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9th Grade PAP Critical Reading and Writing Journal for Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun
Requirements:
 You must have a minimum of four complete entries, each chosen from the menu of assignments and
following the criteria provided.
 A minimum of one assignment must be analytical (see assignment menu and examples)
 A minimum of one assignment must be creative (see assignment menu and examples)
Analytic Writing Assignments
Take an excerpt from the play –either one of your own choosing or one provided by your teacher—and write a
style analysis in which you must accomplish two things.
First, identify one of the following:
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The central conflict and a brief description of it.
Characterization (how you would describe a character in a particular scene)
Tone (if it’s the narrator’s description of a scene or the setting, identify her tone, if it’s actual dialogue,
identify the character’s or characters’ tone(s))
Theme (important idea or concern that emerges from a particular scene)
Mood (the atmosphere or feeling that pervades a scene)
Next, explain how Hansberry employs a particular literary device to develop one of the items listed above.
Here are some devices and brief description:
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Point of View (first person, third person limited, omniscient, etc.) not particularly important in a play
except in the stage directions and narration.
Diction (Word choice; is there a cluster or pattern of particularly evocative words with strong
connotations?)
Imagery (Language that appeals to the senses, making it easier for readers to picture what happens)
Details (the facts or objects that the playwright chooses to notice or overlook, whatever the playwright
or characters make note of)
Figurative Language (Similes, Metaphors, Irony, Allusions, Symbolism, Hyperbole, etc.)
Syntax (Sentence structure and style; active/passive voice; simple, compound, complex, compoundcomplex, open or closed, etc.)
Summing up and clarifying the requirements for the analytic writing assignments.
In a well-developed paragraph of at least 175 words you must identify a major effect of the passage—
either the nature of its central conflict, a character’s development, the mood, the tone, or a central
theme. Then choosing relevant textual evidence in the form of direct quotes, you are to explain how the
playwright uses a particular device to create the effect you’ve decided to discuss. Your analysis should
have at least two pieces of direct evidence and three to five sentences of commentary.
Below are two excerpts and a couple of different analytic responses to give you an idea.
(1) 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 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.
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(2) 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 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.
(3)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 atmosphere of this room.
(4)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 the day is only that which fights its way through this little window.
(5)At left, a door leads to a bedroom which is shared by MAMA and her daughter, BENETHEA. 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.
(6) Time: Sometime between World War II and the present.
(7) Place: Chicago’s Southside.
(8) 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.
(9) 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 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.”
(10) She crosses the bed and gives him a good, final, rousing shake.
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*make-down bed: a pallet, an improvised bed made of cushions and bed clothes.
In this excerpt, Hansberry employs shabby imagery to convey her theme of poverty’s profound ability to
wear people down, of poverty being not just an absence of wealth but an absence of hope. The narrator
describes the “indestructible contradictions” that define the Younger’s living room, “the furnishings” originally
“selected with care and love and even hope,” and “arranged with taste and pride” have become worn and
weary, with tables and chairs arranged “to disguise the worn places in the carpet,” with everything “polished,
washed sat on, used, and scrubbed too often.” The Youngers are old before their time. Even as they wash and
clean and polish to maintain what they have, what they have proves too meager to even withstand the wear and
tear of cleaning. It is as if the apartment is too small to contain the lives of its inhabitants and consequently, the
lives within have shrunk to fit into a place forced “to accommodate the living of too many people,” a place
suffused with metaphoric and literal darkness, a place in which “the sole natural light” is “that which fights its
way through [the apartment’s only] little window.” (191 words)
Here’s another excerpt and example
He [Walter] rises and finds a cigarette in her handbag on the table and crosses to the little window
and looks out, smoking and deeply enjoying this first one.
Ruth (almost matter of factly, a complaint too automatic to deserve emphasis): Why do you always
got to smoke before you eat in the morning?
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Walter (at the window): Just look at ‘em down there…Running and racing to work… (He turns
and faces his wife and watches her a moment at the stove, and then, suddenly) You look young this
morning, baby.
