Week 2
Opening the Door to the Younger Family

How does the setting of the opening scene (5) foreshadow or hint at something about the family? What could Hansberry be trying to tell us about the family through this setting?

When Walter reads the news (6), what does he mention happened again, and how could we connect this to the 1983 news article on Cicero? What does this show about the time period and the threat of violence? 

Describe Ruth’s character. What role does she play in the family? What is she doing in the entire first scene?

Why is Walter waiting for a check (10-11)? What does he want to do with it? How does the family react to this scheme?

Identify why Walter is mad at Beneatha. What does he think she should do? Why might he be upset that she wants to become a doctor (12-13)?

Walter tells Ruth that “A man needs for a woman to back him up” (10). What does this mean? Does she back him up (11, 16)?  Find a quote and explain your opinion.

Describe Mama. What kind of character is she? What is she to the family? What does she care about? Anything symbolic (22)?

Ruth and Mama have a conversation about Walter on page 16, what is it about and what does this show about their relationship?

What does Mama reveal about her past and the “rat trap” (17) they live in? What did she dream of? What did she want?

What did Big Walter say about dreams (18)? How could he have inspired some characters’ motivations in the play?

In A Raisin in the Sun, there are many generations; Mama is in her 60s, Walter and Ruth are in their 30s, Beneatha is 20, and Travis is 10. Choose two characters and speak to how their perspectives are different due to the generational divide. For example, why do Ruth and Mama laugh at Beneatha (19)? What privilege does Beneatha have that they didn’t?

Why does Beneatha dislike George Murchison, and why does Ruth think she’s “odd” (20)?

At the end of Act 1, Scene 1 (22), Mama waters the plant. Which characters does Mama compare the plant to and why is this significant? What’s more, how does their living condition impede on their dreams?

Extra credit: How could any part of this first scene (5-22) link back to Gwendolyn Brook’s “kitchenette building” or Langston Hughes' "Harlem"?