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.” (pg. 23)

Question 2

pretense

Answer 2

(noun) pretending or feigning; a false show of something / All pretenses but living itself have long since vanished from the very atmosphere of this room.” (pg. 24)

Question 3

exasperated

Answer 3

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

Question 4

viciously

Answer 4

(adv.) with violence or fury / “(Travis jabs his spoon into his cereal bowl viciously, and rests his head in anger upon his fists) If you through eating, you can get over there and make up your bed.” (pg. 29)

Question 5

sullen

Answer 5

(adj.) showing irritation or ill humor by a gloomy silence or reserve / “RUTH Get carfare and milk money—(Waving one finger)— and not a single penny for no caps, you hear me?” “TRAVIS (With sullen politeness) Yes’m.” (pg. 29)

Question 6

vindicated

Answer 6

(verb) 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)” (pg. 30)

Question 7

proposition

Answer 7

(noun) a suggested plan / “This ain’t no fly-by night proposition, baby.” (pg. 33)

Question 8

vengeance

Answer 8

(noun) revenge / “[(]She passes through the room without looking at either RUTH or WALTER and goes to the outside door and looks, a little blindly, out to the bathroom. She sees that it has been lost to the Johnsons. She closes the door with a sleepy vengeance and crosses to the table and sits down a little defeated)” (pg. 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)” (pg. 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)” (pg. 44)

Question 11

futile

Answer 11

(adj.) useless “MAMA (Dropping her hands in a futile gesture) 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 happen.” (pg. 45)

Question 12

tyrant

Answer 12

(noun) dictator; a harsh ruler / “BENEATHA I see. (Quietly) 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!” (pg. 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.)” (pg. 57)

Question 14

mutilated

Answer 14

(adj.) maimed; damaged / “ASAGAI (Coming to her at the mirror) I shall have to teach you how to drape it properly. (He flings the material about her for the moment and stands back to look at her) Ah–Oh-pay-gay-day, oh-gbah-mu-shuy. (A Yoruba exclamation for admiration) You wear it well… very well… mutilated hair and all.” (pg. 61)

Question 15

assimilationism

Answer 15

(noun) belief that minority cultures should be absorbed into a dominant culture / “ASAGAI (Still teasing and reaching out and taking her face in his hands and turning her profile to him) 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 matter? Assimilationism is so popular in your country.” (pg. 63)

Question 16

insinuatingly

Answer 16

(adv.) with more meaning than is spoken; implied / “MAMA (After him) Lord, that’s a pretty thing just went out here! (Insinuatingly, to her daughter) Yes, I guess I see why we done commence to get so interested in Africa ‘round here. Missionaries my aunt Jenny! (She exits)” (pg. 66)

Question 17

arrogant

Answer 17

(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!” (pg. 76)

Question 17

haphazardly

Answer 17

(adv.) carelessly / “BENEATHA Oh Mama!… (She picks up the Nigerian dress and holds it up to her in front of the mirror again. She sets the headdress on haphazardly and then notices her hair again and clutches at it and then replaces the headdress and frowns at herself. Then she starts to wiggle in front of the mirror as she thinks a Nigerian woman might. TRAVIS enters and stands regarding her)” (pg. 66)

Question 18

eccentric

Answer 18

(adj,) deviating from the norm; strange / “GEORGE Oh, don’t be so proud of yourself, Bennie—just because you look eccentric.” (pg. 80)

Question 19

oppressive

Answer 19

(adj.) tyrannical / “BENEATHA (Cutting GEORGE off and staring at him as she replies to RUTH) 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!” (pg. 81)

Question 20

cliché

Answer 20

(noun) trite or overused expression or idea / “RUTH Have a seat, George (They both sit. RUTH folds her hands rather primly on her lap, determined to demonstrate the civilization of the family) Warm, ain’t it? I mean for September. (Pause) 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)” (pg. 82)

Question 21

plaintively

Answer 21

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

Question 22

menacingly

Answer 22

(adv.) threateningly / “RUTH Keep out of it now, Lena. (MAMA clamps her lips together, and RUTH advances toward her son menacingly)” (pg. 90)

Question 23

exuberant

Answer 23

(adj.) marked by unrestrained enthusiasm / “(And she builds with momentum as she starts to circle the room with an exuberant, almost tearfully happy release)” (pg. 93)

Question 24

presumably

Answer 24

(adv.) probably; reasonably supposed / “At rise: Packing crates mark the intention of the family to move. BENEATHA and GEORGE come in, presumably from an evening out again.” (pg. 96)

Question 25

revelation

Answer 25

(noun) new information / “MAMA (Putting her finger on his nose for emphasis) She went out and she bought you a house! (The explosion comes from WALTER at the end of the revelation and he jumps up and turns away from all of them in a fury. MAMA continues, to TRAVIS) You glad about the house? It’s going to be yours when you get to be a man.” (pg. 95 & 105)

Question 26

rebuff

Answer 26

(noun) blunt refusal / “(He starts to kiss her, she rebuffs him again and he jumps up)” (pg. 96)

Question 27

amiably

Answer 27

(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) What can we do for you, Mr. Lindner.” (pg. 114)

Question 28

ludicrous

Answer 28

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

Question 29

ominous

Answer 29

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

Question 30

plunder

Answer 30

(verb) to rob; to loot / “BENEATHA Independence and then what? 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 the new Independence—WHAT ABOUT THEM?!” (pg. 134)

Question 31

monologue

Answer 31

(noun) long speech by one person / “BENEATHA ignores the eccentricity of his actions and goes on with the monologue of insult)” (pg. 138)

Question 31

wrought

Answer 31

(verb) shaped; made “‘“Ah—so this is what the New World hath finally wrought…’” (pg. 137)

Question 32

eccentricity

Answer 32

(noun) quality of being strange or unusual in behavior / “(WALTER ignores [BENEATHA] completely and continues frantically and destructively looking for something and hurling things to floor and tearing things out of their place in his search.” (pg. 138)

Question 33

epitaph

Answer 33

(noun) inscription on a tombstone / “MAMA That’s what I thought you said. You feeling like you better than he is today? (BENEATHA does not answer) Yes? 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? Well, who give you the privilege?” (pg. 145)

Question 34

amid

Answer 34

(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)” (pg. 149)