A Raisin in the Sun
by Lorraine Hansberry (1959)
Open-Book Test: Use your own paper, if necessay.Explain the conflicts between the characters below and how they are resolved. Use two quotes or more to support your answer.
Walter and Ruth
Walter and Beneatha
Beneatha and Mama
Walter and Mama
Choose ONLY TWO of the following questions and respond.
Contrast George Murchison and Joseph Asagai’s characters. What does each character represent for Bennie? To Hansberry? Use a minimum of two quotations to support your answer.
Describe Benny and Walter’s behavior at the opening of Act II, scene 1, and interpret why each of them is behaving that way.
Define assimilationist. Is it possible to be successful in the United States without assimilating? Explain.
Explain the significance of Mr. Lindner. Should “whites” be offended? Explain.
Define “idealist”. Who is an idealist in the play? Explain your answer.
Describe what social purpose Lorraine Hansbury has in this play. What social comments does she make though her characters? Explain, using two or more quotes to support your answer.
Essay
Choose one of the following essay prompts, and write a first draft in which you respond in a well-developed, multi-paragraph essay, with an introduction, thesis, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
A. The Crystal Staircase was the original title of the play, A Raisin in the Sun. Discuss which of the two titles is better for the play. Be sure to make connections between the play and the two poems you read by Langston Hughes [“Harlem” (from “Montage of a Dream Deferred”), and “Mother to Son”].
OR
B. Malcolm X. said that for African Americans, the “American Dream” is the “American Nightmare.” Evaluate the truth of this statement in relation to A Raisin in the Sun.
