DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

A RAISIN IN THE SUN

LORRAINE HANSBERRY

1. Time/place setting.

2. Basic plot of the play.

3. Author of the play.

4. Who are the main characters & what are their dreams?

5. Lena is the matriarch of the family & the strongest character in the play. Describe her and her philosophy of life.

6. Beneatha Younger is a representative of the younger generation whose dreams are far different from those of her mother. In contrast to Lena’s dreams, what does Beneatha want out of life?

7. Walter Younger has been under his mother’s domination all his life. How does he attempt to extricate himself from his mother’s hold on him and what happens to his plans?

8. Contrast Beneatha’s two suitors as they represent two attitudes of younger generation Negroes toward their heritage and their life.

9. The plant which she so carefully nurtures is a symbol of Lena herself. What does Lena and the raggedly-looking plant have in common?

10. Who is Mr. Linder and what segment of humanity does he represent? Who could he be compared to from To Kill A Mockingbird?

11. Towards the end of the play Walter ‘comes into his manhood’ by taking a significant step. What does he do and how does it affect the future of the Younger family?

12. What do the Younger’s decide to do at the end of the play? Why?

13. The title of the book is taken from a poem by Langston Hughes which goes, in part, “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up? Like a raisin in the sun?” What is the significance of the title of the play as related to the lives of the members of the Younger family.