In Drama, we read the play, A Raisin in the Sun and read the famously known Langstone Hughes about a dream deferred. After reading the play we talked gentrification, white flight, and blockbusting. In the podcast below I talk about ones of the characters in the play.
Prologue:
In the 1950s, an African American family is living in Chicago, Illinois. The Youngers are a poor family with little money. The family consists of Mama Younger, the matriarch of the family and has a passion for gardening. She's the biological mother of Walter Lee who is thirty-five years old and works as a chauffeur. Ruth Younger is Walter´s thirty-year-old wife and a mother to Travis Younger, their only child. Beneatha is Mama’s daughter.
The struggles they face are financial issues, and their dreams get deferred. Walter wants to become a businessman; Mama wants a garden in her own home; Beneatha desires to become a doctor. What prevents them is that they don't have any money. Unfortunately, Mama´s husband has passed away and left the family $10,000. They are supposed to use their money for their house, Beneatha's schooling, and Walter´s business. Instead, Walter gives the money to Willy Harris and Willy ran away with it. They are left trying to pick up the pieces.
Dialogue:
MAMA (Kindly) ’Course you going to be a doctor, honey, God willing.
BENEATHA (Drily) God hasn’t got a thing to do with it.
MAMA Beneatha—that just wasn’t necessary.
BENEATHA Well—neither is God. I get sick of hearing about God.
MAMA Beneatha!
BENEATHA I mean it! I’m just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has He got to do with anything? Does he pay tuition?
MAMA You ’bout to get your fresh little jaw slapped!
RUTH That’s just what she needs, all right!
Chorus:
Beneatha is a young woman who is trying to figure out who she is. She wants to be the best she can be, which is why she is choosing to pursue the job of her dreams, a doctor. Beneatha is a little bit spontaneous, as we have seen earlier when Beneatha decided to play the guitar without her family knowing for a bit. Her spontaneity might take her across the ocean as she tries finding out what her ambitions are. When it comes to the belief in God, Beneatha takes herself back to when she saw Rufus recover his face opening up on the sidewalk. From what she had witnessed she formed the belief that man creates miracles, and that there is no God.
Dialogue:
BENEATHA Why? Why can’t I say what I want to around here, like everybody else?
MAMA It doesn’t sound nice for a young girl to say things like that—you weren’t brought up that way. Me and your father went to the trouble to get you and Brother to church every Sunday.
BENEATHA Mama, you don’t understand. It’s all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don’t accept. It’s not important. I am not going out and be immoral or commit crimes because I don’t believe in God. I don’t even think about it.
Chorus:
Beneatha definitely comes off as a confident and independent woman but through her confidence, she can disregard the opinions of others, including Mamas. At the beginning of the scene, Mama states her belief, which is the belief of god. Beneatha reacts to this ina bitter tone that shows that she is challenging mamaś authority. Mama even tells Beneatha that her comment wasn't necessary, but Beneatha continues with her stubbornness and needs to prove and express herself which is what Beneatha is fighting for, even if she has t go against Mama. Beneatha can be hardworking just like Mama.
Dialogue:
BENEATHA It’s just that I get tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no blasted God—there is the only man and it is he who makes miracles!
(MAMA absorbs this speech, studies her daughter and rises slowly and crosses to BENEATHA and slaps her powerfully across the face. After, there is only silence and the daughter drops her eyes from her mother’s face, and MAMA is very tall before her)
MAMA Now—you say after me, in my mother’s house there is still God. (There is a long pause and
BENEATHA stares at the floor wordlessly.
MAMA repeats the phrase with precision and cool emotion) In my mother’s house, there is still God.
BENEATHA In my mother’s house there is still God.
Chorus:
After Mama slaps Beneatha, she has her repeat the words, In my mother’s house, there is still god. Beneatha has no choice but to listen and is later followed by Beneatha claiming that Mama rules the house in tyranny. Although, Mama’s ruling is closer to Matriarchy since Mama is a woman that rules the house. She was in charge of the family, and how the money she inherited was spent. She would be the one to deal with the acts of blockbusting. Which is something that Mama had handled later on in the play after a man by the name of Lindner tries to have the family move out of the Clybourne neighborhood, which was made up of people that were white.
Outro:
The lesson we want to share is that it is important to respect each other's differences. We don’t have to be asimilists and completely agree on one another. We have to respect each other's cultures, differences, and experiences. Beneatha has taught us how important it is to respect each other even if we have differences. For example, one of her friends in college named Asagai is originally from Nigeria and she got more information about who he is and how he came to be. We all speak different languages, come from different cultures, and are very unique in different ways.
