A Raisin in the Sun Introduction

Monday, March 6, 2023

Agenda

1.Reflection

2.Parts of a Play

3.A Raisin in the Sun Opening Scene: Act 1
Scene 1 (pg 23-30)

4.Diction and Language

Scripture

If I Wander

If a man has a hundred sheep but one
of the sheep gets lost, he will leave the
other ninety-nine on the hill and go
look for the lost sheep.

-Matthew 18:12

Reflection

Do you trust that the Lord sees you when you
wander and that he will rescue you?

Introduction

Multiple Choice

How old was Hansberry when she won the award mentioned?

• 30

• 27

• 29

• 21

A dramatic script is composed of two elements. First is the
dialogue, often referred to as the lines. This is what the
actors say on stage. The second is the stage directions.
Stage directions are non-spoken texts that convey a wide
variety of information to the actors, designers, and directors.

Take a look starting at page 23 in ARITS- Let’s watch this
short video top help better understand the Parts of a Play

Stage directions and background

Multiple Choice

Stage directions aren't only directions about where the actors should move; they're also directions about....

• how actors should deliver their lines

• publication of the play

• Whether to go stage left or stage right

• the setting

Multiple Choice

What the characters say is one major part of a script. What is the term for what the characters say?

• stage directions

• line

• tone

• setting

Let’s begin- Pg 23-30

Let’s examine
the opening
scene in more

detail

The curtain opens...

The YOUNGER living room would be a comfortable and
well-ordered room if it were not for a number of indestructible
contradictions to this state of being. Its furnishings are typical
and undistinguished and their primary feature now is that they
have clearly had to accommodate the living of too many
people for too many years—and they are tired. Still, we can
see that at some time, a time probably no longer remembered
by the family (except perhaps for MAMA), the furnishings of
this room were actually selected with care and love and even
hope—and brought to this apartment and arranged with taste
and pride.

That was a long time ago. Now the once loved pattern

of the couch upholstery has to fight to show itself from under
acres of crocheted doilies and couch covers which have
themselves finally come to be more important than the
upholstery. And here a table or a chair has been moved to
disguise the worn places in the carpet; but the carpet has
fought back by showing its weariness, with depressing
uniformity, elsewhere on its surface.

Weariness has, in fact, won in this room. Everything

has been polished, washed, sat on, used, scrubbed too often.
All pretenses but living itself have long since vanished from the
very atmosphere of this room.

Moreover, a section of this room, for it is not really a room unto

itself, though the landlord’s lease would make it seem so, slopes backward
to provide a small kitchen area, where the family prepares the meals that
are eaten in the living room proper, which must also serve as dining room.
The single window that has been provided for these “two” rooms is
located in this kitchen area. The sole natural light the family may enjoy in
the course of a day is only that which fights its way through this little
window.

At left, a door leads to a bedroom which is shared by MAMA and

her daughter, BENEATHA. At right, opposite, is a second room (which in
the beginning of the life of this apartment was probably a breakfast
room) which serves as a bedroom for WALTER and his wife, RUTH.

Time: Sometime between World War II and the present.
Place: Chicago’s Southside.
At Rise: It is morning dark in the living room, TRAVIS is asleep on

the make-down bed at center. An alarm clock sounds from within the
bedroom at right, and presently RUTH enters from that room and closes
the door behind her. She crosses sleepily toward the window. As she
passes her sleeping son she reaches down and shakes him a little. At the
window she raises the shade and a dusky Southside morning light comes
in feebly. She fills a pot with water and puts it on to boil. She calls to the
boy, between yawns, in a slightly muffled voice.

RUTH is about thirty. We can see that she was a pretty girl, even

exceptionally so, but now it is apparent that life has been little that she
expected, and disappointment has already begun to hang in her face. In a
few years, before thirty-five even, she will be known among her people as
a “settled woman.” She crosses to her son and gives him a good, final,
rousing shake.

What is diction?

Diction is the way a person speaks

1.Formal – It is best to use formal words in certain situations such as academic writing, journalistic writing,
presentations, etc. For example, in an email to your boss you would use formal diction by saying
something like: “Hi Sir, I am writing to request more information about the recent project you assigned to
me…”

2.Casual – This type of diction uses informal words and word phrases to express thoughts in a more
casual manner, like talking with friends. For example, you might say something like, “Hey! How are ya?”
instead of the form formal, “Hello, how are you doing today?”

3.Slang – This type of diction involves the use of words or phrases that are completely casual and newly
formed/socially relevant. Slang phrases can even be considered impolite to many audiences, especially if
slang is used in a formal setting. You wouldn’t attend a research conference and begin your presentation
by saying “Sup, dawgs?” because this would likely alienate most of your audience.

What words or phrases (diction) did Hansberry
use to help create a mood or tone right off the
bat?

What figurative language did she incorporate?
(simile, metaphor, hyperbole)

1.Identify THREE uses of figurative language. In the margin, put that
figurative language in your own words. What is the picture Hansberry is
painting for you?

2.Identify THREE uses of specific diction. In the margin, explain why that
single word or phrase is telling, significant, or important as Hansberry is
setting the stage for the play to begin.

Go back and annotate in your book.

Re-read Pages 23-30

Open Ended

Identify one place where Hansberry used figurative language. Write the example below. Include the page number