As the play progresses, the Youngers clash over their competing . Ruth discovers that she is pregnant but fears that if she has the child, she will put more financial pressure on her family members. When Walter says nothing to Ruth’s admission that she is considering abortion, Mama puts a down payment on a house for the whole family. She believes that a bigger, brighter dwelling will help them all. This house is in Clybourne Park, an entirely white neighbourhood. When the Youngers’ future neighbours find out that the Youngers are moving in, they send , from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, to offer the Youngers money in return for staying away. The Youngers refuse the deal, even after Walter loses the rest of the money ($6,500) to his friend , who persuades Walter to invest in the liquor store and then runs off with his cash.
In the meantime, Beneatha rejects her suitor, , whom she believes to be shallow and blind to the problems of race. Subsequently, she receives a marriage proposal from her Nigerian boyfriend, Asagai, who wants Beneatha to get a medical degree and move to Africa with him (Beneatha does not make her choice before the end of the play). The Youngers eventually move out of the apartment, fulfilling the family’s long-held dream. Their future seems uncertain and slightly dangerous, but they are optimistic and determined to live a better life. They believe that they can succeed if they stick together as a family and resolve to defer their dreams no longer.
In the beginning of the scene there are three characters on stage: Walter, Ruth and their son Travis. Travis and Walter are more offstage lying on the bed whilst the spotlight is on Ruth. She is tiding up. Ruth was standing centre stage for most of the time before the others walk up. Her facial expressions looked frustrated as her frowned a lot and busied herself. Travis looked distracted with his work and Walter looked like he was rushing because his face was screwed. This should a bit of tension within the family as they did not speak to each other for some time but was focusing on their own work.
The energy from Walter expressed a very passionate and somewhat wild character, as he took large strides around the performance space and stared fixedly at the audience as if dreaming. In contrast the controlled, soft movements of Mama depicted a gentle and caring character. Ruth husky and trebling voice and sudden movement showed she was a desperate and distraught character eager for a way out of her life.
The setting was a one platform made to look like lament flooring and a door which led out of the room to the corridor down the stairway. The window was like a balcony built on stage facing the audience to give an impression of a real window. During the breaks between sets they would play 1950’s jazzy music to portray the times they were living in. there was also a short movie which showed the Youngers family after the events that happened shown in the intervals. The bed was positioned upstage left and was used as a way as for the characters to move of stage. There were a lot of brown colours perhaps to emphasise the 1950’s jazzy style. The earthly natural tones and the worn, heavily used fabrics of the bedding, rugs and curtains, indicated a poor, working class environment.
The costumes were the characters wore reflected on their lifestyle. The full skirt of the woman helped locate the audience in the 1950’s period, whilst the apron revealed her working class status. Walter seemed to where the same clothing perhaps suggesting that he could not afford other clothes. The fabrics and shapes of the clothes were made in a vintage style. Travis’s school uniform looked old fashioned.
At the start of the play, the jazz music accompanied with the projected lines of the poem “What happens to a dream deferred?”… “Not only sets the period of the play, but ensures the audience read and recognise the issues of struggle and search for recognition that arises in the play.
For most of the section the lighting was a general wash, with clear floods, and some profile lights with straw and raised coloured gels, creating a warm and very naturalistic feeling. This gave the audience the sense of a cosy, warm atmosphere and a natural environment.
In conclusion, Hansberry uses many dramatic elements in this scene to present the many struggles endured by the Youngers within the home environment as well as outside. The element of staging as well as language and speech elements renders ideas about the significance of the different characters. Props such as the bed, the phone, the radio and the newspaper had bold meanings associated with them. The actions of the characters and the struggles they faced with issues of racial discrimination and gender differences symbolize the struggles of society as a whole. The time, the 1950's, the reference to the Ku Klux Klan, and the place Chicago, represent a period of great trials and tribulations for black people overcoming the slavery of their people in America. Throughout the entirety of the play, issues of gender and race play a recurring role. It isn't until Act 2, scene 2 of the play when hope is sought for these issues. Through the revelation of this section, it is discovered that the Younger's are a family with a lot of pride who struggle and seek hope to better their position in the corruption around them.