ENG2603 Assignment 2 Semester 2 2026 - Due 14 August 2026

ENG2603 Assignment 2 Semester 2 2026 - Due 14 August 2026 The assignment question Read the extract and the question below carefully before you begin writing your essay. Extract: Act III MAMA: That's what I thought you said. You feeling like you better than he is today? (BENEATHA does not answer) Yes? What you tell him a minute ago? That he wasn't a man? Yes? You give him up for me? You done wrote his epitaph too — like the rest of the world? Well, who give you the privilege? BENEATHA: Be on my side for once! You saw what he just did, Mama! You saw him — down on his knees. Wasn't it you who taught me to despise any man who would do that? Do what he's going to do? MAMA: Yes — I taught you that. Me and your daddy. But I thought I taught you something else too … I thought I taught you to love him. BENEATHA: Love him? There is nothing left to love. MAMA: There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing. (Looking at her) Have you cried for that boy today? I don't mean for yourself and for the family 'cause we lost the money. I mean for him: what he been through and what it done to him. Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain't through learning — because that ain't the time at all. It's when he's at his lowest and can't believe in hisself 'cause the world done whipped him so! When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, pp 133–134 Essay question Write a close reading of this extract in which you analyse how Hansberry uses language to present Mama's understanding of love and human dignity. Your analysis must address ALL of the following: • the effect of the rhetorical questions in Mama's speech • the significance of the repetition of “measure him right” • the meaning and effect of the metaphor “hills and valleys” • what the exchange between Beneatha and Mama reveals about their contrasting values You must also show, in the course of your analysis, how at least ONE of the themes raised in the extract connects to the play as a whole. Part 1: Writing and submitting your essay This section explains what your essay must contain and how to submit it. What your essay must include • Your essay must be 800–1 000 words. Do not go over 1 000 words or under 800 words. • You must address all four analytical tasks listed in the question. Do not leave any out. • You must include short quotations from the extract and explain what each quotation does. Do not simply insert quotations without comment. • Your essay must have a clear introduction, a developed body, and a conclusion. • You must connect at least one theme from the extract to the play as a whole. • Write in formal academic English. Do not use contractions (write “cannot” not “can't”). • Write in the present tense when discussing the text (e.g. “Hansberry uses” not “Hansberry used”). • Italicise the title of the play throughout your essay: A Raisin in the Sun.