Ruth (indifferently): Yeah?
Walter: Just for a second—stirring them eggs Just for a second it was—you looked real young again.
(He reaches for her; she crosses away. Then, drily) It’s gone now—you look like yourself again!
Ruth : Man, if you don’t shut up and leave me alone.
Walter (looking out at the street again): Fist thing a man ought to learn in life is not to make love to
no colored woman first thing in the morning. You some eeeevil people at eight o’clock in the
morning.
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Even though it’s a short excerpt (only 182 words) there is enough here to analyze.
Whereas the conflict is understated, there is definitely a muted hostility between Ruth and Walter, a
hostility partly revealed by the selection’s details. One of the most telling details is Ruth’s questioning Walter
about why “you always got to smoke before you eat in the morning?” This question, really more of a rhetorical
complaint, is Ruth’s way of expressing displeasure without really expecting any change in behavior. Indeed, the
question means so little to Walter that he doesn’t even respond. Instead, perhaps in an attempt to show
affection, Walter compliments Ruth—albeit in sort of passive aggressive fashion—telling her that “just for a
second—stirring them eggs” she “looked young,” a grudging compliment that leaves Ruth decidedly
unimpressed. When Ruth avoids his touch, Walter makes sure to let her know that her temporarily youthful
appearance is “gone now” and that she is “eeeevil”. Though the quibbling and teasing seem insignificant, they
are anything but. This excerpt reveals an unhappy couple, together but alone, he uninterested in her complaints
and she uninterested in his “compliments,” each giving what neither wants and getting nothing in return. (185
words)
Creative Writing Menu
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Write an Original Poem that is connected to the play. This connection may be literal (including
references to characters, dialogue, or images from the play) or it may be more figurative, say a
poem that addresses racism, poverty, despair, or some other theme of the play. Make sure
your poem is at least 14 lines. A rap—as long as it is school appropriate—is perfectly
acceptable.
Write a Dramatic Monologue in which one of the characters speaks his or her primary
concerns, hopes, and dreams, in an uninterrupted flow. A dramatic monologue is basically a
long speech in which a character reveals something essential about him or herself and the
world, expressing what he or she most desperately needs to say. Also, steal at least one line
from the play, using the character’s own words, placing them in “quotation marks”
(approximately 200 words)
Rewrite a scene: Take part of an original scene from the play and rework it. Either change the
characters’ make-up, their actions, the setting, or whatever. Just take what was once there and
make it into something new. Once you finished, write a two sentence analysis explaining the
changes you made and what effect you are hoping to achieve.
Make a three panel cartoon: retell/summarize an important scene or part of a scene as a
cartoon strip. The thing is that whatever part you chose make sure that the strip has a
beginning, middle and end, some type of narrative arc, limited though it may be.
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Here are some examples
Forever Younger (Original Poem)
Our faces are our doilies that always we are crocheting.
Beneath our indifference there’s something quite dismaying.
It aint the floor that doubles as the youngest Younger’s bed.
It aint the living room that’s living less than those long dead
To an expectation of life without discrimination,
Beyond the faceless faces staring with recrimination.
No, it’s this--the faint light that struggles through the glass to shine,
On the glass we raise whenever and on whatever we dine,
The burdens we endure with the strength of our unbowed backs.
Like that little plant growing despite the sunlight it sorely lacks,
We do without the car or the fancy dress of prosperity
But we always clothe ourselves in our determined dignity.
Sure, Walter shows chauffer fatigue, giving Ruth unneeded grief
And Beneath Benethea is Mama’s determined belief
In a God who seems indifferent to pain and want and sin.
And, yes, for white lives, with white lies, they stitch their safe, sad grin,
But unlike the sad sofa they’ve tried to hide with their sewing
The Youngers live lives as rich, as true, as any worth knowing.
