A Raisin in the Sun Vocab

Question 1

undistinguished

Answer 1

(adj) common; nothing special (23)
“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”

Question 2

pretense

Answer 2

(n) pretending or feigning; make-believe; a false show of something (24)
“All pretenses but living itself have long since vanished from the atmosphere of this room”

Question 3

exasperated

Answer 3

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

Question 4

viciously

Answer 4

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

Question 5

sullen

Answer 5

(adj) showing irritation or ill humor by a gloomy silence or reserve (29)
“(With sullen politeness)”

Question 6

vindicated

Answer 6

(v) cleared of accusation, blame, or doubt (30)
“(The boy finally turns around and rolls his eyes at her, knowing the mood has changed and he is vindicated)”

Question 7

proposition

Answer 7

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

Question 8

vengeance

Answer 8

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

Question 9

tentatively

Answer 9

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

Question 10

furtively

Answer 10

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

Question 11

futile

Answer 11

(adj) useless (45)
“(Dropping her hands in a futile gesture)”

Question 12

tyrant

Answer 12

(n) dictator; harsh ruler (52)
“I also see that everybody thinks it’s all right for Mama to be a tyrant”

Question 13

forlornly

Answer 13

(adv) pitifully; desperately; hopelessly (57)
“(Ruth comes in forlornly and pulls off her coat with dejection. They both turn to look at her)”

Question 14

mutilated

Answer 14

(adj) maimed; damaged (61)
“(A Yoruba exclamation for admiration) You wear it well … very well … mutilated hair and all”

Question 15

assimilationism

Answer 15

(n) belief that minority cultures should be absorbed into a dominant culture (63)
“Assimilationism is so popular in your country”

Question 16

insinuatingly

Answer 16

(adv) with more meaning than is spoken; implied (66)
“(Insinuatingly, to her daughter)”

Question 17

haphazardly

Answer 17

(adv) carelessly (66)
“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”

Question 18

arrogant

Answer 18

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

Question 19

eccentric

Answer 19

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

Question 20

oppressive

Answer 20

(adj) tyrannical (81)
“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!”

Question 21

cliche

Answer 21

(n) trite or overused expression or idea (82)
“(She smiles happily at this cliché of clichés)”

Question 22

plaintively

Answer 22

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

Question 23

menacingly

Answer 23

(adv) threateningly (90)
“(MAMA clamps her lips together, and RUTH advances toward her son menacingly)”

Question 24

exuberant

Answer 24

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

Question 25

presumably

Answer 25

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

Question 26

rebuff

Answer 26

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

Question 27

revelation

Answer 27

(n) new information (91, 105)
“(This is a revelation to her)”

Question 28

amiably

Answer 28

(adv) good-naturedly (114)
“(Amiably, as he sits himself easily on a chair, leaning forward on his knees with interest and looking expectantly into the newcomer’s face)”

Question 29

ludicrous

Answer 29

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

Question 30

ominous

Answer 30

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

Question 31

plunder

Answer 31

(v) to rob; to loot (134)
“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?!”

Question 32

wrought

Answer 32

(v) shaped; made (137)
“(He goes to door and looks at her) How often I have looked at you and said, ‘Ah—so this is what the New World hath finally wrought …’”

Question 33

monologue

Answer 33

(n) long speech by one person (138)
“In one second we will hear all about the great Ashanti empires; the great Songhay civilizations; and the great sculpture of Bénin—and then some poetry in the Bantu— and the whole monologue will end with the word heritage!”

Question 34

eccentricity

Answer 34

(n) quality of being strange or unusual in behavior (138)
“BENEATHA ignores the eccentricity of his actions and goes on with the monologue of insult)”

Question 35

epitaph

Answer 35

(n) inscription on a tombstone (145)
“You done wrote his epitaph too—like the rest of the world?”

Question 36

amid

Answer 36

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