5/2/18

Today in class, although primarily focused on finishing reading "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, we went over a excerpt/quote from yesterdays reading. During a relatively heated exchange between Walter and the rest of his family over the issue of Walter calling Mr. Linder to make a deal on the house, Ruth and Walter say these two things to each other.

Ruth- "You talking 'bout taking them people's money to keep us from moving in that house?"
Walter- "I ain't just talking 'bout it baby - I'm telling you that's what's going to happen!"

Mr. Rivers then had the class analyze these two quotes from Ruth and Walter in our groups. We were tasked with finding why each character (Mama and Walter) thinks she/he is right in this situation. The major reasons that the class decided that Mama thought she was right because: in taking money from Mr. Linder, they were compromising their morals and giving into the money; additionally it has been/was Mama's and Big Walter's dream(s) to own a house of their own and submitting to the white pressure was destroying that dream. The major reasons that Walter thought he was right in this situation were: because the money came from his fathers years of laborious work, he felt very guilty for losing it and needed to 'redeem' himself by getting at least a portion back; additionally, by losing all of the money, Beneatha's hopes and future of becoming a doctor have essentially disappeared, increasing his guilt for losing the money. After the discussion with the class was over, we proceeded to read and finish the play (we read pg. 144 - end).

This lesson in class today can be applied to real life because, especially if you want to become some form of English major/teacher in and outside of college, you are going to need to know how to dissect information and look deeper into characters' decisions and the reasons behind their choices. You don't even have to be in a form of English profession in order to use the skills used and/or learned in class today. Being able to look deeper into not only characters but a text is a useful skill that can be used in book reports, DBQ's, or any other form of research paper that requires close reading and analysis of pieces of evidence. In fact, the use of close reading skills doesn't even have to be school related, if reading a magazine, a news article, or a book/story, closer reading might reveal some new details and information that some people might have missed. However, the majority of close reading skill are used in a school setting or for something related to school, which makes the skill even more important because school essentially determines what and where you will do and go in your life.