A Raisin in the Sun (7 page)

(
RUTH
comes in forlornly and pulls off her coat with dejection. They both turn to look at her
)

RUTH
(
Dispiritedly
) Well, I guess from all the happy faces—everybody knows.

BENEATHA
You pregnant?

MAMA
Lord have mercy, I sure hope it’s a little old girl. Travis ought to have a sister.

(
BENEATHA
and
RUTH
give her a hopeless look for this grandmotherly enthusiasm
)

BENEATHA
How far along are you?

RUTH
Two months.

BENEATHA
Did you mean to? I mean did you plan it or was it an accident?

MAMA
What do you know about planning or not planning?

BENEATHA
Oh, Mama.

RUTH
(
Wearily
) She’s twenty years old, Lena.

BENEATHA
Did you plan it, Ruth?

RUTH
Mind your own business.

BENEATHA
It is my business—where is he going to live, on the
roof? (There is silence following the remark as the three women react to the sense of it
) Gee—I didn’t mean that, Ruth, honest. Gee, I don’t feel like that at all. I—I think it is wonderful.

RUTH
(
Dully
) Wonderful.

BENEATHA
Yes—really. (
There is a sudden commotion from the street and she goes to the window to look out
) What on earth is going on out there? These kids. (
There are, as she throws open the window, the shouts of children rising up from the street. She sticks her head out to see better and calls out
) TRAVIS! TRAVIS … WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN THERE? (
She sees
) Oh Lord, they’re chasing a rat!

(
RUTH
covers her face with hands and turns away
)

MAMA
(
Angrily
) Tell that youngun to get himself up here, at once!

BENEATHA
TRAVIS … YOU COME UPSTAIRS … AT ONCE!

RUTH
(
Her face twisted
) Chasing a rat.…

MAMA
(
Looking at
RUTH
,
worried
) Doctor say everything going to be all right?

RUTH
(
Far away
) Yes—she says everything is going to be fine …

MAMA
(
Immediately suspicious
) “She”—What doctor you went to?

(
RUTH
just looks at
MAMA
meaningfully and
MAMA
opens her mouth to speak as
TRAVIS
bursts in
)

TRAVIS
(
Excited and full of narrative, coming directly to his mother
) Mama, you should of seen the rat … Big as a cat, honest! (
He shows an exaggerated size with his hands
) Gaaleee, that rat was really cuttin’ and Bubber caught him with his heel and the janitor, Mr. Barnett, got him with a stick—and then they got him in a corner and—BAM! BAM! BAM!—and he was still jumping around and bleeding like everything too—there’s rat blood all over the street—

(
RUTH
reaches out suddenly and grabs her son without even looking at him and clamps her hand over his mouth and holds him to her
.
MAMA
crosses to them rapidly and takes the boy from her
)

MAMA
You hush up now … talking all that terrible stuff
… (TRAVIS
is staring at his mother with a stunned expression
.
BENEATHA
comes quickly and takes him away from his grandmother and ushers him to the door
)

BENEATHA
You go back outside and play … but not with any rats. (
She pushes him gently out the door with the boy straining to see what is wrong with his mother
)

MAMA
(
Worriedly hovering over
RUTH
) Ruth honey—what’s the matter with you—you sick?

(
RUTH
has her fists clenched on her thighs and is fighting hard to suppress a scream that seems to be rising in her
)

BENEATHA
What’s the matter with her, Mama?

MAMA
(
Working her fingers in
RUTH’S
shoulders to relax her
) She be all right. Women gets right depressed sometimes when they get her way. (
Speaking softly, expertly, rapidly
) Now you just relax. That’s right … just lean back, don’t think ’bout nothing at all … nothing at all—

RUTH
I’m all right …

(
The glassy-eyed look melts and then she collapses into a fit of heavy sobbing. The bell rings
)

BENEATHA
Oh, my God—that must be Asagai.

MAMA
(
To
RUTH
) Come on now, honey. You need to lie down and rest awhile … then have some nice hot food.

