Lesson 12: A Raisin in the Sun, Act I, Scene 2, Part 2

Have students turn to an elbow partner and briefly revisit what they already know about the Younger family’s dreams by the end of Lesson 11.

• Say: In the previous lesson, we met Asagai and saw how Hansberry widened Beneatha’s world beyond Chicago and connected identity to history and possibility. Today, we return to the Younger apartment at another major turning point, when Mama makes a decision that changes the family’s future. This work helps you answer the unit question by showing how a dream of home can carry both hope and risk inside an unequal system.

Turn and Talk

Say these Directions: In the last lesson, we saw that Beneatha imagines a bigger life for herself. Today, we are going to look at a different kind of dream in the family: the dream of homeownership and how one decision changes the emotional weight of Act I. Take a moment to review the prompt below and to think about some ideas before sharing with your partner. When you are ready, Partner A will share first. Partner B will listen for one idea about hope and one idea about pressure. Then switch.

• Ask: Why might buying a house matter to the Younger family beyond just having more space?

  • Buying a house matters because it could mean dignity, safety, sunlight, and a future that feels different from the apartment. For the Youngers, a home is not just a building. It represents a chance to move toward a dream that has been delayed.

Connection to Today's Learning

• Say: You will now study how Hansberry built this turning point on the page before comparing it to how a director interpreted it on screen.

Use this mini-lesson to show students that a script contains built-in performance clues. This will prepare them to compare Hansberry’s written choices with a film director’s interpretation later in the lesson.

Language Study

• Say: Hansberry wrote a play, so she had to give actors and directors clues about how a moment should feel without explaining everything in long paragraphs. We are going to study one stage direction and one line of dialogue to see how the script points readers toward emotion, conflict, and theme.

Display page 73 and direct students to read the line beginning with “Sometimes it’s like I can see the future…” and ending with “…full of nothing.”

Target Sentences:

“(WALTER kneels down beside her chair)” (p. 73)

“Sometimes it’s like I can see the future stretched out in front of me … a big, looming blank space—full of nothing.” (p. 73)

Teach: Finding Meaning in the Stage Directions

• Say: When I read a play, I pay attention to stage directions because they are Hansberry’s built-in coaching for performance. Before Walter even speaks, the direction that he kneels on the floor tells me his body is carrying defeat. Then his words compare the future to a blank space, which makes his dream sound blocked instead of open. That combination of body language and image helps me see a theme developing: when opportunity feels closed off, people can start to feel trapped and desperate.

• Ask: Which clue in this short passage feels most important to a performer or director, and why?

  • The stage direction that Walter sinks into a chair feels most important because it gives a visible clue right away. An actor or director can use that to show that Walter is worn down before he even explains why. That makes the line about the future feeling empty hit harder.

Connection to Today's Learning

• Say: You will now read the full scene and track how Hansberry’s clues build toward Mama’s choice and the central theme of Act I.

Part A: Reading the Turning Point (RL.7.2) (15 minutes)

Assign student readers for Mama, Walter, Ruth, Beneatha, and Travis. Read the stage directions yourself so students can hear how Hansberry embeds mood and action into the script. Read from the moment after Asagai exits and Mama says, “Lord, that’s a pretty thing,” through the end of Act I.

Say these Directions: As we read, listen for the moment when hope rises and the moment when pressure pushes back. Use the 3-Column Chart to capture one specific line that shows hope is rising and/or that pressure is pushing back what it reveals, and how it connects to a central theme of Act I. Label the columns “Script Clue,” “What It Reveals,” and “Theme Link.”

• Ask: Based on what we’ve read so far in Act I, what forces seem to be building toward a collision by the end of the act?

  • The two forces are hope and pressure. Mama is trying to protect the family’s future, but money, racism, and stress keep pushing against that dream.

• Say: Readers, track the punctuation, pauses, and emotion in your lines. Everyone else, follow along and mark one place where the dream of a home feels hopeful and one place where that dream feels dangerous. Begin.

• Ask: In the part where Mama tells Walter that freedom used to be life and now money is life, what theme is Hansberry developing?

  • Hansberry is developing the theme that dreams can get distorted when people live under constant pressure. Mama remembers survival and dignity as the most important goals, but Walter feels trapped into seeing money as the only path to a real future.

• Ask: How does Mama’s decision to buy the house develop a central theme of Act I?

  • Mama’s decision develops the theme that dignity and hope can require courage. She buys the house because she wants sunlight, space, and a future for the family, but the choice also brings fear because the house is in a white neighborhood and the family knows that the move could bring danger.

Part B: From Script to Screen (RL.7.7) (15 minutes)

Show a teacher-selected clip from a film adaptation of the same scene. The 1989 American Playhouse adaptation is a strong option because it emphasizes actor expression, pacing, and close framing, but a comparable version may be used. Remind students that Hansberry wrote a play meant to be seen and heard.

Think-Pair-Write-Share

Say these Directions: Notice one film choice that the written page could not literally do, such as camera distance, facial expression, pacing, or music,and decide whether that choice matches Hansberry’s script.

Teach: Finding Meaning in Other Mediums

• Say: Hansberry already built meaning into the script through dialogue, pauses, and stage directions, but a film director has to make extra choices the page cannot literally show. I watch for places where the camera lingers, where music enters or stays absent, and how an actor’s face adds meaning. Then I ask whether those choices match what Hansberry’s script suggests. If they do, I can say the film honors the script while interpreting it in a new medium.

• Ask: What did the film do that the written text could not do on the page?

  • The film could show Ruth's face shift from confusion to joy when she realizes Mama bought a house, which on the page only comes through in stage directions. It could also use silence right after Mama says "Clybourne Park" so the audience feels the family's fear without anyone explaining it.

• Ask: What did you notice about how the director used the camera, the actors’ faces, or music to convey the weight of this moment?

  • The director used a close-up on Walter's face after Mama says the house is in Clybourne Park, so the audience could see his reaction before he said anything. The music dropped out during that moment, which made the tension feel heavier than reading the stage direction alone.

• Ask: Where did the director make a choice that surprised you, and do you think it honored what Hansberry wrote?

  • I was surprised by how long the camera stayed on Walter after he learns the house is in a white neighborhood instead of cutting to Mama or Ruth. I think it honored Hansberry's script because she already builds Walter's silence into the stage directions, and the close-up lets viewers sit inside that pressure instead of moving past it.

Have students write a brief response comparing the script and the film using evidence.

Quick Write

Say these Directions: Write a brief, 3-4 sentence response answering the prompt below. Cite at least two specific details, including one from Hansberry’s script and one from the film.

• Ask: How did comparing the script and the film deepen your understanding of Mama’s decision at the end of Act I?

  • Comparing the script and the film helped me understand that Mama’s decision is both brave and risky. In the script, Ruth mentions “a yard with a little patch of dirt where I could maybe get to grow me a few flowers,” which shows that the family sees the house as hope, not just property. In the film, the close-up on Walter after Mama reveals Clybourne Park made the danger and pressure feel even heavier. Together, both versions show a central theme of Act I: people keep reaching for dignity even when the system makes that dream costly.

Instruct students to respond to the following prompt in their Journal:

• How does Mama’s decision to buy the house develop a central theme of Act I? Use at least one detail from the text to support your answer.