Analyzing Word Choice and Theme in a Play - Quiz

Read the two passages from A Raisin in the Sun. Passage 1: [LINDNER:] At the moment the overwhelming majority of our people out there feel that people get along better, take more of a common interest in the life of the community, when they share a common background. I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn't enter into it. It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities. BENEATHA (with a grand and bitter gesture): This, friends, is the Welcoming Committee! Passage 2: LINDNER (looking around at the hostile faces and reaching and assembling his hat and briefcase): Well—I don't understand why you people are reacting this way. What do you think you are going to gain by moving into a neighborhood where you just aren't wanted and where some elements—well—people can get awful worked up when they feel that their whole way of life and everything they've ever worked for is threatened. WALTER: Get out. LINDNER (at the door, holding a small card): Well—I'm sorry it went like this. WALTER: Get out. LINDNER (almost sadly regarding WALTER): You just can't force people to change their hearts, son. He turns and puts his card on a table and exits. WALTER pushes the door to with stinging hatred, and stands looking at it. RUTH just sits and BENEATHA just stands. They say nothing. MAMA and TRAVIS enter. MAMA: Well—this all the packing got done since I left out of here this morning. I testify before God that my children got all the energy of the dead! What time the moving men due? BENEATHA: Four o'clock. You had a caller, Mama. Which phrases from the passages best support the theme that racism can be subtle? Select three options. A. "a common background" B. "their own communities" C. "some elements" D. "all the energy of the dead" E. "You had a caller"

"a common background" "their own communities" "some elements"

Read the two passages from A Raisin in the Sun. Passage 1: LINDNER: You see—in the face of all the things I have said, we are prepared to make your family a very generous offer . . . BENEATHA: Thirty pieces and not a coin less! LINDNER (putting on his glasses and drawing a form out of the briefcase): Our association is prepared, through the collective effort of our people, to buy the house from you at a financial gain to your family. RUTH: Lord have mercy, ain't this the living gall! WALTER: All right, you through? LINDNER: Well, I want to give you the exact terms of the financial arrangement— WALTER: We don't want to hear no exact terms of no arrangements. I want to know if you got any more to tell us 'bout getting together? LINDNER (taking off his glasses): Well—I don't suppose that you feel . . . WALTER: Never mind how I feel—you got any more to say 'bout how people ought to sit down and talk to each other? . . . Get out of my house, man. Passage 2: WALTER: Ain't nothing the matter with us. We just telling you 'bout the gentleman who came to see you this afternoon. From the Clybourne Park Improvement Association. MAMA: What he want? RUTH (in the same mood as BENEATHA and WALTER): To welcome you, honey. WALTER: He said they can't hardly wait. He said the one thing they don't have, that they just dying to have out there is a fine family of fine colored people! (To RUTH and BENEATHA.) Ain't that right! RUTH (mockingly): Yeah! He left his card— BENEATHA (handing card to MAMA): In case. MAMA reads and throws it on the floor—understanding and looking off as she draws her chair up to the table on which she has put her plant and some sticks and some cord. MAMA: Father, give us strength. (Knowingly—and without fun.) Did he threaten us? BENEATHA: Oh—Mama—they don't do it like that anymore. He talked Brotherhood. He said everybody ought to learn how to sit down and hate each other with good Christian fellowship. She and WALTER shake hands to ridicule the remark. MAMA (sadly): Lord, protect us . . . RUTH: You should hear the money those folks raised to buy the house from us. All we paid and then some. BENEATHA: What they think we going to do—eat 'em? RUTH: No, honey, marry 'em. MAMA (shaking her head): Lord, Lord, Lord . . . Which lines of dialogue develop the idea that racially charged confrontations can have a sudden and unpleasant impact? Select three options. A. "I don't suppose that you feel" B. "Ain't this the living gall!" C. "They don't do it like that anymore." D. "All we paid and then some." E. "Lord, Lord, Lord . . ."

