Act I: Characterization!

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Centered around character personalities and dramatization, plays, like A Raisin in the Sun, need excellent characterization to develop into more than just scripts of dialogue.  As such, "Act I" provides an immense amount of details concerning characters introduced, characterizing them indirectly through dialogue and stage actions and directly through the included stage directions.
For example, Ruth conveys her authoritative, yet loving nature when she scolds Travis as he eats breakfast but goes on to give him a loving farewell before he leaves for school.  The dialogue between Ruth and Travis reveals her strict parenting methods, but the stage action of Ruth embracing Travis depicts her as affectionate.   Furthermore, Walter characterizes himself quickly in his interactions with Ruth.  Walter frequently insults Ruth, stating that "colored women . . . don't understand about building their men up" and implying that she is the reason he has not been able to pursue his business dreams to lift their family up (Hansberry 444).  Walter's mentioned dream at getting his family out of its financial slump reveals that he is an extremely ambitious man, but a frustrated one at that.  This quality proves important to Walter's character throughout the novel, especially as he changes toward the conclusion, but could not have been reveled without indirect characterization from "Act I".  Concerning direct characterization, the most appropriate example would be the introduction of Mama. Preceding Mama's entrance, Hansberry includes stage directions that read, "She has, we can see, wit and faith of a kind that keep her eyes lit and full of interest and expectancy" (Hansberry 447-448).  These directions paint Mama as a visionary.  The interest and expectancy in Mama's eyes describe her desires for the future of her family.  In equating Mama with wit and faith, Hansberry exposes the audience to Mama's extremely clever, religious, and moral character.  All of the qualities revealed in "Act I" carry with the characters in an important way as the novel progresses.