Lorraine Hansberry? Stephen King? Helene Keyssar? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: I am trying to find the source of the following dialogue. The setting was a breakfast table. One person enthusiastically described a grand plan and said, “I have a dream” or “I want to fly”. The other person attenuated the emotional intensity by simply saying “Eat your eggs”.
This exchange has been attributed to playwright Lorraine Hansberry and horror author Stephen King. Would you please help me to find the precise dialogue together with a citation?
Reply from Quote Investigator: Lorraine Hansberry’s play “A Raisin in the Sun” was produced in New York in 1959. The character Walter ardently described a plan for opening a liquor store with two friends. Walter was hoping to obtain the seed money for this venture from a family member. But Ruth was skeptical, and she attempted to change the topic of conversation:1
RUTH Walter, leave me alone! (She raises her head and stares at him vigorously—then says, more quietly) Eat your eggs, they gonna be cold.
WALTER (Straightening up from her and looking off) That’s it. There you are. Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs. (Sadly, but gaining in power) Man say: I got to take hold of this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work. (Passionately now) Man say: I got to change my life, I’m choking to death, baby! And his woman say — (In utter anguish as he brings his fists down on his thighs) — Your eggs is getting cold!
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1981 educator Helene Keyssar published an analysis of the play “A Raisin in the Sun”. Her critique was reprinted in the 1991 compilation “Contemporary Literary Criticism”. Keyssar discussed the important scene between Walter and Ruth:2
Walter is quick to reveal his purpose: He wants Ruth to convince his mother to give him the money she is about to receive so that he, with two other men, can invest it in a liquor store.
Ruth responds with some skepticism but mostly with disinterest. As she reminds Walter to eat his eggs, the eggs again become a source of humor and a more serious message. In a funny but bitter diatribe, Walter summarizes his frustration and his view of the condition of marital relationships: “That’s it. There you are. Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs … “
In 2000 Stephen King published “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” which referred to Hansberry’s play. King misremembered the key dialogue, but he did capture its emotional resonance:3
There’s a place in A Raisin in the Sun where a character cries out: “I want to fly! I want to touch the sun!” to which his wife replies, “First eat your eggs.”
In 2014 the play “A Raisin in the Sun” was revived on Broadway and “The New Yorker” published an article which mentioned the pivotal scene between Walter and Ruth:4
But Walter resents her unwillingness to entertain his dreams:
RUTH: Walter, leave me alone! Eat your eggs, they gonna be cold.
WALTER: That’s it. There you are. Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs …
In conclusion, Lorraine Hansberry deserves credit for the lines spoken by the characters Walter and Ruth in the 1959 play “A Raisin in the Sun”. In 1980 Stephen King presented a modified version of the dialogue based on his imperfect memory.
Image Notes: Egg with a pink background from Leti Kugler at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Amy Thonnings whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
- 1958 Copyright, A Raisin in the Sun: A Drama in Three Acts by Lorraine Hansberry, (Note: A Raisin in the Sun was first presented at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York on March 11, 1959), Act 1, Scene 1, Quote Page 15, Random House, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1991, Contemporary Literary Criticism: Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Today’s Novelists, Poets, Playwrights, and other Creative Writers, Edited by Roger Matuz, Article: Sounding the Rumble of Dreams Deferred: Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ by Helene Keyssar, (Reprinted from: The Curtain and the Veil: Strategies in Black Drama, 1981) Start Page 228, Quote Page 231, Gale Research Inc., Detroit, Michigan. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2000, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King, Section: C.V., Chapter 23, Quote Page 65, Scribner, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2014 April 14, The New Yorker, Volume 90, Number 8, Free Man of Color by Hilton Als, (Review of Broadway show “A Raisin in the Sun”), Start Page 71, Quote Page 72, Column 1, Condé Nast: A Division of Advance Magazine Publishers, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