BACKGROUND MUSIC
http://freemusicarchive.org/genre/Jazz/
Prologue:
In the 1950s, an African American family is living in Chicago, Illinois. The Youngers are a poor family with little money. The family consists of Mama Younger, the matriarch of the family and has a passion for gardening. She's the biological mother of Walter Lee who is thirty-five years old and works as a chauffeur. Ruth Younger is Walter´s thirty-year-old wife and a mother to Travis Younger, their only child. Beneatha is Mama’s daughter.
The struggles they face are financial issues, and their dreams get deferred. Walter wants to become a businessman; Mama wants a garden in her own home; Beneatha desires to become a doctor. What prevents them is that they don't have any money. Unfortunately, Mama´s husband has passed away and left the family $10,000. They are supposed to use their money for their house, Beneatha's schooling, and Walter´s business. Instead, Walter gives the money to Willy Harris and Willy ran away with it. They are left trying to pick up the pieces.
Dialogue:
MAMA (Kindly) ’Course you going to be a doctor, honey, God willing.
BENEATHA (Drily) God hasn’t got a thing to do with it.
MAMA Beneatha—that just wasn’t necessary.
BENEATHA Well—neither is God. I get sick of hearing about God.
MAMA Beneatha!
BENEATHA I mean it! I’m just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has He got to do with anything? Does he pay tuition?
MAMA You ’bout to get your fresh little jaw slapped!
RUTH That’s just what she needs, all right!
Chorus:
Beneatha is a young woman who is trying to figure out who she is. She wants to be the best she can be, which is why she is choosing to pursue the job of her dreams, a doctor. Beneatha is a little bit spontaneous, as we have seen earlier when Beneatha decided to play the guitar without her family knowing for a bit. Her spontaneity might take her across the ocean as she tries finding out what her ambitions are. When it comes to the belief in God, Beneatha takes herself back to when she saw Rufus recover his face opening up on the sidewalk. From what she had witnessed she formed the belief that man creates miracles, and that there is no God.
Dialogue:
BENEATHA Why? Why can’t I say what I want to around here, like everybody else?
MAMA It doesn’t sound nice for a young girl to say things like that—you weren’t brought up that way. Me and your father went to the trouble to get you and Brother to church every Sunday.
BENEATHA Mama, you don’t understand. It’s all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don’t accept. It’s not important. I am not going out and be immoral or commit crimes because I don’t believe in God. I don’t even think about it.
Chorus:
Beneatha definitely comes off as a confident and independent woman but through her confidence, she can disregard the opinions of others, including Mamas. At the beginning of the scene, Mama states her belief, which is the belief of god. Beneatha reacts to this ina bitter tone that shows that she is challenging mamaś authority. Mama even tells Beneatha that her comment wasn't necessary, but Beneatha continues with her stubbornness and needs to prove and express herself which is what Beneatha is fighting for, even if she has t go against Mama. Beneatha can be hardworking just like Mama.
Dialogue:
BENEATHA It’s just that I get tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no blasted God—there is the only man and it is he who makes miracles!
(MAMA absorbs this speech, studies her daughter and rises slowly and crosses to BENEATHA and slaps her powerfully across the face. After, there is only silence and the daughter drops her eyes from her mother’s face, and MAMA is very tall before her)
MAMA Now—you say after me, in my mother’s house there is still God. (There is a long pause and
BENEATHA stares at the floor wordlessly.
MAMA repeats the phrase with precision and cool emotion) In my mother’s house, there is still God.
BENEATHA In my mother’s house there is still God.
Chorus:
After Mama slaps Beneatha, she has her repeat the words, In my mother’s house, there is still god. Beneatha has no choice but to listen and is later followed by Beneatha claiming that Mama rules the house in tyranny. Although, Mama’s ruling is closer to Matriarchy since Mama is a woman that rules the house. She was in charge of the family, and how the money she inherited was spent. She would be the one to deal with the acts of blockbusting. Which is something that Mama had handled later on in the play after a man by the name of Lindner tries to have the family move out of the Clybourne neighborhood, which was made up of people that were white.
Outro:
The lesson we want to share is that it is important to respect each other's differences. We don’t have to be asimilists and completely agree on one another. We have to respect each other's cultures, differences, and experiences. Beneatha has taught us how important it is to respect each other even if we have differences. For example, one of her friends in college named Asagai is originally from Nigeria and she got more information about who he is and how he came to be. We all speak different languages, come from different cultures, and are very unique in different ways.
http://freemusicarchive.org/genre/Jazz/
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