Question

His sister BENEATHA enters. She is about twenty, as slim and intense as her brother. She is not as pretty as her sister-in-law, but her lean, almost intellectual face has a handsomeness of its own. She wears a bright-red flannel nightie, and her thick hair stands wildly about her head.

What does the description of Beneatha in this excerpt best reveal about her as a character?
A. It shows that she is her own person and doesn't care about how she looks.
B. It reveals that she and her brother Walter have a great deal in common.
C. It reveals that she is envious that her sister-in-law is prettier than she is.
D. It shows that she thinks she is intellectually superior to her family.

Answer 1

The answer is A. It shows that she is her own person and doesn't care about how she looks.

Step-by-step explanation:

Beneatha Younger is a character in the play "A Raisin in the Sun". Even though she is intellectually superior to her family - and she makes a point of showing it -, this particular excerpt focuses on her self-confidence. Beneatha has a feminist and political core that allows her to question life and society. Influenced by her Nigerian boyfriend Asagai, she learns even more about her own identity as an African-American woman. She stops straightening her hair and decides to leave it natural, for instance. Beneatha is so sure of herself that, in the excerpt we are studying here, she does not care for her appearance at all. She knows looking messy will not change who she is, will not make her less intelligent or determined.

Answer 2

Answer: A) It shows that she is her own person and doesn't care about how she looks.

Step-by-step explanation: In the given excerpt we can see a description of Beneatha, as a young womam, that is slim and intense (like her brother). We can also see the description of her appearance, and that description shows that she is her own person and doesn't care about how she looks, we can see that in the phrase: "She wears a bright-red flannel nightie, and her thick hair stands wildly about her head."