____________________________ Deferred
What happens to a _________________________ deferred?
Does it ________________________________
like a _____________________________________?
Or ________________________________ like ___________________________
And then __________________________________?
Does it _________________________________ like ______________________________?
Or __________________________________________
like ______________________________________?

Maybe it just _________________________________________

like a ___________________________________________

Or does it _____________________________________?

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 Act I Setting

The Younger Apartment

Time: Sometime between 1945 and 1958
Place: South Side Chicago

A Raisin in the Sun​ takes place entirely in the Younger home. Although people come and go,
the audience only sees what goes on inside their apartment.

Directions:
● Read the introduction, and draw a layout of the Younger apartment.
● You must include: Living Room, Kitchen area (include the one small window),
bedroom on left, bedroom on right, and the shared bathroom.
● Additional details (such the furnishings and who is in what room, etc.) should also be
included.

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 Act I Questions

Act I, Scene I

1. In Scene One, what does the setting of the Younger's apartment convey about them
and their situation?

2. How does the apartment building itself create problems for the Younger family as they
begin their day?

3. Walter and Ruth react differently when Travis asks for money for school. What are
Walter and Ruth’s attitude about money?

4. How does Walter think that women should treat their men?

5. What are Beneatha’s hopes for her future? Why is Walter concerned about
Beneatha’s plans?

6. What does Mama retrieve when she opens the window? What is unique about this
object?

7. At the end of Act One, why is Mama so disgusted with Walter?

Act I, Scene II

8. What is revealed about Ruth and where she has been? What is she thinking about
and why might she be considering such a thing?

9. Asagai arrives, bringing gifts for Beneatha. What gifts does he bring to her?

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 10. How much is the insurance check worth?

11. How does Walter show his insensitivity regarding the money and the situation at
home?

12. How does Mama try to influence Walter at the end of the scene? What does she
reveal to him?

13. In Scene Two, what does Africa seem to represent to Beneatha? Why do you think
she objects to being called an assimilationist?

14. Mama observes to Walter, "once upon a time freedom used to be life-now it's money."
What do you think she means by this statement? Do you agree with her?

15. What is your favorite quote from the play thus far? (Include speaker and page
number.)

Act I Quotations
Identify the speaker.
16. “Baby, don't ​nothing ​happen for you in this world 'less you pay ​somebody ​off.” (Act
One, Scene 1)

17. “Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs.” (Act One,
Scene 1)

18. “Well--I ​do​-- all right?--thank everybody . . . and forgive me for ever wanting to be
anything at all . . . forgive me, forgive me.” (Act One, Scene 1)

19. “There simply is no blasted god--there is only man and it is he who makes miracles!”
(Act One, Scene 1)

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 20. “It's how you can be sure that the world's most liberated women are not liberated at all.
You all talk about it too much!” (Act One, Scene 2)

21. “Once upon a time freedom used to be life--now it's money. . .No--it was always
money, Mama. We just didn't know about it.” (Act One, Scene 2)

Character Letter
Instructions:
Choose any character from the play to write a letter to another character.
Requirements:
● Address an issue of importance, such as racial prejudice, money issues, family
problems, etc.
● Make the letter sound as much like the character as possible.
● Include at least one instance of PARALLEL STRUCTURE. Underline this sentence.

Example:
Dear Dad,
I know about you and Mama always fightin’. Gallee, Dad, I ain’t stupid; I hear the tone
of your voice when you two are in the same room. Why is it that you are either drunk or
gone? Don’t be thinking you’re exempt from parenting just because you may not get money.
That money belongs to Grandmamma and she has the right to make her own decision.
You know, I’m also kinda upset about the whole “bus driver” thing. You and
Grandmamma is always tellin’ me to follow my dreams. So what if my dream is to be a bus
driver? You drive a car all day, and boy, is it a sweet ride. I want some wheels of my very
own someday.
I’m sorry to tell you this stuff, I’m sorry to tell you in a letter, and I’m sorry to sound so
irritated​ but I wanted to tell you this as soon as possible. I wish you would be less upset and
more fun to be around.

Your son,
Travis

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Your Letter:

Act II Questions

Act II, Scene I

1. How does the arrival of George Murchison change the mood of the scene?

2. What is Walter’s attitude toward George?

3. What news does Mama break to the family in this scene?

4. How do Ruth and Walter react to Mama’s news?

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 5. Why do you think Walter and Beneatha both become caught up in their African
masquerade?

Act II, Scene II

6. What sort woman does George say he wants Beneatha to be? Why doesn’t George
want to listen to Beneatha’s ideas?

7. Do you think George Murchison is a snob? Why or why not?

8. Why does Beneatha thank her mother?

9. How does Ruth find out that Walter has not been to work for three days? What has he
been doing instead of going to work?

