IGCSE English
Literature
Lesson 05: Drama – A Raisin in the Sun by
Lorraine Hansberry
International Development and Language Institute FZE (Ms Natalie)
Warm Up!
Drama
Terms
Review
Match the words with their
definitions!
Antagonist
A character or force against which another character struggles.
Protagonist
Resolution
The main character of a literary work.
The sorting out or unravelling of a plot at the end of a play, novel, or story.
Rising Action
An event, conflict or crisis or set of conflicts and crises that constitute the part
of a play's plot leading up to the climax.
A speech by a single character without another character's response
Monologue
Dramatic irony
Hubris
Foreshadowing
Dynamic
Character
Catharsis
Inciting Incident
Round
Characters
Soliloquy
The contrast between what a character believes and/or says and what the
audience knows to be true
The Greek term implies both arrogant, excessive self-pride or selfconfidence, and a lack of some important perception or insight due to pride
in one's abilities. This overwhelming pride inevitably leads to a downfall.
A literary technique that introduces an apparently irrelevant element early in
the story, and its significance becomes clear later in the play.
Undergoes an important change in the course of the play- not changes in
circumstances, but changes in some sense within the character in question.
The purging of the feelings of pity and fear.
The first occurrence leading to the rising action of the play.
Theme
Depicted with such psychological depth and detail that he or she seems like
a "real" person
A speech meant to be heard by the audience but not by other characters on
the stage
A central idea or statement that unifies and controls an entire literary work.
Stock Character
A recognizable character type found in many plays
Reversal or
Peripeteia
Exposition
The point at which the action of the plot turns in an unexpected direction for
the protagonist- from failure to success or success to failure.
The first stage of a fictional or dramatic plot, in which necessary background
information is provided.
Plenary Discussion
 What do you find difficult with drama
reading, comprehension and responding?
 What do you find challenging with this play,
in particular?
Act 1, Scene 1 - Review
 Comprehension Questions – Team Challenge!
Answers
1. Describe the Younger home. How are the furnishings
described? What does this say about their apartment? The
furnishings are run down and worn just like their apartment
2. What is the setting for 1.1? Sometime between WWII and the
present, Chicago’s Southside, morning in the Younger
apartment
3. What kind of life has Ruth had? How do we know this? Ruth
has had a disappointing and hard life; it says that she wears
this look on her face
4. What is everyone in the family concerned with? When is it
supposed to come? Check; it is to come on Saturday
5. What does Travis want that his mama won’t give him? Does he
get it? How? He needs .50. He does get it from his dad
6. What kind of business deal does Walter want to enter into with
his friends? He wants to open a liquor store
7. What does Walter argue is the problem with African American
women/wives? They don’t support their husbands, and they
are small minded
8. What kind of bathroom does the family use? Community
bathroom – they share it with two floors of people
Answers
9. How did they get the money? The death of Mama’s husband,
Walter’s father – “Big Walter”
10. Describe Mama (pg. 12) she is described as strong and full
bodied; she has overcome and adjusted to many things in life;
she is a “beautiful woman”
11. How does Mama feel about Walter’s business deal? She does
not agree with it
12. Why does Mama say Ruth should call in and say she has the
flu? This is something that white people understand
13. How much money does the family get? $10,000
14. What does Mama want to do with the money? Put some
away for Beneatha’s schooling and the rest as a down
payment on a home
15. How does Ruth describe life? How does this reflect society and
how it relates to the Younger family at the time? A barrel of
disappointments; this is what many African American’s felt
about life – they had hopes and dreams, but they were
crushed by society
16. What do the women feel is George Murchinson’s best quality?
He is rich
A Raisin in the Sun
Origin of the title of the play
"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?"
- Harlem by Langston Hughes
The American Dream – Write
your own definition
The American Dream –
Origins:
• the Declaration of Independence which proclaims that "all
men are created equal" and "endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit
of Happiness.“
• written by James Truslow Adams in 1931, in his book "The Epic of
America,” which stated that "life should be better and richer
and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to
ability or achievement regardless of social class or
circumstances of birth.”
Activity
Write about a dream that
you, or someone you know,
has had but then “dried
up,”. How did this affect you
or the other person?
Tell your partner
Vocabulary Worksheet
Answers
1. E
2. F
3. H
4. I
5. A
6. B
7. J
8. C
9. D
10.G
Exposition
Summarise this in your own words
The Younger family lives in a very small apartment in
Chicago. Big Walter has recently died, and there is a
$10,000 life insurance check due to arrive soon. Walter
hopes to use it for a liquor store, Beneatha hopes to use it
for medical school, and Mama is not sure what she will do
with it. Ruth falls ill at the end of the first the scene, and it
seems that she is pregnant.
MAMA: It don’t sound
nice for a young girl to
say things like that – you
wasn’t brought up that
way!
Language in a
Raisin in the
Sun
 What have you
noticed about
the language
used in the
play?
 Find 5 examples
from Act 1,
Scene 1, and
rewrite them in
standard
English.
 The language of many of the characters
of Raisin is unconventionally non-Standard
English; the black characters are not merely
speaking English that is ungrammatical; rather,
they are speaking a dialect common in the
black communities that are heavily populated
by migrants from the South. Their dialect,
although similar to the white southern dialect,
is distinctly different in that it is mostly an
outgrowth of the period of slavery. At that
time, slaves were forbidden a formal
education and therefore mimicked whatever
English they heard, ending up with a "Pidgin
English" not unlike the English spoken by many
of the Native-American population.
Homework Assignment
Don’t
forget
your
rewrites
Mama compares her plant
to her children. How are the
plant and
the children alike? What
does the plant symbolize to
Mama? (Include evidence
from Act 1, Scene 1)
Word count: up to 400
words
Good luck with
your homework
and see you next
time! 