7 Stages Of Grief Essay

Our act was focused on the death of Mama and how the family reacted to it. Therefore, I researched the seven stages of grief. I came across many websites but ultimately I found an article on PsycholoGenie. This article details and summarizes the stages of grief and how people react to the loss of a loved one. Using this information, I was able to write the second scene. In the scene, I wrote that Ruth and Walter are shocked when they received the news of Mama's death. Ruth is in shock but is still able to process the news and is able to inform Travis and Beneatha, while Walter is in denial and has not processed anything. I was also able to use the information from the website that everyone grieves differently. I also researched small things

to make sure my portrayal of life in the 1960’s was correct. I researched if telephones were used in the 1960s, what happens after a person dies in an accident, what types of coffee machines were there and how long it took to mail a letter overseas in the 1960s.

When researching types of coffee machines, I came across many articles. However, the one I found most reliable was on the website Oncoffeemakers.com. This website gave me the information necessary to give an accurate portrayal of Walter having a coffee machine at home and pouring himself a cup of coffee. The information I gained from finding out what types of telephones was from CBS news and WebUrbanist. I used this information to give an accurate portrayal of when Ruth calls Beneatha about the news of Mamas death. I also researched what happens to the body of a person killed in an accident. Since I did not already know this information, I wanted to make sure it was correct and not just assumed. Therefore, when researching I came across two articles on Aftermath and MedicalDaily. I found out that a body usually goes to the morgue then to a funeral home in the 1960s. I used this information to end my scene with Walter and Ruth wanting to go and see Mama’s body at the morgue. Lastly, I researched how long it takes to send a letter across seas during the

1960s. I came across the information that it takes about a week on a website called Linn’s Stamp News. This information leads to the next scene when Travis receives the letter in Vietnam. Additionally, I used what I knew from A Raisin in the Sun to build my characters and to add more to the plot in my scene. Besides researching, I also looked over my group mates work to make sure all the stage direction were initialized and I even went back and bolded all the names in the stage direction and when the character says the line. I also help my group members with ideas when they had writer's block or were just stuck on what to say next. Overall, my group was pretty functional although some group members need more reminders and a push than others.