"Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry

Question 1

Undistinguished

Answer 1

(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).

Question 2

Pretense

Answer 2

(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).

Question 3

Exasperated

Answer 3

(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).

Question 4

Viciously

Answer 4

(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).

Question 5

Sullen

Answer 5

(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).

Question 6

Vindicated

Answer 6

(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).

Question 7

Proposition

Answer 7

(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).

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” (35).

Question 9

Tentatively

Answer 9

(Adv) - Uncertainly

Question 10

Furtively

Answer 10

(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).

Question 11

Futile

Answer 11

(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).

Question 12

Tyrant

Answer 12

(Noun) - Dictator; harsh ruler

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)” (57).

Question 14

Mutilated

Answer 14

(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).

Question 15

Assimilationism

Answer 15

(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).

Question 16

Insinuatingly

Answer 16

(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).

Question 17

Haphazardly

Answer 17

(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).

Question 18

Arrogant

Answer 18

(Adj.) - proud; haughty

Question 19

Eccentric

Answer 19

(Adj.) - Deviating from the norm; strange
“GEORGE Oh, don’t be so proud of yourself, Bennie-just because you look eccentric” (80).

Question 20

Oppressive

Answer 20

(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 21

Cliché

Answer 21

(Noun) - Trite or overused expression or idea

Question 22

Plaintively

Answer 22

(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).

Question 23

Menacingly

Answer 23

(Adv) - Threateningly
“RUTH Keep out of it now, Lena. (MAMA clamps her lips together and RUTH advances toward her son menacingly)” (90).

Question 24

Exuberant

Answer 24

(Adj.) - Marked by unrestrained enthusiasm (93)

Question 25

Presumably

Answer 25

(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).

Question 26

Rebuff

Answer 26

(Noun) - Blunt refusal
“(He starts to kiss her, she rebuffs him again and he jumps up) BENEATHA Why are you angry, George?”

Question 27

Revelation

Answer 27

(Noun) - New information (91, 105)

Question 28

Amiably

Answer 28

(Adv) - Good-naturedly
“WALTER (Amiably, as he sits himself easily on a chair, leaning forward on his knees with interest…” (114).

Question 29

Ludicrous

Answer 29

(Adj) - Ridiculous
“(She pops it on her head to prove it to her grandson, and the hat is ludicrous and considerably oversized)” (124).

Question 30

Ominous

Answer 30

(Adj.) - Menacing; threatening (131)

Question 31

Plunder

Answer 31

(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).

Question 32

Wrought

Answer 32

(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).

Question 33

Monologue

Answer 33

(Noun) long speech by one person

Question 34

Eccentricity

Answer 34

(Noun) - Quality of being strange or unusual in behavior (138).

Question 35

Epitaph

Answer 35

(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).

Question 36

Amid

Answer 36

(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).