Read the excerpt from act 2 of A Doll's House.Helmer: [putting his papers together] Now then, little Miss Obstinate.Nora: [breathlessly]. Torvald—what was that letter?Helmer: Krogstad's dismissal.Nora: Call her back, Torvald! There is still time. Oh Torvald, call her back! Do it for my sake—for your own sake—for the children's sake! Do you hear me, Torvald? Call her back! You don't know what that letter can bring upon us.Helmer: It's too late.Nora: Yes, it's too late.Helmer: My dear Nora, I can forgive the anxiety you are in, although really it is an insult to me. It is, indeed. Isn't it an insult to think that I should be afraid of a starving quill-driver's vengeance? But I forgive you nevertheless, because it is such eloquent witness to your great love for me. [Takes her in his arms.] And that is as it should be, my own darling Nora. Come what will, you may be sure I shall have both courage and strength if they be needed. You will see I am man enough to take everything upon myself.Nora: [in a horror-stricken voice]. What do you mean by that?Helmer: Everything, I say—Nora: [recovering herself] You will never have to do that.Helmer: That's right. Well, we will share it, Nora, as man and wife should. That is how it shall be. [Caressing her.] Are you content now? There! There! Not these frightened dove's eyes! The whole thing is only the wildest fancy! Now, you must go and play through the Tarantella and practise with your tambourine. I shall go into the inner office and shut the door, and I shall hear nothing; you can make as much noise as you please. [Turns back at the door.] And when Rank comes, tell him where he will find me. [Nods to her, takes his papers and goes into his room, and shuts the door after him.]Nora: [bewildered with anxiety, stands as if rooted to the spot, and whispers] He was capable of doing it. He will do it. He will do it in spite of everything. No, not that! Never, never! Anything rather than that! Oh, for some help, some way out of it! [The door-bell rings.] Doctor Rank! Anything rather than that—anything, whatever it is! [She puts her hands over her face, pulls herself together, goes to the door and opens it. RANK is standing without, hanging up his coat. During the following dialogue it begins to grow dark.]
Read the paragraph.Each year, though different, is also the same. In spring, the sun comes out, green things begin to shoot up from the brown soil, and people begin to smile again. In summer, the days are long, the gardens are a riot of color, and people are relaxed and casual. In fall, the days shorten, the leaves turn and start to fall, and people welcome the warmth of a pullover and a jacket. In winter, the nights are long, the trees are bare, and people shiver, longing for the sun.
Read the passage from A Raisin in the Sun.MAMA (sensing their facetiousness): What's the matter with you all?WALTER: Ain't nothing the matter with us. We just telling you 'bout the gentleman who came to see you this afternoon. From the Clybourne Park Improvement Association.MAMA: What he want?RUTH (in the same mood as BENEATHA and WALTER): To welcome you, honey.WALTER: He said they can't hardly wait. He said the one thing they don't have, that they just dying to have out there is a fine family of fine colored people! (To RUTH and BENEATHA.) Ain't that right!RUTH (mockingly): Yeah! He left his card—BENEATHA (handing card to MAMA): In case.MAMA reads and throws it on the floor—understanding and looking off as she draws her chair up to the table on which she has put her plant and some sticks and some cord.MAMA: Father, give us strength. (Knowingly—and without fun.) Did he threaten us? BENEATHA: Oh—Mama—they don't do it like that anymore. He talked Brotherhood. He said everybody ought to learn how to sit down and hate each other with good Christian fellowship.
Read the passage from A Raisin in the Sun.LINDNER: Yes—that's the way we feel out in Clybourne Park. And that's why I was elected to come here this afternoon and talk to you people. Friendly like, you know, the way people should talk to each other and see if we couldn't find some way to work this thing out. As I say, the whole business is a matter of caring about the other fellow. Anybody can see that you are a nice family of folks, hard-working and honest I’m sure. (BENEATHA frowns slightly, quizzically, her head tilted regarding him.) Today everybody knows what it means to be on the outside of something. And of course, there is always somebody who is out to take advantage of people who don't always understand.WALTER: What do you mean?LINDNER: Well—you see our community is made up of people who've worked hard as the dickens for years to build up that little community. They're not rich and fancy people; just hard-working, honest people who don't really have much but those little homes and a dream of the kind of community they want to raise their children in. Now, I don't say we are perfect and there is a lot wrong in some of the things they want. But you've got to admit that a man, right or wrong, has the right to want to have the neighborhood he lives in a certain kind of way. And at the moment the overwhelming majority of our people out there feel that people get along better, take more of a common interest in the life of the community, when they share a common background. I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn't enter into it. It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities.BENEATHA (with a grand and bitter gesture): This, friends, is the Welcoming Committee!WALTER (dumfounded, looking at LINDNER): Is this what you came marching all the way over here to tell us? . . . .RUTH: Lord have mercy, ain't this the living gall!
Read the passage from A Doll’s House.[SCENE: A room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not extravagantly. At the back, a door to the right leads to the entrance-hall, another to the left leads to Helmer's study. Between the doors stands a piano. In the middle of the left-hand wall is a door, and beyond it a window. Near the window are a round table, arm-chairs and a small sofa. In the right-hand wall, at the farther end, another door; and on the same side, nearer the footlights, a stove, two easy chairs and a rocking-chair; between the stove and the door, a small table. Engravings on the walls; a cabinet with china and other small objects; a small book-case with well-bound books. The floors are carpeted, and a fire burns in the stove.It is winter. A bell rings in the hall; shortly afterwards the door is heard to open. Enter NORA, humming a tune and in high spirits. She is in outdoor dress and carries a number of parcels; these she lays on the table to the right. She leaves the outer door open after her, and through it is seen a porter who is carrying a Christmas Tree and a basket, which he gives to the maid who has opened the door.]Nora: Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not see it until this evening, when it is dressed. [To the porter, taking out her purse.] How much?
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