A Raisin in the Sun

Question 1

undistinguished

Answer 1

(adj) common, nothing special: ““Its furnishings are typical and undistinguished and their primary feature now is that they have clearly had to accommodate the living of too many people for too many years—and they are tired”(23)

Question 2

pretense

Answer 2

(n) pretending or feigning; make-believe; a false show of something: ““All pretenses but living itself have long since vanished from the very atmosphere of this room”(25)

Question 3

exasperated

Answer 3

(adj) irritated, provoked, irked: “The boy gives her an exasperated look for her lack of understanding, and eats grudgingly”(28)

Question 4

viciously

Answer 4

(adj) with violence or furry: “Travis jabs his spoon into his cereal bowl viciously, and rests his head in anger upon his fists”(29)

Question 5

sullen

Answer 5

(adj) showing irritation or ill humor by a gloomy silence or reserve: “TRAVIS (With sullen politeness) Yes’m”(29)

Question 6

vindicated

Answer 6

(v) cleared of accusation, blame, or doubt: “The boy finally turns around and rolls his eyes at her, knowing the mood has changed and he is vindicated; he does not, however, move toward her yet”(30)

Question 7

proposition

Answer 7

(n) a suggested plan: “This ain’t no fly-by-night proposition, baby”(33)

Question 8

vengeance

Answer 8

(n) revenge: “She closes the door with a sleep vengeance and crosses t the table and sits down a little defeated”(35)

Question 9

tentatively

Answer 9

(adv) uncertainly; “She waits several seconds, trying to make up her mind about something, and looks at RUTH a little tentatively before going on”(44)

Question 10

furtively

Answer 10

(adv) stealthily; in a way that hides motive; “RUTH (Studying her mother-in-law furtively and concentrating on her ironing, anxious to encourage without seeming to”(44)

Question 11

futile

Answer 11

(adj) useless; Lena: “But Lord, child, you should know all the dreams I had ‘bout buying that house and fixing it up and making me a little garden in the back–(She waits and stops smiling) And didn’t none of it happened. (Dropping her hands in a futile gesture”(45)

Question 12

tyrant

Answer 12

(n) dictator; harsh ruler; Beneatha: “I also see that everybody thinks it’s all right for Mama to be a tyrant. But all the tyranny in the world will never put a God in the heavens!”(52)

Question 13

forlornly

Answer 13

(adv) pitifully; desperately; hopelessly; “(RUTH comes in forlornly and pulls off her coat with dejection. They both turn to look at her) RUTH (Dispiritedly) Well, I guess from all the happy faces—everybody knows”(57)

Question 14

mutilated

Answer 14

(adj) maimed, damaged; ““ASAGAI You wear it well . . . very well . . . mutilated hair and all. BENEATHA (Turning suddenly) My hair—what’s wrong with my hair?”(61)

Question 15

assimilationism

Answer 15

(n) belief that minority cultures should be absorbed into a dominant culture; “ASAGAI Well . . . it is true that this is not so much a profile of a Hollywood queen as perhaps a queen of the NIle–(A mock dismissal of the importance of the question) But what does it after? Assimilation is so popular in your country”

Question 16

insinuatingly

Answer 16

(adv) with more meaning than is spoken; implied; “(Insinuatingly, to her daughter) Yes, I guess I see why we done commerce to get so interested in Africa ‘round here”(66)

Question 17

haphazardly

Answer 17

(adv) carelessly; “She sets the headdress on haphazardly and then notices her hair again and clutches at it and and then replaces the headdress and frowns at herself”(66)

Question 18

arrogant

Answer 18

(adj) proud, haughty; “(She promenades to the radio and, with an arrogant flourish, turns off the good loud blues that is playing) Enough of this assimilationist junk!”(76)

Question 19

eccentric

Answer 19

(adj) deviating from the norm; strange “BENEATHA (Looking at GEORGE) That’s up to George. If he’s ashamed of his heritage— GEORGE Oh, don’t be so proud of yourself, Bennie—just because you look eccentric”(80)

Question 19

cliché

Answer 19

(n) trite or overused expression or idea; “Just like they always say about Chicago weather: If it’s too hot or cold for you, just wait a minute and it’ll change. (She smiles happily at this cliché of clichés) everybody say it’s got to do with them bombs and things they keep setting off”(82)

Question 19

oppressive

Answer 19

(adj) tyrannical; “It means someone who is willing to give up his own culture and submerge himself completely in the dominant, and in this case oppressive culture”(81)

Question 20

plaintively

Answer 20

(adv) sorrowfully; pathetically (86)
“RUTH (Plaintively) Walter Lee—why don’t we just try to talk about it . . .”(86)

Question 21

menacingly

Answer 21

(adv) threateningly; “MAMA clamps her lips together, and RUTH advances toward her son menacingly) RUTH A thousand times I have told you not to go off like that—”(91)

Question 22

exuberant

Answer 22

(adj) marked by unrestrained enthusiasm; “All I can say is—if this is my time in life—MY TIME—to say good-bye—(And she builds with momentum as she starts to circle the rom with an exuberant, almost tearfully happy release)–to these goddamned cracking walls”(93)

Question 23

presumably

Answer 23

(adv) probably; reasonably supposed; “BENEATHA and GEORGE come in, presumably from an evening out again”(96)

Question 24

rebuff

Answer 24

(n) blunt refusal; ““(He starts to kiss her, she rebuffs him again and he jumps up) BENEATHA Why are you angry, George?”(96)

Question 25

revelation

Answer 25

(n) new information; “Walter, you ain’t been to work for three days! (This is a revelation to her) Where you been, Walter Lee Younger?”(105)

Question 26

amiably

Answer 26

(adv) good-naturedly;
“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)”(114)

Question 27

ludicrous

Answer 27

(adj) ridiculous; “(She pops it on her head to prove it to her grandson, and the hat is ludicrous and considerably oversized)”(124)

Question 28

ominous

Answer 28

(adj) menacing; threatening;
“In the living room BENEATHA sits at the table, still surrounded by the now almost ominous packing crates. She sits looking off”(131)

Question 29

plunder

Answer 29

(v) to rob; to loot;
“What about all the crooks and thieves and just plain idiots who will come into power and steal and plunder the same as before—only now they will be black and do it in the name of new Independence—WHAT ABOUT THEM?!”(133-134)

Question 30

wrought

Answer 30

(v) shaped; made
“How often I have looked at you and said, ‘Ah—so this is what the New World hath finally wrought . . . “(137)

Question 31

monologue

Answer 31

(n) long speech by one person; “BENEATHA ignores the eccentricity of his actions and goes on with the monologue of insult”(138)

Question 32

eccentricity

Answer 32

(n) quality of being strange or unusual in behavior; “(WALTER ignores her completely and continues frantically and destructively looking for something and hurling things to floor and tearing things out of their place in his search. BENEATHA ignores the eccentricity of his actions and goes on with the monologue of insult)”(138)

Question 33

amid

Answer 33

(adv) among; in the midst of; “She flies to get it amid the general bustling of the family, who are deliberately trying to ignore the nobility of the past moment”(149)

Question 34

epigraph

Answer 34

(n) inscription on a tombstone; “What you tell him a minute ago? That he wasn’t a man? Yes? You give him up for me? You done wrote his epitaph too—like the rest of the world?”(145)