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Sunday, March 15, 2009

A Raisin in the Sun

One thing I detest about English class: After you finish a book you have to write a review or something about it. The book was OK, but I can't wait to finish this class (Friday) so that I can send this book off to the main office and not have it staring at me in the face on the computer desk.
Here's the report:
Book Review for A Raisin in the Sun

I recently read a play called A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry and published by Vintage. The main theme of the play is the value and purpose of each character’s dream.
In A Raisin in the Sun the setting is between 1945 and 1959 in Chicago. In this play, the major plot is about a working-class black family struggling to survive economic hardships and racial prejudice. The family in this play are having to live in a small apartment and take any jobs they possibly can to pay their rent.
The play follows the Younger family through their struggles. Mama is the caretaker. Ruth is a loving mother and wife struggling in her marriage to Walter. Walter is a dreamer, he is Mama’s son. Beneatha is Mama’s educated daughter who dreams of becoming a doctor. Travis is Walter and Ruth’s son who loves to escape all work to be done around the house. When Beneatha speaks about her dreams of becoming a doctor, she expects her family and friends to support her, “I am going to be a doctor and everybody around here better understand that!” Although she seems harsh on her family, I believe she is this way because she wants to become a doctor so bad, but she knows it’s impossible without support from those who she loves.
As the family struggles with racial discrimination, they find that it’s important to stay close as a family and always love each other. Mama says it best in the play, “There is always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing.” This quote is when Mama gives one of her inspirational talks to her daughter. Walter faces the struggle of dealing with racial intolerance. At times he may not make the best decisions. However, when he finally comes face-to-face with the discriminator, he doesn’t back down. “And we have decided to move into our house because my father—my father—he earned it brick by brick.” Walter becomes the hero of the family for standing up for what is right.
Lorraine Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun because it was about her life growing up. Lorraine and her family were based in Chicago and moved to a white community until forced by the government to move. Hansberry wanted to create uniqueness to ordinary people. She believed there were no dramatically uninteresting characters. What’s amazing with her writing style in A Raisin in the Sun is much of the character’s actions are things that soon happened after her death. Lorraine died at a young age from cancer; she continued to write to her dying day.
A Raisin in the Sun gives everybody an idea of what it was like to live in Chicago as a black family. This play describes what life was like between 1945 and 1959. You get a good understanding what racial intolerance was like in Chicago during this time if you read or watch the play.
As a reader, I would definitely encourage many people to read this play. In A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry lets readers understand through her writing what life was really like in a black family. You also get a better understanding of how each member of the family dealt with racial discrimination.
The last paragraph is all about ending on a good note to get a better grade!
The bad news about the paper: I'm still waiting for a grade. Something to look forward to: It's spring break next week and I will have a whole week off!!!!!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Hockey Game

Over the weekend we went to a hockey game. Whitney is in love with this sport right now! It was a great game, too. In the first period there was a fight with fist fighting and all that. In the second period they had another fight and blood was spilled on the ice. They had to come and clean it up before the game resumed. The last period was a bit boring, probably because nobody scored and nobody had a big fight! But the home team won!!!

This was our second attendance to a hockey game and our family has enjoyed it a lot. Here's a photo of Whitney (and dad):

Monday, March 9, 2009

Crazy Weekend Weather

I think that best describes the weekend's weather. I was watching the NASCAR race when I looked outside to see this:













It was really weird to see snow in March! One person who loving the weather? Demon, of course! Snitch, our lab, was no where to be found! He was the smart dog staying in his house! Here's some photos of Demon in the storm:






























Along with capturing some comical photos of the dog, I was able to get some good pictures of the crazy birds flying in to eat. In the middle of a snow storm! This was the best one:


Friday, March 6, 2009

Biology Final.....Spilled Coffee

Today I had my final. Instead of going to a learning center to take it, where the school usually has you take it, I chose instead to have mom's friend, Resa proctor it. It was a little tricky to think of a place to meet with free WiFi! But I will have to admit it was really nice to take my final in a coffee place!

I ended up with a 81% on the final and I had a 93% in the course. I'm still waiting for the final course grade, but I'm not too concerned with those grades!

During my test, my lovely older sister Megan decided to cause problems. She dumped half of her coffee on her light tan pants! Megan can be a klutz at times! When my test was over, I did see this HUGE stain on her pants. Well, hope they were not new!!!!

After today's freezing cold weather, I am counting down the days until we go on a nice WARM vacation!!!!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Happy Birthday, Whitney!


Today is Whitney's 9th birthday! What does she want to do for her birthday? Go see Twilight (again) and go ice skating. Whitney is a lot like Megan: she loves to shop and can be quite defiant at times. All last week she spent her time reading poems by Robert Frost and other authors. She is also into Helen Keller. She is, of course, into Hanna Montana and High School Musical. This week she pulled out the keyboard and decided to teach herself how to play. Except, she comes to somebody every two seconds saying "come here and listen," or "I need help." I think she learned this week that I have very little knowledge in piano! I'm sure by the end of the week, she will have a new obsession!

P.S. She says I never talk about her on the blog.....so I made sure to do a post ALL ABOUT HER!!!