Lesson 25: A Raisin in the Sun, Act III

Students should open their Homework Journals to the previous lesson’s assignment. After partner talk, invite students to share briefly with the class so that the room hears multiple interpretations before reading the ending.

Turn and Talk

• Say: In the previous lesson, we studied how Mr. Lindner used polite language to hide exclusion, and for homework you wrote about how Beneatha and Asagai reacted after the money was lost. Today we are reading the ending of the play to see what choices the family makes when their dreams are under the most pressure. This helps us prepare for the unit performance task, for which you will explain how systems shape dreams using clear evidence and reasoning.

Say these Directions: Take a moment to think about the prompt before turning to your partner, then discuss. Listen for an idea from your partner that you agree with or want to push further.

• Ask: How did Beneatha and Asagai each react after Walter loses the money, and whose response do you agree with more right now?

  • Beneatha reacts with anger and disappointment because she feels that the loss destroys the future that she has dreamed of, to become a doctor. Asagai understands her disappointment, but he pushes Beneatha to think about a larger purpose and not give up. Right now, I agree more with Asagai because he reminds her that one loss does not end a person’s whole future.

After pairs have had 2 minutes to discuss, invite them to share brief responses with the class.

Connection to Today's Learning

• Say: As we read the final pages, students will track how loss, pressure, and dignity shape the Younger family’s last choice.

Display the final stage direction from the end of the play. Focus on how readers can use nearby words and the whole sentence to infer meaning, before checking a reference source.

Teach: Using Context Clues with Stage Directions

Say these Directions: Review the target sentence block. Then copy the following table into your notes and write the first phrase in the “chunk” column of the table.

Display page 151 and direct students to read this stage direction:

Target Sentence Block:

"a great heaving thing rises in her and she puts her fist to her mouth to stifle it" (pp. 151)

Guide students to understand each phrase of the stage direction and then put the meaning together. Instruct students to copy the table into their notes. Write the first phrase in the “chunk” column of the table. Underline heaving.

• Ask: What do you think heaving means in the phrase “a great heaving thing rises”?

  • It sounds like something is pushing upward and it says that it is “great,” so I think that heaving means pushing upward or getting bigger.

Write notes in the “meaning” column for the first phrase. Then, write the second phrase in the “chunk” column.

• Ask: Why does Mama put her fist on her mouth? Think about the first phrase to understand the second phrase.

  • The first phrase said that something big was rising in her, so putting her fist on her mouth must be to push the “great heaving thing” back in or back down.

Write notes in the “meaning” section for the second phrase. Then, write the third phrase in the “chunk” column and underline stifle.

• Ask: What clues in this sentence help you infer the meaning of stifle?

  • The clue “puts her fist to her mouth” shows that Mama is trying to stop something. The phrase “a great heaving thing rises in her” also suggests a big feeling or sound is coming up, so stifle probably means to hold it in.

Write notes in the “meaning” column for the third phrase.

Say these Directions: In your Personal Dictionary, write the word stifle, a meaning in your own words, and one context clue that helped you. Then, check your definition using a dictionary or other reference material. Does the definition match what we figured out? Revise as needed.

Read the stage direction again in full. Lead students in completing the “function” column of the table or complete it for students while explaining each entry.

• Ask: What feelings is Mama stifling? Why?

  • She is stifling a feeling of loss and overwhelming, mixed emotions. She wants to move to the house, but she has lived in the apartment throughout her life with her children and grandchild. Mama has been strong for the family for a long time, and she has been their guide, not focused on her own feelings. Now, she feels overwhelmed, but she still doesn’t want to let go of her strength, and she wants to stay focused on the exciting move.

Connection to Today's Learning

• Say: Now that you have unpacked this key word, we are ready to read the final scene and analyze what Mama holds back and what she reveals.

Use a Reader’s Theater structure. Assign character parts to students, read stage directions yourself, and pause briefly at key shifts in tone. Save the final stage direction until after the last line and read it slowly, without comment.