A. "I don't suppose that you feel" B. "Ain't this the living gall!" E. "Lord, Lord, Lord . . ."

Read the two passages from A Raisin in the Sun. Passage 1: MAN (coming in): Thank you. BENEATHA: My mother isn't here just now. Is it business? MAN: Yes . . . well, of a sort. WALTER (freely, the Man of the House): Have a seat. I'm Mrs. Younger's son. I look after most of her business matters. RUTH and BENEATHA exchange amused glances. Passage 2: MAMA (to WALTER): Son—(She goes to him, bends down to him, talks to his bent head.) Son . . . Is it gone? Son, I gave you sixty-five hundred dollars. Is it gone? All of it? Beneatha's money too? WALTER (lifting his head slowly): Mama . . . I never . . . went to the bank at all . . . MAMA (not wanting to believe him): You mean . . . your sister's school money . . . you used that too . . . Walter? . . . WALTER: Yessss! All of it . . . It's all gone . . . There is total silence. RUTH stands with her face covered with her hands; BENEATHA leans forlornly against a wall, fingering a piece of red ribbon from the mother's gift. MAMA stops and looks at her son without recognition and then, quite without thinking about it, starts to beat him senselessly in the face. BENEATHA goes to them and stops it. BENEATHA: Mama! MAMA stops and looks at both of her children and rises slowly and wanders vaguely, aimlessly away from them. Which statement best compares the two passages? A. The first passage hints that the family should not trust Walter with money or business matters, and the second passage confirms it. B. The first passage hints that Walter is excellent at managing the family's money and business matters, and the second passage confirms it. C. Both passages show that Ruth, Beneatha, and Mama will forgive Walter for anything, no matter how foolishly he acts. D. Both passages show that Ruth, Beneatha, and Mama have a great deal of respect for Walter and work hard to impress him.

A. The first passage hints that the family should not trust Walter with money or business matters, and the second passage confirms it.

Read the passage from A Raisin in the Sun. WALTER (amiably, as he sits himself easily on a chair, leaning forward on his knees with interest and looking expectantly into the newcomer's face): What can we do for you, Mr. Lindner! LINDNER (some minor shuffling of the hat and briefcase on his knees): Well—I am a representative of the Clybourne Park Improvement Association— WALTER (pointing): Why don't you sit your things on the floor? LINDNER: Oh—yes. Thank you. (He slides the briefcase and hat under the chair.) And as I was saying—I am from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association and we have had it brought to our attention at the last meeting that you people—or at least your mother—has bought a piece of residential property at—(He digs for the slip of paper again.)—four o six Clybourne Street . . . WALTER: That's right. Care for something to drink? Ruth, get Mr. Lindner a beer. LINDNER (upset for some reason): Oh—no, really. I mean thank you very much, but no thank you. Which connotations are associated with the word representative as it is used in this passage? Select two options. A. official B. exceptional C. authoritative D. legislative E. manipulative

A. official C. authoritative

Read the passage from A Raisin in the Sun. LINDNER: Yes—that's the way we feel out in Clybourne Park. And that's why I was elected to come here this afternoon and talk to you people. Friendly like, you know, the way people should talk to each other and see if we couldn't find some way to work this thing out. As I say, the whole business is a matter of caring about the other fellow. Anybody can see that you are a nice family of folks, hard-working and honest I'm sure. (BENEATHA frowns slightly, quizzically, her head tilted regarding him.) Today everybody knows what it means to be on the outside of something. And of course, there is always somebody who is out to take advantage of people who don't always understand. WALTER: What do you mean? LINDNER: Well—you see our community is made up of people who've worked hard as the dickens for years to build up that little community. They're not rich and fancy people; just hard-working, honest people who don't really have much but those little homes and a dream of the kind of community they want to raise their children in. Now, I don't say we are perfect and there is a lot wrong in some of the things they want. But you've got to admit that a man, right or wrong, has the right to want to have the neighborhood he lives in a certain kind of way. And at the moment the overwhelming majority of our people out there feel that people get along better, take more of a common interest in the life of the community, when they share a common background. I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn't enter into it. It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities. BENEATHA (with a grand and bitter gesture): This, friends, is the Welcoming Committee! WALTER (dumfounded, looking at LINDNER): Is this what you came marching all the way over here to tell us? . . . . RUTH: Lord have mercy, ain't this the living gall! How does the playwright use dialogue to develop the message in this passage? A. Beneatha's use of sarcasm shows how people can unintentionally hurt those they care about. B. Lindner's good manners and polite words show that segregation can be subtle and indirect. C. The rapid pace of Beneatha, Walter, and Ruth's dialogue shows that direct confrontation is the best way to resolve differences. D. Walter's questions and Ruth's exclamation develop the message that communication breakdowns are often the fault of both parties.

B. Lindner's good manners and polite words show that segregation can be subtle and indirect.

Read the passage from A Raisin in the Sun. MAMA: Father, give us strength. (Knowingly—and without fun.) Did he threaten us? · BENEATHA: Oh—Mama—they don't do it like that anymore. He talked Brotherhood. He said everybody ought to learn how to sit down and hate each other with good Christian fellowship, She and WALTER shake hands to ridicule the remark. MAMA (sadly): Lord, protect us . . . Which statement best explains how word choice affects the tone of this passage? A. The word strength creates an optimistic tone. B. The word threaten creates a somber tone. C. The word knowingly creates a bored tone. D. The word protect creates a confident tone.