(
They exit
,
RUTH’S
weight on her mother-in-law
.
BENEATHA
,
herself profoundly disturbed, opens the door to admit a rather dramatic-looking young man with a large package
)

ASAGAI
Hello, Alaiyo—

BENEATHA
(
Holding the door open and regarding him with pleasure
) Hello … (
Long pause
) Well—come in. And please excuse everything. My mother was very upset about my letting anyone come here with the place like this.

ASAGAI
(
Coming into the room
) You look disturbed too … Is something wrong?

BENEATHA
(
Still at the door, absently
) Yes … we’ve all got acute ghetto-itis. (
She smiles and comes toward him, finding a cigarette and sitting
) So—sit down! No! Wait! (
She whips the spray gun off sofa where she had left it and puts the cushions back. At last perches on arm of sofa. He sits
) So, how was Canada?

ASAGAI
(
A sophisticate
) Canadian.

BENEATHA
(
Looking at him
) Asagai, I’m very glad you are back.

ASAGAI
(
Looking back at her in turn
) Are you really?

BENEATHA
Yes—very.

ASAGAI
Why?—you were quite glad when I went away. What happened?

BENEATHA
You went away.

ASAGAI
Ahhhhhhhh.

BENEATHA
Before—you wanted to be so serious before there was time.

ASAGAI
How much time must there be before one knows what one feels?

BENEATHA
(
Stalling this particular conversation. Her hands pressed together, in a deliberately childish gesture
) What did you bring me?

ASAGAI
(
Handing her the package
) Open it and see.

BENEATHA
(
Eagerly opening the package and drawing out some records and the colorful robes of a Nigerian woman
) Oh, Asagai! … You got them for me! … How beautiful … and the records too! (
She lifts out the robes and runs to the mirror with them and holds the drapery up in front of herself
)

ASAGAI
(
Coming to her at the mirror
) I shall have to teach you how to drape it properly. (
He flings the material about her for the moment and stands back to look at her
) Ah—
Oh-pay-gay-day, oh-gbah-mu-shay. (A Yoruba exclamation for admiration
) You wear it well … very well … mutilated hair and all.

BENEATHA
(
Turning suddenly
) My hair—what’s wrong with my hair?

ASAGAI
(
Shrugging
) Were you born with it like that?

BENEATHA
(
Reaching up to touch it
) No … of course not.

(
She looks back to the mirror, disturbed
)

ASAGAI
(
Smiling
) How then?

BENEATHA
Y
OU
know perfectly well how … as crinkly as yours … that’s how.

ASAGAI
And it is ugly to you that way?

BENEATHA
(
Quickly
) Oh, no—not ugly … (
More slowly, apologetically
) But it’s so hard to manage when it’s, well—raw.

ASAGAI
And so to accommodate that—you mutilate it every week?

BENEATHA
It’s not mutilation!

ASAGAI
(
Laughing aloud at her seriousness
) Oh … please! I am only teasing you because you are so very serious about these things. (
He stands back from her and folds his arms across his chest as he watches her pulling at her hair and frowning in the mirror
) Do you remember the first time you met me at school? … (
He laughs
) You came up to me and you said—and I thought you were the most serious little thing I had ever seen—you said: (
He imitates her
) “Mr. Asagai—I want very much to talk with you. About Africa. You see, Mr. Asagai, I am looking for my
identity
!”

(
He laughs
)

BENEATHA
(
Turning to him, not laughing
) Yes—

(
Her face is quizzical, profoundly disturbed
)

ASAGAI
(
Still teasing and reaching out and taking her face in his hands and turning her profile to him
) Well … it is true that this is not so much a profile of a Hollywood queen as perhaps a queen of the Nile—(
A mock
dismissal of the importance of the question
) But what does it matter? Assimilationism is so popular in your country.

BENEATHA
(
Wheeling, passionately, sharply
) I am not an assimilationist!

ASAGAI
(
The protest hangs in the room for a moment and
ASAGAI
studies her, his laughter fading
) Such a serious one. (
There is a pause
) So—you like the robes? You must take excellent care of them—they are from my sister’s personal wardrobe.