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Travis’s World (A dramatic monologue)
You know when you’re just a little kid everything
Seems magic, your dad is like a superhero, your mom
like some model out of a magazine. Christmas is
stupid, crazy fun. Birthdays, too. Dumb little things,
like a yo-yo, top, or a rubber ball, are all it takes to make
everything seem like everything, you know. It’s all
there in front of you. Not now, though, I’ve grown
up a little and everything seems little, living
all cramped up in this raggedy apartment, sleeping
the floor, sharing a bathroom with the neighbors,
even the neighbors’ neighbors, like crazy Mrs. Johnson.
We separate a room with a sheet, trying to pretend
We got separate places, but nothing’s separate, except
Us and our dreams, not that stupid American
Dream I always here white folk talking
About on the radio, but that dream that
You didn’t even know was a dream. I guess
It’s what some people call the future. When
You thought you was like everybody else, thinking
About what you were gonna do when you got older.
Here’s what I mean. Over eggs that aint ever over-easy, I told Mom,
“This is the moring we supposed to bring the fifty
Cents to school,”* and all you-know-what broke loose.
Dad eventually came to the rescue, but man what a
Big deal about being so little. It aint like I’m “gimme,
Gimme,” all the time. I just don’t want to be that
Kid, the smelly one, the weird one, the one
Too poor to pay what he’s supposed to pay
For the school play. I mean 50 cent, even in the
Fifties, that aint too much. Like I said,
The bigger I get, the smaller my life seems.
* My direct quote
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Partial Scene Rewrite (original is next to it)
Original
He rises and finds a cigarette in her handbag on the
table and crosses to the little window, smoking
deeply and enjoying the first one.
Rewritten as a Television Commercial
Agitated, he rises and goes through her handbag on the
table, obviously looking for something of great
importance.
RUTH (almost matter of factly, a complaint to
automatic to deserve emphasis): Why you always
got to smoke before you eat in the morning?
RUTH (almost matter of factly, a complaint to automatic
to deserve emphasis): Why are you rummaging through
my handbag, when you know there’s nothing in there for
you?
WALTER (at the window): Just look at ‘em down
there…Running and racing to work…(He turns and
faces his wife and watches her a moment at the
stove, and then, suddenly) You look young this
morning, baby.
WALTER (pouring the contents onto the table): Just look at
all this junk, and not a single cigarette, just a bunch of
nothing and some gum. (He turns and faces his wife and
watches her a moment at the stove, and then, suddenly)
You seem so calm, so peaceful, so young this morning. I
can’t believe you’re not climbing the walls.
RUTH (indifferently): Yeah?
WALTER: Just for a second—stirring them eggs. Just
for a second it was—you looked real young again.
(He reaches for her; she crosses away. Then, drily)
It’s gone now—you look like yourself again!
RUTH: Man, if you don’t shut up and leave me
alone.
WALTER (looking out to the street again): First
thing a man ought to learn in life is not to make
love to no colored woman first thing in the
morning. You all some eeeevil people at 8:00 in the
morning.
RUTH (Smiling): Yeah?
WALTER: How are you doing it? (He reaches for her hand);
she takes it and turns toward him). Really, how? You
haven’t smoked a cigarette in two weeks, and yet you’re
calm and collected, somehow younger looking too.
RUTH: It’s the gum, silly. NicaNoNo is the only smoking
cessation gum for me. Nicotine free, its homeopathic
medicines instantly end cravings without the harmful side
effects of other gums. Plus, its natural whiteners remove
those unsightly tobacco stains.
WALTER: So, I guess you were wrong?
RUTH: Wrong?
WALTER: About having nothing in the handbag for me. I’d
like better health and a brighter smile, too.
RUTH: Okay, I’ll share the NicaNoNo but the mascara and
lipstick are still a definite no-go.
My Explanation. I was trying to create a parody
of a subgenre of television commercials that really
lends itself to parody, what I like to call “real life, every day people” commercials. These are the commercials in
which actors just slightly more attractive than everyday people pretend to be everyday people doing things like
yoga or yardwork as they converse about the virtues of a particular cellphone provider, hemorrhoid cream, or
bladder control medicine. You know, real life.
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Three Panel Cartoon