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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Ruth announce to Mama and Beneatha?

2. George doesn't care for:

3. Where does Travis sleep?

4. Who makes the first entrance?

5. What does Travis ask his mother for?

Short Essay Questions

1. Mama already has plans for the insurance money. What are they?

2. Why is Ruth so embarrassed by Walter Lee and Beneatha when George Murchison comes in?

3. What does Walter Lee taunt George about as they wait for Beneatha?

4. Why is Mama suspicious when Ruth refers to the doctor as a female?

5. Walter Lee mentions that Mama is expecting something to arrive in the mail. What is she expecting?

6. How does the author let the reader know that Beneatha is inauthentic in the way she wears her Nigerian costume?

7. What function does Joseph Asagai provide in this play about an African-American family?

8. How does Beneatha differ from the other members of her family?

9. Why did Mama decide to buy a new house for the family?

10. How does Mama react to Beneatha asking whether Ruth "planned" her baby?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Does racism perpetuate poverty, or does poverty intensify racism? Or are the two problems completely separate? Explore these questions in an essay.

Essay Topic 2

In speaking about the new house, Ruth asks Mama, "Is there a whole lot of sunlight?" Explain the dramatic contrast of the dark, dingy apartment set with the idea of a room full of light. What does a new environment represent to the Younger family?

Essay Topic 3

Lorraine Hansberry was a notable African-American. She was also a woman. People tend to consider both perspectives as somehow more specialized than white, male perspectives. Do you agree? Write an essay addressing the question of whether this play is primarily an "African-American" play or a "Woman's" play.

(see the answer keys)

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