Right here is the PowerPoint to our Characterization
Ruth
Ruth-early 30s, protagonist, flat character, static, not complex, character isn’t revealed much but always there
Revealed as hardworking, persistent, mediator in the family
Questions About Characterization
1. Puts others before herself, strong-willed, always wants to get her point across. As a mediator, she’s the most reasonable, wanting to talk about things and resolve conflicts. Since Walter normally starts conflicts, Ruth is there to calm him, try to keep peace in the house.
2. Static character-however, traits are not portrayed intensely, Ruth is always there but her characteristics are not much revealed.
3. Ruth hides her opinions and feelings because she doesn’t want to bring more conflict into the family. For example, when Ruth didn’t say she went to abortion doctor. “When the world gets ugly enough-a woman will do anything for her family.”
4. To play the character, we need to be calm. We would need housekeeping outfits and show that she works hard as a mother.
5. NOT APPLICABLE
6. To play Ruth, the actress would need to wear simple and plain clothing. Ruth is not very materialistic. She tends to put others’ needs before hers, and the simple things in life are enough to satisfy her. Therefore, we may need an apron to portray that she is hard-working and simple clothing beneath the apron to show her simplicity. To act these characters, we would need to present ourselves as meek, however, not passive; tolerant, but not submissive. To show this, we would need to evoke a presence of strong-will and comfort.
Thinking on Paper About Characterization
1. Ruth is a low-key person who encounters many struggles with other family members, but she is strong-willed and determined. She is also very practical and doesn’t fantasize about things she knows she won’t be able to receive.
2. An apron shows her determination to get things done despite the problems she faces, and effortless, unadorned clothing to portray her simple lifestyle of keeping the family together. Ruth in the Bible is a woman who is loyal to God and follows Him no matter what situations she faces. This is also like Ruth Younger in Raisin in the Sun because she is very loyal to her family no matter what condition the family is in. Despite the economic crisis the family faces, Ruth continues to push through, stays obedient with the family, though, she has no blood relationship with Walter, Lana, and Beneatha, who are in the center of the trials she encounters, Ruth stays loyal to her family and tries to help them out.
4. The primary motivation for Ruth to do the things she does in the story is to mainly keep her family together. Ruth is emotionally strong-willed, and she is the most reliable and emotionally stable one in the family because the family depends on her to keep their lives running. Throughout the story, as her husband and mother-in-law go through an emotional rollercoaster, she’s the only one who has been consistent in her opinions and emotions. Therefore, everything she does in Raisin in the Sun is for her family and to keep the family together as they go through difficult times. Ruth seems to want peace in the household because she is always the one meddling in conversations and telling two characters to stop their bickering and solve the problem in a more peaceful manner. Ruth is the peacemaker in the family. The character’s motivations seem to emerge from the very beginning when Walter and her start fighting in Act I, scene I. She doesn’t want to contend with Walter, even though he continues to blurt out remarks that she doesn’t like being said in the house.
5. Ruth doesn’t go out of her way to get what she wants. She’s the type of person who makes lemonade when life hands her lemons. If anything, she wants peace and she will interfere with others if that’s what it takes. In Act I, Scene I, she says, “Mama, something is happening between Walter and me. I don’t know what it is- but he needs something-something I can’t give him anymore. He needs this chance, Lena.” This shows that she is always trying to make others happy and satisfy them.
6. She never made a miscalculation.
7. When Lana reveals to her family that she went to buy a house, Ruth’s attitudes and behavior changes. She shows her deepest emotions about their current house, and screams out praises and criticizing words about the current house. She seems to have had bundled up those emotions because she was coping with cramped home and old apartment. Her behavior intensifies because she is the homemaker; therefore, she has had many emotional connections with the house, and in this case, it would be intense feelings of dislike as the house isn’t big enough to accommodate the large family and even their drama.
8. A scene in which Ruth faces a crisis is when she contemplates whether or not to get an abortion to save her family. Their family of five is already bursting at its seams, and she is reluctant to bring in another member of the family, which can bring them down into further economic stress. Beneatha even questions where the baby is going sleep, “Where is going to sleep? On the roof?”. However, the crisis is resolved when Lana makes a remark saying that, “We [are] a people who give children life, not who destroys them.” This remark hits Ruth hard, and she later decides to keep the baby. We learn from this that Ruth knows her morals; however, she is willing to go out her own way to save her family from further problems and distress.
9. A revelation Ruth receives is when Lana discloses to the family that they are going to be living a brand new house. This revelation gives Ruth a brighter future, and she hopes that having a new home in a nice neighborhood with more space for the family would lessen the conflicts in the household and please everyone at least a little bit. Ruth connects a new house with a brighter future for the family.
10. We can portray the character in the scene when Ruth learns of Lana’s down payment in their future house, and she screams for joy and rejoices. She seems to have stepped out of the bubble the family has oppressed her in with their continual problems, and now she finally realizes she has something for herself. This entire time, she has put other’s problems before her owns, and now she is ecstatic because she has a home that can please her family, which is something she always seeks to do, and even happiness and satisfaction for herself.
11. Ruth and Walter’s relationship is not very strong. They seem to have grown into a love-hate relationship after many years of marriage. Ruth considers getting rid of her child because of Walter’s situation of not being able to find money to build up a liquor store. She is stuck between poverty and maintaining her love for Walter because she knows that if she keeps the baby, her marriage with Walter would become even weaker as it already is. She believes that an abortion would be the least she could do to keep the family on their feet for a little bit longer.
