A RAISIN IN THE SUN UNIT REVIEW
Know who said each of the following quotes.
____________________ “Perhaps I will be a great [person]...perhaps I will hold on to the substance of truth and find my way
always with the right course…”
____________________ “Something eating you up like a crazy man… You get all nervous acting and kind of wild in the eyes-”
____________________ “Most of the trouble in this world exists because people just don’t sit down and talk to each other… That
we don’t try hard enough in this world to understand the other fellow’s problem.”
____________________ “[T]hen I say it loud and good, Hallelujah! And goodbye misery… I don’t never want to see your ugly face
again!”
____________________ “It’s all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don’t accept... It[s just that I get tired of Him getting
credit for all things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort.”
____________________ “Sometimes it’s like I can see the future stretched out in front of me.. Hanging over there at the edge of
my days. Just waiting for me- a big, looming blank space…”
____________________ “Look honey, we’re going to the theatre-we’re not going to be in it… so go change, huh?”
____________________ “What’s the matter with [Mama]? Don’t she want to be rich?
____________________“Once upon a time freedom used to be life--now it's money.”
____________________“Here I am a giant--surrounded by ants! Ants who can't even understand what it is the giant is talking
about.”
____________________“You just can’t force people to change their hearts, son.”
____________________“Then isn’t there something wrong in a house—in a world—where all dreams, good or bad, must depend
on the death of a man?”
Know the literary term exemplified by the example.
____________________ Walter thinks the women in his life are the ones holding him back, though readers know he needs to
shoulder the blame.
____________________ The Clybourne Park “Welcoming Committee” offers to pay the Youngers in exchange for staying out of
Clybourne Park.
____________________ Beneatha’s educated friend calls Walter “Prometheus.”
____________________ The Youngers share news of African Americans being “bombed out” out their home not too long before
Mr. Lindner pays the family a visit.
Multiple Choice Test Questions.
1.
Describe Mama’s physical characteristics and how her life
11. How are Walter’s dreams deferred throughout the play?
experiences have impacted her personality.
12. Why does Mama tell Travis to stay in the room when
2.
Why is the plant significant?
3.
Which character best exemplifies afrocentrism?
4.
Which character best exemplifies assimilation?
5.
Find one quote that exemplifies afro-centrism.
14. What might Beneatha’s hair symbolize?
6.
Find one quote that exemplifies assimilation?
15. What does Mama’s plant represent?
7.
How do we know that Ruth is thinking about aborting her
16. What does the new house represent to the Younger
baby?
Walter confronts Lindner in Act Three?
13. How does Hansberry critique traditional gender roles with
the Beneatha character?
family?
8.
What does Asagai mean when he calls Beneatha “Alaiyo?”
17. Write a thematic statement for A Raisin in the Sun.
9.
What does George mean when he refers to Walter as
18. How does the Langston Hughes poem relate to the play?
“Prometheus?”
19. Hansberry’s use of Langston Hughes poem is an example
10. How are George and Walter different?
of which of literary technique?
Essay: Analyze one central theme for this play, explaining how the theme is shown in multiple scenes and/or how it evolves and
changes over the course of the play. What is the significance of the theme for the play as a whole?
1