Raisin in the Sun, Act 1, scene 1 1961

Come on, honey, get up. Come on. 7:30. Let's see. Hurry up, honey. You left the army prison in the world. Gotta use the bathroom. Lovely. That's 7:30. Let me see you do some waking up in there now. All right, do this, go ahead and lay there. Next thing you know, Travis will be finished and mister Johnson will be in there, and you'll be fussing and cussing around here like a madman and be late. Well, the younger. It is time for you to get up. Any of you. What do you mean out? He already got in there, good job. What's your doing all that yelling for? I check coming today? I said Saturday. This is just Friday. And as you hope you're going to get up here first thing this morning talking to me about no money because I don't want to hear it. What's the matter with you this morning? Just sleepy. I'm gonna ask you one. Not scramble. You guessed a little happy woman, this morning. And what is that boy doing that bathroom all? Look, he's gonna have to start getting up early, you know what I mean? Oh, no. One second early I know, such a thing. I can't afford to be late for work on economy and messing around. Again, good to be in our early nights. Because he's got a bunch of crazy good for nothing clowns sitting up running them miles, and what's supposed to be his bedroom.

Yeah. And that's what you're mad about, amen. Okay? Things I want to talk to my friends if I just couldn't be important in your mind. Such Friends as you got. You look young this morning, baby. Yeah? Yeah. Just for a second. Staring at me. You look real young again. It's going now. It looked like yourself again. And if you don't shut up and leave me alone. You know the first thing a man on a learning this life is not to make love to know a woman early in the morning. You all are some evil creatures in your clock in a while. Daddy, come on. Grandma's gonna be staying home from work for now. My mama. That's right, baby. Hey, and she has to come tomorrow, huh? You know, you get your mind off money and eat your breakfast. This is the morning I'm supposed to wearing the 50 cents the school mama. Yeah, I ain't got no 50 cents this morning. Teach us that we have to. Okay, let's teach that ain't got it. Oh my gosh. 15. Could I maybe go okay? Go, she's at the supermarket. After schooling. You can get over there and make up your bed. Oh, God. Doctor milk money? Yes, ma'am. No one kissed that woman goodbye this morning. Nothing nothing in this world. Nothing nothing in this word. Well, who's it all angry mad at you? Oh, golly, mama. Golly. For you, be late. Could I please go okay, groceries. Honey, you should play me. Dang. Was that he wants to do? Gary groceries after school. Well, let him go. Good for him to be businessman. I have to. She won't give me the 50 cents. Why not? Because we don't have it. What do you tell the boy things like that for? I guess. Thanks, Gary. In fact, here's another 50 cents.

Get yourself some fruit or something, I'll take a taxicab at school, you know what I mean? I think I'm really good at homeschooling. Bye. That's my boy. You know that thing about the bathroom is mine. I know what you're thinking. And I don't want to hear it again. About what me and Willie Harris was talking about last night. Willie Harris is a good one up and loud mouth. Anybody who talked to me, you've got to be a good for nothing love. Charlie Atkins was a good but nothing, wasn't it? When he wanted me to go on the dry cleaning business with him. Now he's grossing a $100,000 a year. $100,000 a year. Still call him a loudmouth good friend. You're tired angel baby. You owe so tired of everything. Me, the boy, the way we live in this beat up whole, everything. Moaning and groaning all the time, but you wouldn't do nothing to help with you. I mean, you couldn't be on my side that long for nothing. Please leave me alone. Matt needs a woman to back him up. Well, it's mama would listen to you. You know she listens to you once you do me and Benny. She thinks more of it. All you got to do is sit down with her one morning. When you have in your coffee and talking about things like you do, just say kind of easy like that you've been thinking about this little deep watery so interested in butter and all. Just keep sipping away at your coffee like what you're saying is that important to you before you know it she's listening and good and asking your questions. Then when I come on my feeling the details usually leave me alone.

Seriously fly by night operation. I mean, we got this thing, figured out me, William Bobo. Bobo. Yeah. Look, we figured the initial investment on the place to be about $30,000. That's $10,000 a piece. Now of course we got a spread around a few hundred, so it's not to spend your life waiting for them clowns to let your license get approved. You mean graft. Close to show you how much women know about the world. Baby don't nothing happen for you in this world unless somebody gets paid off. Walter leave me alone. He checks. You're gonna be cool. See? A man say there's a woman I got me a dream. She says eat your eggs. They get in cold. Man say these women help me now to take a hole in this world somehow and she says eat your eggs and go to work. I tell you I gotta change my life because I'm choking to death and all you say to me is eat these eggs. What did that ain't none of our money? I ain't gonna be harassed in your mama bought it. I'm looking in the mirror this morning. I'm thinking I'm 35 years old. I'm married 11 years and I got a boy who's got the sleep in the living room because I got nothing. Nothing to give him a stories. Like on her rich white people, eh? He jacks one. Damn these eggs. Damn on the edge. And go to work. I'm trying to talk to you. About me. Not only are you going to say to me, is eat these eggs? You never said I didn't know. I listened to your everyday every morning every night. You never seen anything new.

So you'd rather be mister Arnold and be a chauffeur, so. I'd rather be living in Buckingham Palace. And that's just what's wrong with the colored woman in this world today. You don't understand about billing your men, not making them feel like they somebody like they can do something. I'll call it men who do things. No thanks to that colored woman. I guess I can help myself. I almost died time in those people. You should get up earlier. Really, when would you suggest, dawn? You're a horrible looking child this time I'm on it. Good morning, brother. As your school coming. Oh, lovely, lovely. You know biology is the greatest. And dissected something looked just like you yesterday. When I was just. Wondering whether you made up your mind and everything. And what I answer yesterday morning, and the day before that, don't be so nasty, Benny. And the day before that and the day before that. And I'm interested in you. I mean anything wrong with that. It ain't every day, no girl. Decides to be. Adopting? Come on out of there, please. You know that check is coming tomorrow. That money belongs to mama. It's for her to decide how she wants to use it. Now I don't care if she wants to buy herself a house or a rocket ship or just nail it up and look at it. It's hers. Not ours, hers. And. You are such a nice girl. You've got your mother's interest at heart, didn't you? Well, mama got that money. She can always take a few thousand and help you through school. I never asked anyone around here to do anything for me.

Not a line between asking and just accepting this big and wide. Well, what do you want from me? Nothing from you, but for you to stop acting holy around here. I mean, Ruth and made some sacrifices for you. It's about time you do something for this family. Dragging me in. You are in it. You go out of here and you're working somebody's kitchen for two, three years to put clothes on her back. Well, that's not fair. Well, damn it, nobody asking her to get on her knees and say, thank you, Ruth, and thank you brother. And thank you, mama. Thank you. Travis, for wearing the same shoes for the last two semesters. Well, I do. All right, thank everybody. And you just forgive me forever wanting to be anything at all. Forgive me. Forgive me, don't give me. Your mama is. Oh, the hell told you you had to be a doctor. You're so interested in messing around with sick people going out of here and be a nurse. Like other women or get married and shut up. So you finally got it said, huh? Took you three years, but you finally got it said.

Walter, you give up and leave me alone. It's mama's money. He was my father too. Well, so what he was mine to in Travis's grandfather, but the insurance money belongs to mama. I'm picking on me. Isn't gonna make a give it to you to invest in any liquor stores. And I for one say God bless mama for that. You for one always say God. Go to work. Nobody in this house is ever grown understand me. Because you're a nut. Who's a nut? You, you're a nut. These mad boy. The world's most backward nation of women. And that is a fact. And they're all those profits would lead us out of the wilderness into the swamps.