What does asagai represent to beneatha

How are the plant and t he children alike? What does the plant symbolize to Mama? What does Mama ask Ruth to do at the end of this scene? What happens to Ruth? Act I, Scene II. When does Scene II begin? What are Mama and Beneatha doing as this scene begins? What is Walter doing? Who does Beneatha invite to the apartment? How does she tell Mama to act around this person? What is revealed about Ruth and where she has been?

What is she thinking about doing, and why might she be considering such a thing? Asagai arrives, bringing gifts for Beneatha. What are the gifts? What does Asagai represent to Beneatha? What does Asagai say and do to encourage Beneatha's search for her identity?

Soon after Asagai leaves, the mail carrier delivers the insurance check. How much is the check worth? Why does Mama's expression become sober and then unhappy when she holds the check? Walter rushes in demanding to know whether the check has arrived. How does he show his insensitivity to the situation at home? How do Walter's and Mama's views of the meaning of life conflict? How does Mama try to influence Walter at the end of the scene?

What does she reveal to him? Act II, Scene I. When does Act II begin? What is Beneatha doing as the first scene opens? What is she wearing?

Why does Walter join her in the dance? How does the arrival of George Murchison change the mood of the scene? Beneatha calls George an "assimilationist. What is Walter's attitude toward George? What is George's attitude toward Walter?

You don't have to ride to work on the back of nobody's streetcar Prior to the civil rights movement, which reached its peak in the sixties, segregated facilities, separating whites from blacks, were common in the south, where "Jim Crow" laws made it legal. Even in the northern cities, vestiges of segregation were apparent.

In the south, whites rode in the front of buses, blacks in the back. An interesting aspect of this particular "Jim Crow" law was that a black person might be permitted to sit in the front of the bus if there were no white person on the bus who needed that seat. If a white person boarded the bus and a black person was seated in the front, the black person knew, almost instinctively, that he had to get up in deference to the white person who needed that seat.

During the thirties and forties, the mass exodus of blacks from the south to the northern cities was an attempt to flee segregation injustices, including being forced to ride at the back of buses. Not until Rosa Parks dramatically refused to sit at the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in , an act which accelerated the civil rights movement, did most blacks in the south even think about the absurdity of the "Jim Crow" laws. Mama's generation worked hard so that their children could have a "better life," which, to her, meant a life without segregation.

To those of Mama's generation, it should have been enough that Walter Lee's generation can ride at the front of a bus. Mama cannot understand why Walter Lee wants more from life than to sit anywhere he wants on public transportation. Walter, in contrast, and others of his generation, take that particular "freedom" for granted. Walter wants the larger freedom of being totally independent of everyone; he wants to be able to earn his living without having a "boss"; more important, he wants to be able to generate his own income without being dependent on a salary as a chauffeur.

In short, Walter is questioning the reasons he cannot live the way his bosses live. When he asks why his wife cannot wear pearls, he is asking why he has to resign himself to poverty, being ever grateful that he no longer has to ride at the back of a bus.

To Mama, that particular measure of equality is enough; to Walter, it is an outrage. Previous Act I — Scene 1. Next Act II — Scene 1. Removing book from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked pages associated with this title. Are you sure you want to remove bookConfirmation and any corresponding bookmarks?

Asagai is zealously idealistic about the future of his country and has even expressed his willingness to sacrifice his own life for the independence of his country.

And, although Asagai has been afforded a Western education, his basic beliefs are grounded in his own African culture, which was, as of , somewhat chauvinistic and old-fashioned.

This creates an undercurrent of tension in his relationship with Beneatha, but it is something that Hansberry hints that might be overcome. Asagai is helpful and concerned about the welfare of others. He volunteers to assist in the move to Clybourne Park and offers much-needed consolation and good advice to Beneatha when she is at her lowest. He counsels Beneatha spiritually and emotionally, helping her to get back "on track" as she rails against her brother's foolishness in having lost the money.

Soon after Asagai leaves, the mail carrier delivers the insurance check. How much is the check worth? Walter rushes in demanding to know whether the check has arrived. What impact does the check have on him?

Something more than me not giving you this money. The past few years I been watching it happen to you. How does Mama try to influence Walter at the end of the scene? What does she reveal to him? Related documents. A Raisin in the Sun: Assignment 7a. SAYS - Cloudfront. Act II, Scene 1 1 What is the setting at the beginning of this scene. Raisin in the Sun Reading Guide Act 1.