“A Raisin in the Sun”
Test Review
Test Date: Friday, October 22
Act I, Scene 1
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What is the setting (time and place) of the story?
Chicago in the 1950s
What does it mean when Ruth is called a “settled woman”?
She has settled into her lifestyle; she is aged beyond her years.
Why does Walter say, “Damn my eggs…Damn all the eggs
that ever was”?
Walter wants to dream of a better life and Ruth keeps pushing
reality back at him.
Why was Mama getting a check for $10,000?
It was insurance money from her husband’s life insurance
Why doesn’t Beneatha want to marry George?
She thinks he is shallow.
Act I, Scene 1
• What does Mama say will definitely happen to some of the
money?
• She would put money away for Beneatha’s education.
• What does Walter accuse Beneatha of doing?
• Taking money every time it is offered.
Act I, Scene 2
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What did Asagai’s nickname for Beneatha mean?
―One for Whom Bread – Food – Is Not Enough‖
Why does Beneatha delay answering Asagai’s proposal?
She says she needs more time to know how she feels about
him.
Why does Asagai tease Beneatha?
She straightens her hair.
What is Ruth thinking about doing to protect her family
that is “already alive”? Does she ever go through with this
plan?
She is going to have an abortion; she never goes through with
it.
Act I, Scene 2
• Why did Mama call Walter a disgrace to his father’s
memory?
• He had become too concerned with money and had lost
traditional family values.
• How does Walter react when he finds out Ruth is planning
to have an abortion?
• He walks out of the house.
Act II, Scene 1
• What does it mean when Beneatha is dancing and chanting
OCOMOGOSAIY (Oh-ko-mow-go-see-ey)?
• She is welcoming the hunters back to the tribe.
• How does Walter feel about George? Why?
• Walter is envious of George because of the money and power
the Murchison family has.
• What does George call Walter?
• Prometheus
• Who complains that their dream was “butchered”?
• Walter
Act II, Scene 2
• Who doesn’t want to discuss the nature of quiet desperation
with Beneatha? Why?
• George; he wants her to be pretty and quiet (he doesn’t want her
to think).
• Who is the noisy neighbor? What does she think about Booker
T. Washington?
• Mrs. Johnson; she agrees that an education has ruined those who
might do other blue collar labor.
• Why does Mama give Walter the money?
• She feels guilty about contributing to his despair.
• Does Walter take his family into consideration when he makes
his plans for the future? How do you know?
• Yes; he admits that everything he is doing is to help his family
earn more money.
Act II, Scene 3
• Who was Karl Linder, and why did he visit the Younger
family?
• He was a representative from the Clybourne Park
Improvement Association; the residents want to buy the
house back so the Youngers will not move there.
• What was Walter’s reaction to Mr. Linder?
• He told him to get out of his house.
• Why doesn’t the Clybourne Park Association want the
Youngers to move in to the neighborhood?
• They want the neighborhood to remain segregated. They
offer the Youngers more money than they paid for the house
to convince them to stay.
Act II, Scene 3
• Who is called “Miss Minerva”?
• Mama
• What does Travis give Mama when they are going to move
in to the new house? Why?
• A new gardening hat; he wants her to look like the women he
has seen in the magazines.
• What is the present Walter, Ruth, and Beneatha give
Mama?
• A set of new gardening tools
• Who skips town with Walter and Bobo’s money?
• Willy Harris
Act III
• Who says that dreams should not depend on the death of a
man?
• Asagai
• Who symbolizes the devil in the play?
• Lindner
• Why didn’t Beneatha want to be a doctor anymore?
• She sees no human battle worth fighting, no human life worth
saving.
• How did Asagai define “idealists”?
• Those who see the changes in life
• Who did Beneatha decide to marry?
• Asagai
Act III
• What does Mama’s insistence on taking the sickly plant
shows about her?
• She has blind optimism and unshakable faith.
• Do the Youngers move to Clybourne Park?
• Yes
• What does Asagai say might happen to him when he returns
to Africa?
• He may be a very old man, respected and esteemed in his new
nation; he may be butchered in his bed by the servants of the
empire; he may hold office.
• Who says “Sometimes you just got to know when to give up
some things… and hold on to what you got”? Why?
• Mama is going to give up the house and stay in the apartment.
Act III
• When Mama says taking money to stay out of Clybourne
Park would make them dead inside, what does Beneatha
say?
• ―Well—we are dead now. All the talk about dreams and
sunlight that goes on in this house. It’s all dead now.‖
• What will Beneatha do in Africa?
• Become a doctor and treat the sick and marry Asagai.
• Who says “When you starts measuring somebody, measure
him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done
taken into account what hills and valleys he come through
before he got to wherever he is”? Who are they speaking
about?
• Mama; Walter