A Raisin in the Sun Page #5

---

- Where'd Bennie go?

- Far as I could make out, to Egypt.

Get down them steps, boy!

You reckon it's done come already?

No point in us getting excited.

We knowed it was coming for months.

But that's different from

having it come...

...and being able to hold it.

A piece of paper worth $10,000.

Come on, open it.

Lord, I wish Walter Lee was here.

- Open it!

- Don't be getting excited.

- It's only a check.

- Open it.

Don't be acting silly now.

We never been a people

to act silly about money.

We ain't never had none before.

Open it.

Is them the right amount of zeros?

Ten thousand dollars.

Golly, Grandma. You rich!

Ten thousand dollars.

Put it away.

Ten thousand dollars, they give you.

Ten thousand dollars.

What's the matter with Grandma?

Don't she want to be rich?

Go on downstairs and play now, baby.

You done gone

and got yourself upset.

You know...

...if it wasn't for you all,

I'd put that money away...

...or give it to the church.

Now, what kind of talk is that?

Mr. Younger'd be just plain mad

if he could hear you talk like that.

He would, wouldn't he?

We got plenty to do with that money.

Where'd you go today, girl?

To the doctor.

Now, you know better than that.

Old Dr. Jones is peculiar in his way.

But nothing to make nobody slip

and call him "she," like you done.

That's just what happened.

My tongue slipped.

- You went to that woman, didn't you?

- What woman?

That woman that takes money from

women for doing things she ain't got...

Did it come?

What are you doing home at this hour?

And can't you greet people

before you ask about money?

Did it come?

I made Willie Harris

put everything on paper.

The lawyer looked it over.

I think you ought to talk

with your wife.

I'll go out and leave you alone

if you want.

I can talk to her anytime.

Will somebody listen to me today?

I don't allow yelling in this house,

and you know it.

And there'll be no investing

in liquor stores!

And I don't aim to speak

on it again!

But you haven't even looked at it.

You haven't even looked at it.

You haven't even looked at it,

and you won't speak on it again?

You tell that to my boy tonight...

...when you put him to sleep

on the living room couch.

Tell him when his mother goes

to care for somebody else's kids.

And tell it to me

when we want curtains or drapes...

...and you sneak out to work

in somebody's kitchen.

I want a future for this family.

All I want is to be able to stand

in front of my boy...

...like my father never was able

to do to me...

...and tell him he'll be somebody

in this world...

...besides a servant...

...and a chauffeur.

You tell me then. Hear?

- Where're you going?

- Out!

- Where?

- Out of this house.

- I'll come too.

- Don't.

- I've got something to tell you.

- That's too bad.

Sit down!

- I'm a grown man.

- Ain't nobody said you wasn't grown.

But you're in my house

and my presence.

And you'll talk to your wife civil.

- Now sit down!

- Let him go.

He can drink himself to death.

You make my stomach sick.

You turn mine too, baby!

- That was my biggest mistake.

- What's the matter with you?

There's nothing the matter with me.

There's something eating you up

like a crazy man.

More than me not giving you money.

The past years I've watched it happen.

You get all nervous acting

and wild in the eyes.

I said sit!

I don't need your nagging

at me today! How's that?

Seems like you always tied up

in some kind of knot or something.

But if anybody asks about it,

you yell and bust out and go get drunk.

People cannot live with that.

Ruth is a nice, patient girl.

But you are too much. Don't make the

mistake of driving her away.

- What does she do for me?

- She loves you!

I got to go out. Now I got

to go out and be by myself!

I'm sorry about your liquor store.

But it's not the thing for us to do.

That's what I wanted to say.

- It's dangerous.

- What's dangerous?

When a man goes

outside his house for peace.

Then how come there can never be

no peace in this house?

You found it in some other house?

Why do you always think

there's a woman?

I want so many things.

I want so many things that sometimes

I think they'll drive me crazy.

I'm 35 years old,

and I ain't got nothing.

I ain't going to be nothing.

Just look at me.

- Look at me.

- I'm looking at you.

You're a good-looking boy.

- You got a job, a wife, a son...

- A job!

I open and close car doors all day.

I drive a man in his limousine,

and I say...

..."Yes, sir" and "No, sir"

and "Shall I take the drive, sir?"

That ain't no kind of job.

That ain't nothing at all.

- I don't know if you can understand.

- Understand what?

It's like I can see my future

just stretched out in front of me.

My whole future. A big, blank,

empty space full of nothing...

...just hanging at the edge of my days,

waiting for me.

But it don't have to be.

Sometimes, when I'm downtown

driving that man around...

...we pass them cool,

quiet-looking restaurants.

I look in.

I see these white boys.

They're sitting, talking...

...about deals

worth millions of dollars...

...and they look no older than me.

How come you talk so much

about money?

Because it's life!

So now money is life?

Once, freedom used to be life.

But now it's money.

It was always money.

We just didn't know it.

Something's changed.

You're something new, boy.

In my time, we was worried

about not being lynched...

...and getting North and staying alive

and still have dignity too.

Now you and Beneatha talk about things

we ain't never thought about.

You ain't satisfied

or proud of nothing we done.

I mean, that you had a home...

...and that we kept you

out of trouble...

...and that you don't have to ride on

the back of nobody's streetcar.

You're my children,

but how different we've become.

You don't understand.

You don't understand.

Son, don't you know your wife's

expecting another baby?

That's what she wanted to talk

to you about.

This ain't for me to be telling,

but I thought you ought to know.

I think Ruth is thinking about

getting rid of that child.

She wouldn't do that.

When the world gets ugly, a woman'll

do anything for her family...

...the part that's already living.

- You don't know her...

...if you think she'd

do something like that.

Yes, I would too.

I gave her a $5 down payment.

I'm waiting to hear you

say something.

I'm waiting to hear how you'd be like

the man your father was.

Your wife said she's going to

destroy your child.

I'm waiting to hear you talk

like your father...

...and say we're a people who give

children life, not who destroys them.

I'm waiting to see you stand up

and look like your daddy...

...and say, we gave up one baby

to poverty. We ain't giving up another.

I'm waiting!

If you be a son of mine,

you'll tell her.

You're a disgrace

to your father's memory.

Where did I put my hat?

What have we got on tonight?

You are now looking...

...at what a well-dressed

Rate this script:3.5 / 2 votes