Revealed as hardworking, persistent, mediator in the family
Questions About Characterization
1. Puts others before herself, strong-willed, always wants to get her point across. As a mediator, she’s the most reasonable, wanting to talk about things and resolve conflicts. Since Walter normally starts conflicts, Ruth is there to calm him, try to keep peace in the house.
2. Static character-however, traits are not portrayed intensely, Ruth is always there but her characteristics are not much revealed.
3. Ruth hides her opinions and feelings because she doesn’t want to bring more conflict into the family. For example, when Ruth didn’t say she went to abortion doctor. “When the world gets ugly enough-a woman will do anything for her family.”
4. To play the character, we need to be calm. We would need housekeeping outfits and show that she works hard as a mother.
5. NOT APPLICABLE
6. To play Ruth, the actress would need to wear simple and plain clothing. Ruth is not very materialistic. She tends to put others’ needs before hers, and the simple things in life are enough to satisfy her. Therefore, we may need an apron to portray that she is hard-working and simple clothing beneath the apron to show her simplicity. To act these characters, we would need to present ourselves as meek, however, not passive; tolerant, but not submissive. To show this, we would need to evoke a presence of strong-will and comfort.
Thinking on Paper About Characterization
1. Ruth is a low-key person who encounters many struggles with other family members, but she is strong-willed and determined. She is also very practical and doesn’t fantasize about things she knows she won’t be able to receive.
2. An apron shows her determination to get things done despite the problems she faces, and effortless, unadorned clothing to portray her simple lifestyle of keeping the family together. Ruth in the Bible is a woman who is loyal to God and follows Him no matter what situations she faces. This is also like Ruth Younger in Raisin in the Sun because she is very loyal to her family no matter what condition the family is in. Despite the economic crisis the family faces, Ruth continues to push through, stays obedient with the family, though, she has no blood relationship with Walter, Lana, and Beneatha, who are in the center of the trials she encounters, Ruth stays loyal to her family and tries to help them out.
4. The primary motivation for Ruth to do the things she does in the story is to mainly keep her family together. Ruth is emotionally strong-willed, and she is the most reliable and emotionally stable one in the family because the family depends on her to keep their lives running. Throughout the story, as her husband and mother-in-law go through an emotional rollercoaster, she’s the only one who has been consistent in her opinions and emotions. Therefore, everything she does in Raisin in the Sun is for her family and to keep the family together as they go through difficult times. Ruth seems to want peace in the household because she is always the one meddling in conversations and telling two characters to stop their bickering and solve the problem in a more peaceful manner. Ruth is the peacemaker in the family. The character’s motivations seem to emerge from the very beginning when Walter and her start fighting in Act I, scene I. She doesn’t want to contend with Walter, even though he continues to blurt out remarks that she doesn’t like being said in the house.
5. Ruth doesn’t go out of her way to get what she wants. She’s the type of person who makes lemonade when life hands her lemons. If anything, she wants peace and she will interfere with others if that’s what it takes. In Act I, Scene I, she says, “Mama, something is happening between Walter and me. I don’t know what it is- but he needs something-something I can’t give him anymore. He needs this chance, Lena.” This shows that she is always trying to make others happy and satisfy them.
6. She never made a miscalculation.
7. When Lana reveals to her family that she went to buy a house, Ruth’s attitudes and behavior changes. She shows her deepest emotions about their current house, and screams out praises and criticizing words about the current house. She seems to have had bundled up those emotions because she was coping with cramped home and old apartment. Her behavior intensifies because she is the homemaker; therefore, she has had many emotional connections with the house, and in this case, it would be intense feelings of dislike as the house isn’t big enough to accommodate the large family and even their drama.
8. A scene in which Ruth faces a crisis is when she contemplates whether or not to get an abortion to save her family. Their family of five is already bursting at its seams, and she is reluctant to bring in another member of the family, which can bring them down into further economic stress. Beneatha even questions where the baby is going sleep, “Where is going to sleep? On the roof?”. However, the crisis is resolved when Lana makes a remark saying that, “We [are] a people who give children life, not who destroys them.” This remark hits Ruth hard, and she later decides to keep the baby. We learn from this that Ruth knows her morals; however, she is willing to go out her own way to save her family from further problems and distress.
9. A revelation Ruth receives is when Lana discloses to the family that they are going to be living a brand new house. This revelation gives Ruth a brighter future, and she hopes that having a new home in a nice neighborhood with more space for the family would lessen the conflicts in the household and please everyone at least a little bit. Ruth connects a new house with a brighter future for the family.
10. We can portray the character in the scene when Ruth learns of Lana’s down payment in their future house, and she screams for joy and rejoices. She seems to have stepped out of the bubble the family has oppressed her in with their continual problems, and now she finally realizes she has something for herself. This entire time, she has put other’s problems before her owns, and now she is ecstatic because she has a home that can please her family, which is something she always seeks to do, and even happiness and satisfaction for herself.
11. Ruth and Walter’s relationship is not very strong. They seem to have grown into a love-hate relationship after many years of marriage. Ruth considers getting rid of her child because of Walter’s situation of not being able to find money to build up a liquor store. She is stuck between poverty and maintaining her love for Walter because she knows that if she keeps the baby, her marriage with Walter would become even weaker as it already is. She believes that an abortion would be the least she could do to keep the family on their feet for a little bit longer.