A Chorus in the Raisin

    In our Drama class, we delved into a unit called "Matriarch" where we explored the meaning of the word. We read the play "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, the play tells the story of a black family living in a segregated Chicago in the late 1950s, this family faced various challenges due to racial discrimination. The play also explains gender norms and blockbusting in black neighborhoods. We also attended workshops at the Goodman Theatre where we got lessons in acting, we also learned how to plot points of a story, and we also got a deeper understanding of black matriarchal stereotypes. We also learned that a Greek Chorus is sort of a way to narrate or give feedback to the characters. I chose to write a Greek Chorus about Beneatha and Asagai, these characters have an interesting dynamic since Asagai is helping Beneatha rediscover her African roots, but also argues with him since he complains about her being too independent/dependent and wants her to be calmer and less ambitious. In the scene that I chose, these characters are having an argument about Beneatha losing interest in her dream of becoming a doctor when Walter invested the money on the liquor store.

                                                     

I really enjoyed doing this AP since we were able to "give" the character some feedback about their choices and praise them for doing what they did. For the character that I chose, it was sort of easier since this character was giving up on a dream that they had since they were a child and they question why they thought it was a dream to push for. This sort of resonates with me since I often do that, I ask myself why about everything and I try to find out the answer, debating with myself over what's right and what's wrong. Asagai provides support for Beneatha, he also proves to Beneatha that she has to rely on the death of someone for money and he points out that it's wrong. I enjoyed exploring this conflict since it really made Beneatha question everything and see the perspective of another character and how she changed her life for the better.