a raisin in the sun by lorraine hansberry important facts and how to read a play
TRANSCRIPT
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A Raisin in the SunBy Lorraine Hansberry
Important Facts and
How to Read a Play
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Important Facts
• Produced in 1959
– Foretold the revolution in black consciousness and…
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• …foretold the revolution in women’s consciousness
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Meet Lorraine Hansberry
We are things of dry hours and the involuntary plan,Grayed in, and gray. "Dream“ makes a giddy sound, not strongLike "rent," "feeding a wife," "satisfying a man."
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Important Themes (look for similar issues in other pieces of
literature)
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Value systems within families, particularly the black
family
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Concepts of African American beauty vs. European beauty
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Class and generational conflicts
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The relationships of husbands and wives
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The relationships between men and women
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The difference between what it means to be
African American vs. African
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A series of FIRSTS
• The first play brought to Broadway by a black woman (young and unknown)
• Directed by a young black unknown director (Lloyd Richards)
• There had never been a serious commercially successful black drama
• Shown in a theatre with few black audience members…
• AND IT WAS A HIT!!!
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Analyzing Literature
Look at the book now…
• What is one of the things we should ask ourselves right now, before we’ve even read the play?
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The significance of the TITLE
• From a poem by Langston Hughes.
• Title: “Harlem”
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…
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Check the CAST LIST
• Can you tell anything about the relationship of the characters based on the cast list?
• Ruth Younger• Travis Younger• Walter Lee Younger
(Brother)• Beneatha Younger
(Sister)• Lena Younger
(Mama)
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Check the SETTING
• Does the setting give you any clues about the story?
• Does the time period give you any clues?
• Over what period of time does the action take place?
• Set on Chicago’s Southside, sometime between World War I and the present…
Why do you think it’s such a wide range of time?
• See your book…
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Read the DIRECTOR’S NOTES
• The italicized parts interspersed throughout the play
• They give you IMPORTANT INFORMATION about the set, characters, and movements of characters.
• They tell you HOW A LINE IS SAID, which gives you more information about the characters
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STAGE RIGHT, CENTER, LEFT, Proscenium, Leg, Border
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UP STAGE vs. DOWN STAGE
Check your stage knowledge• Up stage
• Down stage• Proscenium• Stage left• Stage right• Leg• Border
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You’re ready to read!!!