"Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry Flashcards
Undistinguished
(Adj.) - Common; nothing special
“The YOUNGER living room would be a comfortable and well-ordered room if it were not for a number of indestructible contradictions to this state of being. Its furnishings are typical and undistinguished” (24).
Pretense
(Noun) - Pretending or feigning; make believe; a false show of something
“Everything has been polished, washed, sat on, used, scrubbed too often. All pretenses but living itself have long since vanished from the very atmosphere of this room” (24).
Exasperated
(Adj.) - Irritated; provoked; irked
“TRAVIS I am eating. RUTH Hush up now and just eat! (The boy gives her an exasperated look for her lack of understanding, and eats grudgingly)” (28).
Viciously
(Adj.) - With violence or fury
“RUTH Just hush, I said (Travis jabs his spoon into his cereal bowl viciously, and rests his head in anger upon his fists)” (29).
Sullen
(Adj.) - Showing irritation or ill humor by 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” (29).
Vindicated
(Verb) - To be cleared of crime or blame
“I wouldn’t kiss that woman good-bye for nothing in this world this morning! (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) Not for nothing in this world! (She finally laughs aloud at him and holds out her arms to him and we see that it is a way between them, very old and practiced…)” (30).
Proposition
(Noun) - A suggested plan
“…Lee is so interested in, ’bout the store and all, and sip some more coffee, like what you saying ain’t really that important to you— And the next thing you know, she be listening good and asking you questions and when I come home—I can tell her the details. This ain’t no fly-by night proposition, baby” (33).
Vengeance
(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” (35).
Tentatively
(Adv) - Uncertainly
Furtively
(Adv) - Stealthily; in a way that hides motive
“(Studying her mother-in-law furtively and concentrating on her ironing, anxious to encourage without seeming to) Well, Lord knows, we’ve pit enough rent into this rat trap” (44).
Futile
(Adj) - Useless
“(Dropping her hands in a futile gesture) RUTH (Keeps her head down, ironing) Yes, life can be a barrel of disappointments, sometimes” (45).
Tyrant
(Noun) - Dictator; harsh ruler
Forlornly
(Adv) - Pitifully; desperately; hopelessly
“(RUTH comes in forlornly and pulls off her coat with dejection. They both turn to look at her)” (57).
Mutilated
(Adj.) - Maimed; damaged
“You wear it well…very well…mutilated hair and all. BENEATHA (Turning suddenly) My hair–what’s wrong with my hair” (61).
Assimilationism
(Noun) - Belief that minority cultures should be absorbed into a dominant culture
“Well…is it 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” (63).
Insinuatingly
(Adv) - With more meaning than is spoken; implied “MAMA (After him) Lord, that’s a pretty thing that just went out here! (Insinuatingly, to her daughter)” (66).
Haphazardly
(Adv) - Carelessly
“…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” (66).
Arrogant
(Adj.) - proud; haughty
Eccentric
(Adj.) - Deviating from the norm; strange
“GEORGE Oh, don’t be so proud of yourself, Bennie-just because you look eccentric” (80).
Oppressive
(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).
Cliché
(Noun) - Trite or overused expression or idea
Plaintively
(Adv) - Sorrowfully; pathetically
“Your nagging! Where was I? Who was I with? How much money did I spend? RUTH (Plaintively) Walter Lee–why don’t we just try to talk about it…” (86).
Menacingly
(Adv) - Threateningly
“RUTH Keep out of it now, Lena. (MAMA clamps her lips together and RUTH advances toward her son menacingly)” (90).
Exuberant
(Adj.) - Marked by unrestrained enthusiasm (93)
Presumably
(Adv) - Probably; reasonably supposed
“(At rise: Packing crates mark the intention of the family to move. BENEATHA and GEORGE come, presumably from an evening out again)” (96).
Rebuff
(Noun) - Blunt refusal
“(He starts to kiss her, she rebuffs him again and he jumps up) BENEATHA Why are you angry, George?”
Revelation
(Noun) - New information (91, 105)
Amiably
(Adv) - Good-naturedly
“WALTER (Amiably, as he sits himself easily on a chair, leaning forward on his knees with interest…” (114).
Ludicrous
(Adj) - Ridiculous
“(She pops it on her head to prove it to her grandson, and the hat is ludicrous and considerably oversized)” (124).
Ominous
(Adj.) - Menacing; threatening (131)
Plunder
(Verb) - To rob; to loot
“What about all of the crooks and thieves and just plain idiots who will all come into power and steal and plunder the same as before” (134).
Wrought
(Verb) - shaped; made
“ASAGAI … How often have I looked at you and said, ‘Ah–so this is what the New World hath finally wrought…’” (137).
Monologue
(Noun) long speech by one person
Eccentricity
(Noun) - Quality of being strange or unusual in behavior (138).
Epitaph
(Noun) - Inscription on a tombstone
“You give him up for me? You dine wrote his epitaph too–like the rest of the world? Well, who gave you the privilege?” (145).
Amid
(Adv) - Among; in the midst of
“Lord have mercy, where is my plant? (She flies to get it amid the general bustling of the family…)” (149).
