Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Major Characters
Asagai……………………………………………………….IvanDixon
A very friendly and educated young man from the African
country of Nigeria who is romantically interested in Beneatha.
Bobo…………………………………………………………..JoelFluellen
A friend of Walter Lee’s who decides to go into business with him.
Plot Summary
This film is the story of the Youngers, a poor African-American family who
live in a small and dark Chicago apartment in the late 1950s. Mr. Younger had
died several months earlier, but in theory, things should be getting better
since Mama is about to receive a life insurance check for $10,000 (which at
that time was a huge amount of money, perhaps enough to buy a small
house). Unfortunately, the money arrives, but things soon get worse.
Poor African-Americans and some others in the United States often speak
with a “Black English” dialect, which differs a little from standard English in
both grammar and vocabulary. Still, you should be able to understand the
Youngers with just a little extra effort. The following examples are things you
should be aware of, but which you should generally try to avoid using:
Oh golly, mama.
A very old-fashioned and innocent word for expressing
emotion such as surprise or perhaps frustration.
You’re tired of me, the boy, the way we live in this beat up hole.
Lena’s way of referring to their apartment, because it’s small and ugly.
Sip away at your coffee like what you’re saying ain’t that important to you.
“To sip” is to drink only a very little at a time, but “sip away” isn’t used.
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Nothing happens for you in this world unless somebody gets paid off .
“To pay off” a person is to pay them for a service.
It often has a connotation of bribery or corruption.
That ain’t our money and I ain’t going to be harassing your mama about it.
“To harass” a person is to strongly bother or annoy them.
That’s what’s wrong with the colored women in this world today.
Note that until the 1960s, black people were called colored or Negro.
Biology is the greatest. I dissected something that looks just like you yesterday.
“To dissect” an animal is to cut it open to study its body on the inside.
Don’t be so nasty!
A powerful little adjective meaning abusive or mean.
I don’t want nothing from you except for you to stop acting holy around here.
To act “holy” is to act as if you are doing something only to help
another person, like a saint, rather than for yourself. A more common
way of saying this is to act self-righteous, or “holier-than-thou.”
Nobody in this house is ever going to understand me. :: Because you’re a nut .
A fun and common word for a person who is crazy or very strange.
The world’s most backward nation of women. :: Then there are all those
prophets who would lead us out of the wilderness and into the swamps!
If a nation is “backward,” it is uncivilized or perhaps pre-modern.
A “prophet” is a great religious leader, “wilderness” is the state of
nature outside cities, and “swamps” are areas of soft land covered with
mud and water (This is Beneatha’s way of making fun of Walter Lee).
I ain’t meddling.
“To meddle” in the affairs of another person is to get involved and
give advice about their personal life, when they prefer that you don’t.
Big Walter would come in, and he’d slump down there on that big couch.
If a person “slumps down,” they sink or slowly fall downward,
often into a couch, and sometimes with very bad physical posture.
Don’t worry; She’ll get over this. That’s her youth talking.
“To get over” something is to emotionally or physically
recover from it, or to get better over a period over time.
Besides, we ain’t no business people, Ruth. We’re just plain working folks.
A sweet expression for simple and perhaps poor workers.
Walter Lee says colored people ain’t never start getting ahead,
until they start taking chances on different things in this world.
In this context, to “get ahead” means to start making enough money to
save, or even to invest it in a business, in order to become wealthy.
We got a date to see this guy in Springfield about the license Friday.
Springfield is the Capital of the state of Illinois, where Chicago is
located. State capitals are where business licenses are obtained.
If you can get off of your glute , we got this thing made.
“Glute” is a never used way of saying “gluteus Maximus,” which is
your ass or butt. Of course, “get off of your ass” is a common way of
telling somebody to stop being so lazy and get some work done.
It’s a deal.
A good way of saying that a business agreement has been made.
If you think we’re so ignorant, maybe you shouldn’t invite him here.
A key word for a person who does not know very much.
That’s to help save folks. :: You mean save them from heathenism .
A “heathen” is a person who believes in a God that is not part
of the major religions such as Judaism, Christianity or Islam.
Tuck it here.
“To tuck in” a shirt is to put it underneath another layer of clothing.
Alaiyo, I hope you don’t mind. It’s what you would call a nickname .
A person who “doesn’t mind” about something is not bothered by it.
A “nickname” is a name that is used informally among friends.
The $10,000 check arrives, but Mama soon learns that Lena is
pregnant with an unwanted baby as Walter Lee grows angrier,
I made Willie Harris put everything on paper; The lawyer looked it over.
“To look over” an official contract or paper is to read it carefully.
A job? I drive a man around in his limousine and I say “yes, Sir, no, Sir.”
A “limousine” is a long car that is driven by a chauffeur.
You would rather stand there in your splendid ignorance and know nothing
about a people who were the first to smelt iron on the face of this earth!
“Splendid ignorance” is a poetic way of saying complete lack of
knowledge (Splendid means wonderful or majestic). To “smelt iron”
is a way of making steal (Iron is a common metal for making steal).
New York ain’t got nothing Chicago ain’t got, except a bunch
of hustling people all squeezed up together being Eastern.
A “hustler’ is a person who’s always trying to make money by cheating
or manipulating other people (the adjective, seen here, is rare). If
people are “squeezed together” they are physically forced to be very
close to each other because there are too many people in too little space.
How come all you college boys wear them faggoty looking white shoes?
Today, this is a very crude slur to refer to homosexuals.
You invest big, you gamble big, and you lose big if you have to.
This is Walter Lee’s new philosophy, which basically says that you
have to take a lot of risk if you want to make a lot of money.
I bet that simple minded clown just made it up out of his head.
