Week 3
Unexpected Guests Knocking on the Younger's Door 

Week Breakdown

Table of Content (click a link!)

Monday the 9th - Tuesday the 10th

Unexpected news and guests

The reading: Act 1, Scene 2 of A Raisin in the Sun

Act 1, Scene 2 of A Raisin in the Sun.pdf

The assignment: Two Column Notes for Act 1, Scene 2

Two Column Notes for Act 1, Scene 2.pdf

Act 1, Scene 2 Notes (23-25)

What is the news about Ruth? How does Beneatha react to the news (25)? Why might this be problematic for her and the family?


Act 1, Scene 2 Notes (26-30)

Identify how can Beneatha's "mutilated hair" (27) speak to larger issues about beauty standards for women, especially women of color. (Note, ChatGPT didn't want to give Beneatha straight hair sadly, so we have to imagine it straightened!)


What does Asagai suggest about relationships between men and women (28)? How can this normative thought about relationships be restricting and limiting?


What is Asagai's nickname for Beneatha and what does it mean in Yoruba (30)? How could this be symbolic to her character?

Lexicon 18: Normativity, normative

Definition: The standards or rules that society uses to decide what is normal, acceptable, or ideal in behavior, beliefs, or values, often privileging those who conform.

Example: It's a normative belief in many cultures that people should respect their elders.



Bonus content: Here are popular terms that are often discussed, but also note that you can put any identifier to speak to norms of particular groups of people. 

Heteronormativity: The assumption that heterosexuality and traditional gender roles are the default or normal, marginalizing LGBTQ+ identities.

Male Normativity: The centering of men and masculinity as the universal standard, often sidelining women and non-binary experiences.

White Normativity: The assumption that whiteness is the default or unmarked standard, marginalizing people of color and perpetuating systemic inequalities.

Bonus content: Asagai's views aren't so far in the past as we'd like to think

Steve Harvey on the subject of men having female friends..mp4

Act 1, Scene 2 Notes (31-35)

Why is Mama upset after opening the envelope (32)? What indirectly is show here? Didn't she want this money?


When the check arrives, Walter takes out some papers assumedly for the liquor store, why is Walter upset and what does he say to Mama and for what purpose (33-34)? What might liquor store represent for Walter?


Walter explains, "I want so many things that they are driving me kind of crazy... Mama--look at me" (35). How can we connect this to the ideas put forth in Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem"?

Act 1, Scene 2 Notes (35-36)

Mama starts to realize that "the world do change" (35), explain the generational divide between Mama, Walter, and Beneatha, especially in reference to her disagreement with Walter.


At the end of the scene (36), Mama is demanding Walter to do something. Walter, who is named after his own father, is put in a difficult situation. What does Mama want Walter to do and why? Why is this important, especially on the day Mama receives the money from the life insurance for Big Walter?

Practice Activity: Sentence Expansion


Ending of Act 1, Scene 2: 


Mama: Son—do you know your wife is expecting another baby? (Walter stands, stunned, and absorbs what his mother has said) That’s what she wanted to talk to you about, (Walter sinks down into a chair) This ain’t for me to be telling—but you ought to know. (She waits) I think Ruth is thinking ’bout getting rid of that child.

Walter: (Slowly understanding) No—no—Ruth wouldn’t do that.

Mama: When the world gets ugly enough—a woman will do anything for her family. The part that’s already living.

Walter: You don’t know Ruth, Mama, if you think she would do that.

(Ruth opens the bedroom door and stands there a little limp)

Ruth: (Beaten) Yes I would too, Walter. (Pause) I gave her a five-dollar down payment.

(There is total silence as the man stares at his wife and the mother stares at her son)

Mama: (Presently) Well—(Tightly) Well—son, I’m waiting to hear you say something… (She waits) I’m waiting to hear how you be your father’s son. Be the man he was… (Pause. The silence shouts) Your wife say she going to destroy your child. And I’m waiting to hear you talk like him and say we a people who give children life, not who destroys them—(She rises) I’m waiting to see you stand up and look like your daddy and say we done give up one baby to poverty and that we ain’t going to give up nary another one… I’m waiting.

Walter: Ruth—(He can say nothing)
Mama: If you a son of mine, tell her! (Walter picks up his keys and his coat and walks out. She continues, bitterly) You… you are a disgrace to your father’s memory. Somebody get me my hat! 


Directions: Write the kernel sentence in your notebook, then expand it by using your answers from the questions below and putting it all together in one coherent sentence.


Kernel sentence: He can't.


Who?................................

What?...............................

When?..............................

Why?.................................