Learning in Action Part A: Reading the Final Choice (RL.7.1, RL.7.5) (15 minutes)

Choral Reading

Say these Directions: As we read this ending, listen for the turning point. This is the moment when the family moves from defeat toward decision. Listen carefully, both to what characters say and to what Hansberry places in the stage directions, because those choices shape the power of the ending. If you have a part, read with expression. If you are not reading aloud, follow closely to track the shift in mood.

After the reading, pause, then read the final stage direction slowly.

• Ask: How does Hansberry use dialogue and stage directions together to build tension in the ending?

  • The dialogue shows the family arguing, hoping, and waiting, while the stage directions reveal emotions people do not fully say out loud. Together, they build tension because readers can hear the choice being made and also feel how hard that choice is.

• Ask: Where did you notice the turning point?

  • The turning point comes in the final meeting with Mr. Lindner, when Walter stops acting defeated and speaks with dignity in front of Travis. That moment changes the scene because the family moves from pressure and shame toward self-respect.

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Part B: What Mama Holds In and Carries Out (RL.7.2, RL.7.5) (15 minutes)

Turn and Talk

Teach: Analyzing a Recurring Symbol

• Say: A recurring symbol is an object that keeps showing up and gathering meaning each time it appears. In this play, the plant is not just decoration; Hansberry has placed it across multiple acts so readers keep asking what it stands for.

Say these Directions: With your partner, think across the whole play, not just this page. Talk about what the plant has meant at different moments and why it is important for Mama to bring it with her. Then, write a short paragraph explaining the plant’s purpose and meaning, using textual evidence from the play.

After students write, display the opening Act I stage directions describing the plant as struggling for light in the apartment window, alongside the final stage direction in which Mama takes the plant and exits for the last time. Paraphrase the opening description, if needed, rather than quoting a long passage.

• Ask: This plant has been in every act. What has it meant at different moments in the play—such as endurance, stubbornness, faith, hope, delusion, continuity—and what does it mean that Mama takes it with her when they move to the house?

  • Earlier in the play, the plant can mean endurance because it keeps living even in a hard place, and it can also show Mama’s faith because she keeps caring for it. Some readers might even see stubbornness because the plant keeps being protected when life is unstable. At the end, Mama taking it with her suggests that hope and the family’s dream are leaving the cramped, sunless apartment, too. The future is not fully known, but she is not abandoning what she has kept alive.

• Ask: What theme does the plant help develop?

  • The plant is a symbol of Mama’s dreams, hope, love, and endurance. No matter how little she has to offer the plant in the tiny, sunless apartment, she never gives up on keeping it alive. Now, finally, she is able to take the plant with her to a house with sunlight and outdoor space. She has stayed loving to her family and never given up her dreams for them, no matter how difficult life was, and the plant symbolizes her strong character. No matter what else changes, she will be the same Mama.

Students complete the lesson by writing about the plant’s significance and meaning in the play.

Quick Write

Say these Directions: Today we tracked how Hansberry uses stage directions and a recurring symbol to shape the ending of the play. In this Quick Write, explain what it means that Mama takes the plant with her. Focus on the play’s theme in your response and use two specific details, one from earlier in the play and one from the ending, to support your argument.

• Ask: What does Mama’s taking the plant with her at the end suggest about the play’s theme about dreams and barriers?

  • Mama’s taking the plant with her suggests that the play’s theme is that dreams can survive even when systems and losses put pressure on them. Earlier in the play, the plant is described as struggling in the apartment, which matches how the Younger family has had to live with limited space and limited opportunity. In the final stage direction, Mama does not leave the plant behind; she carries it out with her as the family goes toward an uncertain future. This shows that hope is still fragile, but it is alive, and the family is choosing dignity instead of giving up.

When students have finished writing, reconvene the class and hold a brief whole group discussion.

• Say: The work we did today is the same kind of work you will need in your research argument. You will have to take a detail from A Raisin in the Sun, explain what it means, and connect it to a bigger idea about opportunity and fairness. When you can move from evidence to theme clearly, your future argument becomes stronger.

• Ask: Which phrase, routine, or idea helped you most today when you moved from a small detail to a bigger meaning?

  • The phrase “the plant is not only a plant; it represents ___” helped me most because it reminded me to go beyond summary and explain the symbol.