1. Short-response prompt (15 points)
undefined
Read the following excerpt from Act I, Scene 1 of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun:
WALTER Is he out yet?
RUTH What you mean out? He ain’t hardly got in there good yet.
WALTER (Wandering in, still more oriented to sleep than to a new day) Well, what was you doing all that yelling for if I can’t even get in there yet? (Stopping and thinking) Check coming today?
RUTH They said Saturday and this is just Friday and I hopes to God you ain’t going to get up here first thing this morning and start talking to me ’bout no money — ’cause I ’bout don’t want to hear it.
WALTER Something the matter with you this morning?
RUTH No — I’m just sleepy as the devil. What kind of eggs you want?
WALTER Not scrambled, (RUTH starts to scramble eggs) Paper come? (RUTH points impatiently to the rolled up Tribune on the table, and he gets it and spreads it out and vaguely reads the front page) Set off another bomb yesterday.
RUTH (Maximum indifference) Did they?
WALTER (Looking up) What’s the matter with you?
RUTH Ain’t nothing the matter with me. And don’t keep asking me that this morning.
Explain how stage directions add to the reader’s understanding of the characters in this excerpt. Be sure to use specific details from the text to support your answer.
2. Short-response prompt (15 points)
undefined
Read the following excerpt from Act I, Scene 1 of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun:
RUTH (With a frown) Bobo?
WALTER Yeah. You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be ’bout thirty thousand, see. That be ten thousand each. Course, there’s a couple of hundred you got to pay so’s you don’t spend your life just waiting for them clowns to let your license get approved —
RUTH You mean graft?
WALTER (Frowning impatiently) Don’t call it that. See there, that just goes to show you what women understand about the world. Baby, don’t nothing happen for you in this world ‘less you pay somebody off!
RUTH Walter, leave me alone! (She raises her head and stares at him vigorously — then says, more quietly) Eat your eggs, they gonna be cold.
WALTER (Straightening up from her and looking off) That’s it. There you are. Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs. (Sadly, but gaining in power) Man say: I got to take hold of this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work. (Passionately now) Man say: I got to change my life, I’m choking to death, baby! And his woman say — (In utter anguish as he brings his fists down on his thighs) — Your eggs is getting cold!
RUTH (Softly) Walter, that ain’t none of our money.
WALTER (Not listening at all or even looking at her) This morning, I was lookin’ in the mirror and thinking about it . . . I’m thirty-five years old; I been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room — (Very, very quietly) — and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live . . .
RUTH Eat your eggs, Walter.
WALTER (Slams the table and jumps up)
Identify two themes that are clearly developed in this excerpt. How does the author develop the two themes over the course of this excerpt? Be sure to use specific details from the text to support your answer.
3. Short-response prompt (15 points)
undefined
Read the following excerpt from the ending of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun:
WALTER (A beat. The tension hangs; then WALTER steps back from it) Yeah. Well — what I mean is that we come from people who had a lot of pride. I mean — we are very proud people. And that’s my sister over there and she’s going to be a doctor — and we are very proud —
LINDNER Well — I am sure that is very nice, but —
WALTER What I am telling you is that we called you over here to tell you that we are very proud and that this — (Signaling toTRAVIS) Travis, come here. (TRAVIS crosses and WALTER draws him before him facing the man) This is my son, and he makes the sixth generation our family in this country. And we have all thought about your offer —
LINDNER Well, good . . . good —
WALTER And we have decided to move into our house because my father — my father — he earned it for us brick by brick. (MAMA has her eyes closed and is rocking back and forth as though she were in church, with her head nodding the Amen yes) We don’t want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no causes, and we will try to be good neighbors. And that’s all we got to say about that. (He looks the man absolutely in the eyes) We don’t want your money. (He turns and walks away)
LINDNER (Looking around at all of them) I take it then — that you have decided to occupy . . .
BENEATHA That’s what the man said.
undefined
How does this excerpt contribute to the theme of A Raisin in the Sun? What aesthetic impact did the author intend it to have on the reader? Be sure to cite evidence from the reading to support your claim.
0 comments