Put it all together:

Act 1, Scene 2 (1989)

Act 1, Scene 2 (1989).mp4

Act 1, Scene 2 (2008)

Act 1, Scene 2 of A Raisin in the Sun (2008).mp4

Wednesday the 11th - Thursday the 12th

A new hairstyle, Prometheus, and a parallel scene

The reading: Act 2, Scene 1 of A Raisin in the Sun

Act 2, Scene 1 of A Raisin in the Sun.pdf

The assignment: Two Column Notes for Act 2, Scene 1

Two Column Notes for Act 2, Scene 1 of A Raisin in the Sun.pdf

Lexicon 19: Uncle Tom

Definition: A Black man considered to be excessively obedient or servile (servant-like) to white people, or a person seen as betraying their culture or social allegiance. 

Example of an Uncle Tom: Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks

Uncle Ruckus Loves White People - The Boondocks.mp4

Context: Ruckus frequently expresses white supremacist views and makes derogatory comments about Michael Jackson, calling him a "lucky bastard" for his skin condition, vitiligo. Ruckus claims to have "re-vitiligo," which he believes keeps his skin tone dark despite using a homemade ointment of bleach and sulfur.

Bonus content: Origin of the term (it's from a novel and a misunderstanding!)

"Uncle Tom" is the most enduring fictional slave. He's the title character in Uncle Tom's Cabin, the novel written by abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852. The bestseller was meant to rally the moral sentiments of whites against the horrors of slavery, and it succeeded. But the character of Uncle Tom has become synonymous with servility and self-hatred.

Many don't hate the real story that Stowe wrote. The Uncle Tom character that she gives us is extraordinarily Christian. The climax of the story really comes when Uncle Tom is asked to reveal where two slave women are hiding, who had been sexually abused by their master. And he refuses. Knowing that he is going to be beaten to death, he refused to say where they are. And people who have read the novel can appreciate what kind of heroism that took for a black man to sign away his life to save two black women.

Unfortunately, the stage depictions don't include that part of the story. They grossly distort Uncle Tom into an older man than he is in the novel, a man whose English is poor, a man who will do quite the opposite, who will sell out any black man if it will please a white employer, a white master, a white mistress. It's that distorted character that is so objectionable.

Act 2, Scene 1 Notes (37-40)

At the beginning of the scene, Walter and Beneatha have an imaginary "African" moment. George walks in (39), then precedes to react to both of them. What does he say to them and why?


What does George mean by "eccentric" (39)? How could this illustrate how white normativity operates?


Beneatha explains what "assimilationist Negroes" (40) are, what does it mean? How can we see this as a subtle form of racism that African Americans have endured in the US? 

Act 2, Scene 1 Notes (41-43)

When Walter comes in, he asks Ruth, "Why don't you offer this man some refreshment?" (41). What is ironic about this? What does Walter keep missing in his own relationship?


Prometheus is a titan in Greek mythology that stole fire and gave it to humanity. In the tale, humans see him as a savior, but the gods, specifically Zeus, see him as thief that was punished by having an eagle eat his liver, it regenerating every night, then it being eaten again for all eternity. Why could George calling Walter "Prometheus" be symbolic? What might this foreshadow later in the play?

Lexicon 20: Parallel scene

Definition: In literature, a parallel scene is a scene or chapter where events similar to those experienced by a character earlier occur again, either in a different context or to another character, often highlighting a change or connection. 


Example to the right: The image represents a parallel scene: on the left, a modern corporate worker isolated in a cubicle, and on the right, a 19th-century factory worker surrounded by machinery. Both figures mirror each other, showcasing how, despite the time difference, work hasn't changed too much. 

Act 2, Scene 1 Notes (44-49)

Walter asks Ruth, "Who cares about you?" (44). Immediately after, Ruth asks him if he wants hot milk or coffee, why? What doesn't Walter see? What does Ruth want?


A parallel scene emerges when Mama comes home (45). Mama ignores Walter and Travis gets scolded by Ruth. What is the relationship between these conversations? What could Hansberry be trying to make us notice about a particular character?


After Mama informs the family of what she has done with the money, a stage direction notes, "The explosion comes from Walter at the end of the revelation" (46). What is significant about this description?


At the end of the scene (47-49), Mama talks to Walter again, what is she trying to do? Why does she want his approval?


And to this end, why is Walter upset? How does he feel? Try empathizing with him and understanding why he might be upset about his life. What's happened to make him feel this way?

Act 2, Scene 1 (1989)

Act 2, Scene 1 (2008)

Act 2, Scene 1 of A Raisin in the Sun (2008).mp4