B. The word threaten creates a somber tone.

What is the definition of tone? A. the main subject or issues that a text presents B. the speaker's attitude toward the topic or a character C. a feeling or idea associated with a word in a text D. the literal meaning or dictionary definition of a word

B. the speaker's attitude toward the topic or a character

Read the two passages from A Raisin in the Sun. Passage 1: RUTH: You know what I'm going to do soon as I get in that new house? BENEATHA: What? RUTH: Honey—I'm going to run me a tub of water up to here . . . (With her fingers practically up to her nostrils.) And I'm going to get in it—and I am going to sit . . . and sit . . . and sit in that hot water and the first person who knocks to tell me to hurry up and come out— BENEATHA: Gets shot at sunrise. RUTH (laughing happily): You said it, sister! Passage 2: MAMA (eying the box, which is obviously a gift): What is that? WALTER (taking it from RUTH and putting it on the table in front of MAMA): Well—what you all think? Should we give it to her? RUTH: Oh—she was pretty good today. MAMA: I'll good you— She turns her eyes to the box again. BENEATHA: Open it, Mama She stands up, looks at it, turns and looks at all of them, and then presses her hands together and does not open the package. WALTER (sweetly): Open it, Mama. It's for you. (MAMA looks in his eyes. It is the first present in her life without its being Christmas. Slowly she opens her package and lifts out, one by one, a brand-new sparkling set of gardening tools. WALTER continues, prodding.) Ruth made up the note—read it . . . MAMA (picking up the card and adjusting her glasses): "To our own Mrs. Miniver—Love from Brother, Ruth, and Beneatha." Ain't that lovely . . . TRAVIS (tugging at his father's sleeve): Daddy, can I give her mine now? WALTER: All right, son. (TRAVIS flies to get his gift.) MAMA: Now I don't have to use my knives and forks no more . . . Which statement best compares the two passages? A. The first passage hints that the family members misunderstand one another, and the second passage confirms it. B. The first passage hints that the family members are easily distracted in conversations, and the second passage confirms it. C. Both passages show that the family members enjoy celebrating life's simple pleasures. D. Both passages show that the family members are poor but are generous with one another.

C. Both passages show that the family members enjoy celebrating life's simple pleasures.

Read the passage from A Raisin in the Sun. BENEATHA (laughingly noticing what her mother is doing): Mama, what are you doing? MAMA: Fixing my plant so it won't get hurt none on the way . . . BENEATHA: Mama, you going to take that to the new house? MAMA: Un-huh— BENEATHA: That raggedy-looking old thing? MAMA (stopping and looking at her): It expresses ME! RUTH (with delight, to BENEATHA): So there, Miss Thing! How would the tone change if the word hideous replaced the word raggedy? A. Beneatha would be showing anger instead of expressing her sadness about the plant. B. Beneatha would be telling a hilarious joke instead of making a mildly humorous comment. C. Beneatha would be telling the truth to her mother instead of sparing her feelings. D. Beneatha would be harshly criticizing her mother instead of gently teasing her.

D. Beneatha would be harshly criticizing her mother instead of gently teasing her.

Read the two passages from A Raisin in the Sun. Passage 1: RUTH: Why don't you answer the door, man? WALTER (suddenly bounding across the floor to embrace her): 'Cause sometimes it hard to let the future begin! (Stooping down in her face.) I got wings! You got wings! All God's children got wings! He crosses to the door and throws it open. Standing there is a very slight little man in a not-too-prosperous business suit and with haunted frightened eyes and a hat pulled down tightly, brim up, around his forehead. . . . WALTER leans deep in the man's face, still in his jubilance. When I get to heaven gonna put on my wings, Gonna fly all over God's heaven . . . Passage 2: WALTER (turning madly, as though he is looking for WILLY in the very room): Willy! . . . Willy . . . don't do it . . . Please don't do it . . . Man, not with that money . . . Man, please, not with that money . . . Oh, God . . . Don't let it be true . . . (He is wandering around, crying out for WILLY and looking for him or perhaps for help from God.) Man . . . I trusted you . . . Man, I put my life in your hands . . . (He starts to crumple down on the floor as RUTH just covers her face in horror. MAMA opens the door and comes into the room, with BENEATHA behind her.) Man . . . (He starts to pound the floor with his fists, sobbing wildly.) THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY FATHER'S FLESH— Which statement best compares the two passages? A. The first passage hints that Walter faces his fear, and the second passage indicates that he avoids it. B. The first passage hints that Ruth cannot understand Walter, and the second passage confirms it. C. Both passages show that Walter has an optimistic outlook on life. D. Both passages show how extreme Walter's emotions can be.

D. Both passages show how extreme Walter's emotions can be.