BENEATHA
(
With incredulity
) You—you sent all the way home—for me?

ASAGAI
(
With charm
) For you—I would do much more … Well, that is what I came for. I must go.

BENEATHA
Will you call me Monday?

ASAGAI
Yes … We have a great deal to talk about. I mean about identity and time and all that.

BENEATHA
Time?

ASAGAI
Yes. About how much time one needs to know what one feels.

BENEATHA
You see! You never understood that there is more than one kind of feeling which can exist between a man and a woman—or, at least, there should be.

ASAGAI
(
Shaking his head negatively but gently
) No. Between a man and a woman there need be only one kind of feeling. I have that for you … Now even … right this moment …

BENEATHA
I know—and by itself—it won’t do. I can find that anywhere.

ASAGAI
For a woman it should be enough.

BENEATHA
I know—because that’s what it says in all the novels that men write. But it isn’t. Go ahead and laugh—but I’m not interested in being someone’s little episode in America or—(
With feminine vengeance
)—one of them! (
ASAGAI
has burst into laughter again
) That’s funny as hell, huh!

ASAGAI
It’s just that every American girl I have known has said that to me. White—black—in this you are all the same. And the same speech, too!

BENEATHA
(
Angrily
) Yuk, yuk, yuk!

ASAGAI
It’s how you can be sure that the world’s most liberated women are not liberated at all. You all talk about it too much!

(
MAMA
enters and is immediately all social charm because of the presence of a guest
)

BENEATHA
Oh—Mama—this is Mr. Asagai.

MAMA
How do you do?

ASAGAI
(
Total politeness to an elder
) How do you do, Mrs. Younger. Please forgive me for coming at such an outrageous hour on a Saturday.

MAMA
Well, you are quite welcome. I just hope you understand that our house don’t always look like this. (
Chatterish
) You must come again. I would love to hear all about—(
Not sure of the name
)—your country. I think it’s so sad the way our American Negroes don’t know nothing about Africa ’cept Tarzan and all that. And all that money they pour into these churches when they ought to be helping you people over there drive out them French and Englishmen done taken away your land.

(
The mother flashes a slightly superior look at her daughter upon completion of the recitation
)

ASAGAI
(
Taken aback by this sudden and acutely unrelated expression of sympathy
) Yes … yes …

MAMA
(
Smiling at him suddenly and relaxing and looking him over
) How many miles is it from here to where you come from?

ASAGAI
Many thousands.

MAMA
(
Looking at him as she would
WALTER
) I bet you don’t half look after yourself, being away from your mama either. I spec you better come ’round here from time to time to get yourself some decent home-cooked meals …

ASAGAI
(
Moved
) Thank you. Thank you very much. (
They are all quiet, then
—
) Well … I must go. I will call you Monday, Alaiyo.

MAMA
What’s that he call you?

ASAGAI
Oh—“Alaiyo.” I hope you don’t mind. It is what you would call a nickname, I think. It is a Yoruba word. I am a Yoruba.

MAMA
(
Looking at
BENEATHA
) I—I thought he was from—(
Uncertain
)

ASAGAI
(
Understanding
) Nigeria is my country. Yoruba is my tribal origin—

BENEATHA
Y
OU
didn’t tell us what Alaiyo means … for all I know, you might be calling me Little Idiot or something …

ASAGAI
Well … let me see … I do not know how just to explain it … The sense of a thing can be so different when it changes languages.

BENEATHA
You’re evading.

ASAGAI
No—really it is difficult … (
Thinking
) It means … it means One for Whom Bread—Food—Is Not Enough. (
He looks at her
) Is that all right?

BENEATHA
(
Understanding, softly
) Thank you.

MAMA
(
Looking from one to the other and not understanding any of it
) Well … that’s nice … You must come see us again—Mr.——

ASAGAI
Ah-sah-guy …

MAMA
Yes … Do come again.

ASAGAI
Good-bye.