ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Choices Videos 14 videos

A Raisin in the Sun
18501 Views

This video summarizes the play A Raisin in the Sun. It discusses the Youngers, members of an African-American family trying to better themselves wh...

Atlas Shrugged
2485 Views

Ayn (rhymes with "mine," ironically enough) Rand penned this cult classic over 50 years ago, but it still resonates with today's audiences. Our que...

Dream Deferred (Hughes)
23155 Views

Imagine if dreams really could come true. This is the question that Langston Hughes ponders in his poem "Dream Deferred."

See All

A Raisin in the Sun Summary 45668 Views


Share It!


Description:

We know that snacking on some dry raisins in the beating hot sun doesn't sound like the most appetizing thing in the world. But stick with us and you'll see just how juicy and appetizing this story really is.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:06

Raisin in the Sun, a la Shmoop. I don't know what I'm gonna do with this family

00:11

of mine. I'm stuck in a tiny apartment with my kids Beneatha <Buh-NEATH-uh> and Walter,

00:15

my daughter-in-law Ruth, and my grandson, Travis.

00:19

And a lot of roaches.

00:22

Travis is just the best, sweetest little baby boy in the whole history of the world...

00:28

...but the others spend most of their time fighting like cats and dogs.

00:34

Yep, my children have strong personalities,

00:37

to put it lightly. Walter hates being a chauffeur, so he spends a lot of time escaping into a

00:42

bottle and dreaming about opening a liquor store with his sleazy buddies.

00:47

Then there's Beneatha, a rebel who busted out some serious disco hair to impress her

00:53

Nigerian ex-boyfriend.

00:56

She wants to be a doctor, even though most doctors these days are men, and our income

01:00

is more suited to clown school. ...

01:04

I thought Ruth was going to be the well-adjusted adult in the household, but then it turned

01:08

out that she was secretly planning an abortion for a baby she couldn't afford.

01:13

What's a gramma to do? Travis, I need some hug therapy!

01:18

Sometimes I think only my plant understands me...

01:22

There was a little bit of good news, though...my husband died!

01:27

Oh, um, that wasn't good news, actually, but the ten thousand dollar insurance check

01:32

sure was!

01:34

Now all I had to do was figure out what to spend it on.

01:37

I decided that this family needed a big change.

01:40

So I bought us a nice little house in a nice white neighborhood.

01:44

Walter didn't take it too well.

01:47

But I made up with him. I gave him the rest of the insurance dough to deposit into bank

01:54

accounts for Beneatha and him.

01:56

Everybody got a fair share, and it was a win-win-win situation!  Not to toot my own horn, but

02:01

check out those money-managing skills!

02:04

Ruth was super-excited about moving into a new place with space for Travis and a baby.

02:10

Even Walter seemed like less of a buzzkill.

02:15

So what if our future neighbors-to-be hated us so much they wanted to buy back the house

02:19

for big bucks? I was going to have my very own garden!

02:25

But I should have known it was too good to last. Einstein here lost all of the money

02:29

when his so-called "friend" ran off with it. ...

02:35

That little setback left us with no liquor store, no med school, and no peace from sad

02:39

sack Walter's moping and bellyaching. So much for the Younger family dreams.

02:48

Just when I thought Walter couldn't sink any deeper, he dropped the bombshell that

02:51

he accepted the offer to buy us out of our new home!

02:55

Obviously he didn't inherit his mama's brains.

02:59

So there we were on moving day, with a smug white guy in the house, and Walter selling

03:03

us down the river. But for some reason, either because of the

03:08

tongue lashing we'd given him or Travis' big puppy dog eyes...

03:11

...Walter did a 180 and held his ground.

03:17

Somebody call the moving van, because we're finally living our dream! Come on, Mr. Plant!

Related Videos

Utopias Becoming Dystopias
29768 Views

This video defines utopias and dystopias, and investigates how a utopia might become a dystopia. Can a seemingly perfect world actually be a dystop...

Shakespeare on Love
17379 Views

We may all be fools when it comes to love, but thankfully none of us will accidentally switch places with our twin brother and fall in love with ou...

The Importance of Being Earnest Summary
123040 Views

They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...

The Giver Summary
105893 Views

Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...

Invisible Man (Ellison)
1818 Views

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.