10. When Walter tells Travis that he wants to hand him the world, what sort of life is Walter
envisioning for his family?

Act II, Scene III

11. Why does Mr. Lindner come to the Younger’s apartment?

12. Why don’t the residents and Clybourne Park want the Youngers to move there?

13. How does Walter react to Lindner’s offer?

14. Do you think Lindner is a racist? Why or why not?

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 15. What do you think of Mrs. Johnson’s character? How does her visit intensify the
drama?

16. What gifts does the family give Mama? Why are the gifts appropriate?

17. What news is brought about the liquor license and how does Walter react to the news?

18. Examine our protagonist, Walter. How does he act before Mama gives him the
money? How does the money change him?

19. What is your favorite quote from Act II? (Include speaker and page number.)

Act II Quotations
Identify the speaker.
20. “Here I am a giant--surrounded by ants! Ants who can't even understand what it is the
giant is talking about.” (Act Two, Scene 1)

21. “we all tied up in a race of people that don't know how to do nothing but moan, pray
and have babies! (Act Two, Scene 2)

22. “Sometimes it hard to let the future begin.” (Act Two, Scene 3)

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 Symbolism of Mama’s Plant

Despite
the hunger
we cannot
possess
more
than
this:
Peace
in a garden
of
our own.

-Alice Walker

Instructions:
1. Read pages: 39, 52-3, 121, 139, and 151. What do these scenes have in common?
What words are used to describe Mama?

2. Do you think Mama’s plant serves as a symbol for something else? Why or why not?

3. How does Mama’s plant relate to the idea of an American Dream?

4. Read Alice Walker’s short poem above. What does she mean by “hunger”? How might
this poem explain Mama’s love for her plant?

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 Bio Poem
INSTRUCTIONS:
Hansberry’s dynamic characterization is one of the most striking elements in her play.
Choose a character (Walter Lee, Ruth, Mama, or Beneatha), and write a 10-line Bio Poem
that aptly captures his or her role in the play. Go beyond the obvious—what does your
character dream about? Does he or she work for personal benefit or the good of the family?
In 10 lines, try to describe clearly your character to someone who has not read the play.

Bio Poem Outline:

Line 1: First Name
Line 2: Four descriptive traits (adjectives)
Line 3: Sibling, Husband, Wife, Mother, etc. of...
Line 4: Lover of … 3 things
Line 5: Who feels… 3 things
Line 6: Who needs... 3 things
Line 7: Who fears... 3 things
Line 8: Who would like to ... 3 things
Line 9: Resident of... City, State
Line 10: Last Name

Example:
Adam
Quiet, Timid, Imaginative, Inscrutable to the last
Husband of Mrs. Mitty
Lover of action, adventure, freedom
Who feels trapped, aimless, like a child.
Who needs independence, a place to daydream, not to have his temperature taken
Who fears authority, embarrassment, the wrath of his wife
Who would someday like to be a surgeon, a naval commander, or anything other than himself
Resident of Waterbury, Connecticut
Mitty

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Your Poem:

Act III Questions

1. Why does Mama put her plant back on the windowsill?

2. When Walter arrives back home, what does he say he has done? What does Walter
plan to do?

3. What does Mama mean when she tells Walter that if he takes Lindner’s money he will
have nothing left inside?

4. What does Walter tell Lindner? Why does Lindner appeal to Mama? What is her
response?

5. What is the importance of having Mama return to the empty apartment to grab her
plant?

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 6. How did you feel when the family lost the money? Did you see it coming, or did it take
you by surprise?

7. How does the loss of the money affect Walter? Beneatha? Mama?

8. Do you think Beneatha should accept Asagai’s proposal of marriage and move to
Africa? Why or why not?

9. Why does Walter decide to accept Lindner's offer? How does Walter's decision affect
Mama?

10. What causes Walter to finally reject Lindner's offer?

11. At the play's end, how have the Youngers changed? What remains the same?

Act III Quotations

Identify the speaker
12. “Asagai, there is only one large circle that we march in, around and around, each of us
with our own little picture--in front of us--our own little mirage that we think is the
future.” (Act Three)

13. “What you just said--about the circle. It isn't a circle--it is simply a long line--as in
geometry, you know, one that reaches into infinity. And because we cannot see the
end--we also cannot see how it changes. And it is very odd but those who see the
changes are called "idealists"--and those who cannot, or refuse to think, they are the
"realists." (Act Three)

14. “He finally came into his manhood today, didn't he?” (Act Three)

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 Character Map

Among many things, ​Raisin​ is a play about relationships. Show how each character
relates to one another using the map below.

Instructions​: ​In each box, write at least 2 adjectives that describe your character. On
each line, write out the relationship between the characters, and also indicate the
following:
$​: ​if you think this relationship is affected by money
☹​ : If you think this relationship is affected by racial issues.

Example:

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