A Raisin in the Sun Techniques

Dialogue

"Beneatha: Love him? There is nothing left to love. Mama: There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing."

Monologue

Walter: That money is made out of my father's flesh—"

Soliloquy

"Walter: Sometimes it's like I can see the future stretched out in front of me — just plain as day. The future, Mama. Hanging over there at the edge of my days. Just waiting for me — a big, looming blank space — full of nothing."

Foreshadowing

"Mama: Them houses they put up for colored in them areas way out all seem to cost twice as much as other houses. I did the best I could."

Symbolism

"Mama: Lord, if this little old plant don't get more sun than it's been getting it ain't never going to see spring again. You've got to give it some room, child, you got to give it a little air."

Imagery

"Ruth: Eat your eggs, Walter. Walter: I don't want no eggs. Ruth: You going to be sick eating all them pecans." Walter: [Wandering between the table and his chair] I'm going to be sick eating eggs-"

Irony

"Walter: [With immense feeling] I'm thirty-five years old; I've 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."

Metaphor

"Beneatha: Mama, you know it's all psychological. Everybody's wanting a hat when they ain't got no head."

Personification

"Mama: Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most; when they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain't through learning—because that ain't the time at all."

Allusion

"Mama: And we have decided to move into our house because my father—my father—he earned it for us brick by brick."

Flashback

"Mama: Your father always said that was the only way to get ahead in the world. He said, if you want to get ahead, you got to learn how to yessir and nosir your boss. He used to say, if you didn't hear the man say yessir, right this minute, you just wasn't going to be working there very long."

Juxtaposition

"Beneatha: There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing. Walter: [In a quiet, controlled voice] Man, I ain't never learned nothing from you worth knowing."

Point of View

"Mama: We don't want your money. Willy: [Puzzled, hurt] You mean you don't want to make no investment?" Mama: The insurance money belongs to Walter and it's his decision."

Characterization

"Mama: Walter Lee, it makes a difference in a man when he can walk on floors that belong to him."

Diction

"Mama: He finally come into his manhood today, didn't he? Kind of like a rainbow after the rain..." (Act 2, Scene 3)
"Beneatha: Love him? There is nothing left to love." (Act 3, Scene 1)
"Walter: [With a ring of bitterness] 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." (Act 1, Scene 1)

Paradox

"Mama: Once upon a time freedom used to be life—now it's money. I guess the world really do change." (Act 2, Scene 2)
"Walter: Yeah. Death done come in this here house. Well, all right. You a man now, ain't you?" (Act 3, Scene 1)
"Beneatha: [to Asagai] Then isn't there something wrong in a house—in a world—where all dreams, good or bad, must depend on the death of a man?" (Act 3, Scene 1)

Euphemism

"Lena: You wouldn't understand yet, son, but your daddy's gonna make a transaction... a business transaction that's going to change our lives." (Act 1, Scene 1)
"Karl Lindner: The thing is, you see, that members have to belong to the community and be liked by the community. We aren't interested in people who just want to take money and run." (Act 2, Scene 3)
"Walter: [sarcastically] You wouldn't have to marry nobody then, would you? Just get yourself a good razor and you can go into business for yourself." (Act 1, Scene 1)

Intertexuality

"Mama: [sings] Oh, that she might have life, and more life...all the days of her life." (Act 1, Scene 1) - reference to Proverbs 4:23-24 in the Bible.
"Walter: [quoting from memory] 'What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?'" (Act 1, Scene 1) - reference to Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem".
"Beneatha: [sarcastically] Well, I'm going to be a doctor and everybody around here better understand that!" (Act 1, Scene 1) - reference to the discrimination and sexism that African American women faced in the medical field during that time period.