“I bet” is a very common way of saying “I think.” A person who is
“simple minded” is either stupid or perhaps uneducated. If a person
“makes up” a story or fact, they are lying about it.
Mama announces that she has bought a small but beautiful house, and soon
gets Walter Lee’s approval with a plan to share the money between the new
house, Beneatha’s schooling and however he wants to spend the rest.
He’s the one who give it to you in his way. You be glad.
A good word for happy or satisfied.
It makes a difference to a man when he can walk on floors that belong to him.
This is mama’s way of saying people would always prefer to
own the home that they live in, rather than to rent it.
Clyborne Park.
The white middle class neighborhood where mama bought a house.
Hallelujah!
An old religious word that people use to express great happiness.
Mr. Arnold has had to take the cab for three days.
Another word for a taxi (Mr. Arnold is Walter Lee’s boss).
How long before I have to come and pick you off the sidewalk?
The cement walkways that are next to city streets.
From now on, you be the head of this family the way you supposed to be.
The “head of the family” is the person who makes all
the major decisions. In many families, it is the father.
You look like you’re fixing to go out and chop some cotton.
“Fixing to” do something is an old-fashioned way of saying to
think about doing it. “To chop” something is to cut it forcefully.
You grab your scalpel , you sharpen it, you’re getting ready to cut the dude,
and you say “By the way, what are your views on civil rights, old baby?”
A “scalpel” is a knife used by surgeons. “To sharpen” something is to
give it a fine edge for cutting. “Dude” is a common colloquial word
among people that simply means guy or man.
Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
A classic expression that all American children learn, probably to
teach them to not be too sensitive if people call them bad names.
The Younger family learns a hard truth about race and housing in America.
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I testify before God….my children got all the energy of the dead.
“To testify” is to say what you saw happened , usually in a court of
law, though here it is simply a religious way of saying to tell the truth.
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They are simply dying to have out there a fine family of colored people.
If a person is “dying” to do something, they very much want to do it
(though here, Walter Lee is obviously saying it in a joking manner).
So there!
A fun way of expressing excitement or other emotion after
having just said something very powerful or convincing.
Travis, run on down to the hardware store and get some more string cord.
A “hardware store” is a store that sells tools and house supplies, such
as hammers and nails ( A “string cord” is never used, but both string
and cord are a type of thin rope).
The Youngers face their greatest crisis as Water Lee learns the hard
truth about Willie, and the family soon learns that $6,500 is gone.
When I got to the train station…man, Willie never did show up.
“To show up” is a very common way of saying to arrive.
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I seen him…the red showing in his eyes and veins moving in his head.
“Veins” are the tiny tubes that carry blood in the body. This is
Mama’s way of describing how hard her husband had worked.
There is something wrong when all the dreams of this house had to depend
on something that might never had happened if a man had not died.
This is Asagai’s way of noting that if Beneatha’s father had
not died, they never would have had the money anyway.
What is the matter with you?! My family has been wiped out!
If a person is “wiped out” financially, they
have lost most or all of their money.
For all of her backwardness , she still believes that she can change things.
In this case, “backwardness” probably refers to Mama’s
lack of education, or conservative religious beliefs.
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When somebody can get up in the morning, and without consulting you,
blithely hand away your future, then life is impossible. It’s futile. It’s despair .
“To consult” with a person about a situation is to discuss it with them.
“Blithely” means happily, without thinking. If something is “futile,”
it is not possible to achieve or accomplish. “Despair” is great sadness.
I’ve been thinking abut some of the things we can do to fix up this place.
“To fix up” a place is to make it much nicer to live in.
Like the fellows in the street say, The Man, Old Captain Charlie, Mr. Boss.
Three colloquial but old-fashioned ways to refer to those people
who control the financial and political power in society.
And all the time, they are just out there operating.
Note that “to operate” a business or a project is to run it.
I came from five generations of people that was slaves and sharecroppers.
“Sharecroppers” were former slaves that worked on the land,
but who had to give almost all of the profits to the landowner.
….that was a way of telling us that we wasn’t fit to walk the earth.
If a person isn’t “fit” to do something, they are
not morally or physically qualified to do it.
You done wrote his epitaph, too, like the rest of the world.
An epitaph is a short description of a dead person
that is written on a the stone above their grave.
Wasn’t it you who taught me to despise any man who would do that?
“To despise” something is to hate it with great passion.
Have you cried for that boy and what he has gone through?
In this case, to “go through” a difficult
period is to experience or survive it.
These young folks, nowadays, you can’t hardly do a thing with them.
Note that every generation thinks that the
young people of their day are out of control.
For goodness sake, if the moving men are here, let’s get the heck out of here.
“For goodness sake” is a mild way to show emotion such as excitement.
Note “the heck” is a gentle version of “the hell,” which is added to WH
questions and some sentences to show emotion.
You better get those silly notions out of your head once
and for all, and start looking for a man with some loot .
A “notion” is an idea, belief or opinion.
He come into his manhood today, kind of like the rainbow after the rain.
A very poetic way for Mama to say that Walter Lee
had become a much more mature and dignified person.
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1) Why was Walter Lee such an angry person? Did he have a right to be?
2) Do you agree that “life is money?” Do you have sympathy for Walter Lee
for believing that?
3) Was Mama a conservative force that was holding her family back, or was
she in fact a progressive force that was both holding the family together and
helping it move forward?
4) How was Beneatha a young woman who was ahead of her time?
6) What are the problems that the Youngers have which all families have,
and what are those that are especially common with African-Americans?
7) Which member of the Younger family did you like the most? Why?
9) How much have things changed? Would the Younger family still find
difficulty moving into a white neighborhood today? Are there minorities in
your country that would have such a problem?