RITS character map

1) Describe the importance of the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry to American culture.

It is important to American culture because it “presaged the revolution in black and women’s consciousness” (5) and also because it “speaks to the issues that are now inescapable: value systems of the black family…the ongoing struggle it portends” (6). It was the first commercially successful black drama.

2) Explain the need to cut several scenes from the play.

Several scenes were cut because of “happenstance,” (6) the unpredictable happenings that occur in any play, but more importantly because the running time of 3-4 hours was too long for a “first play” by an unknown African-American, female playwright (7).

3) Describe how these cuts affected the overall meaning of the play.

Some of the cuts “focused and strengthened the drama” as most of the other ideas are “implicit elsewhere,”(7) However, it was later realized that they also “did interfere drastically…with the way the play was interpreted and assessed” (8).

4) What did James Baldwin mean when he wrote that "Americans suffer from an ignorance that is not only colossal, but sacred" (8)? How does this relate to the play?