These answers can answered by simply reading the play.
Question 1
1.
What is the setting of the play?
Question 2
2.
Why was Ruth upset when Walter gave Travis the money?
Question 3
3.
Who are Willy and Bobo?
Question 4
4.
Who is Beneatha?
Question 5
5.
Why was Mama getting a check for $10,000?
Question 6
6.
What does Mama want to do with the money?
Question 7
7.
What does Walter want to do with the money?
Question 8
8.
Why did Beneatha say she wouldn't marry George?
Question 9
9.
What happened to Ruth at the end of Act I scene 1?
Question 10
10.
What does Mama retrieve when she opens the window?
Part 2: Inference Questions
These questions can be answered by reading the play and making inferences using what you know about the world.
Question 11
11.
Why did Walter ask Ruth what was wrong with her?
Question 12
12.
Walter said, “Damn my eggs…damn all the eggs that ever was!”
Why?
Question 13
13.
What was Beneatha's attitude towards God?
Question 14
14.
How does the Younger family's apartment building create problems for the Younger family as they begin their day?
Question 15
15.
Walter and Ruth react differently when Travis asks for money for school. What are Walter and Ruth’s attitude about money?
Question 16
16.
How does Walter think that women should treat their men?
Question 17
17.
Why is Walter concerned about Beneatha’s plans for her future?
Part 3: Analysis Questions
These questions require you to think about what the author is trying to ~sneakily~ tell us with her words about life.
Question 18
18.
What does the quotation below from Act I reveal about Walter’s character? Think about what it says about the kind of person he is.
WALTER: “This morning, I was lookin’ in the mirror and thinking about it…I’m thirty-five years old; I been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room – and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live.” (Pg. 34)
Question 19
19.
What does the quotation below from Act I reveal about Beneatha's character? Think about what it says about the kind of person she is.
BENEATHA: "Oh, I probably will ... but first I'm going to be a doctor, and George, for one, still thinks that's pretty funny. I couldn't be bothered with that. I am going to be a doctor and everybody around here better understand that!" (Pg. 50)
Question 20
20.
What does Mama’s plant represent? (Take a look at the bottom of pg. 52) _______
Provide a quote to prove your analysis correct. _______
Question 21
21.
In this section of the reading, Walter Lee is talking to Beneatha.
WALTER: “Who the hell told you to be a doctor? If you so crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people-then go be a nurse like other women-or just get married and be quiet....” (38).
How does this interaction describe the role of men and women in this family?