Lorraine Hansberry on characters

 What values do you have that did not come from your culture?

That question comes from Lorraine Hansberry. She used to ask it about characters in her plays. It’s telling in drama, telling also in ethics.

One of the recurring themes in this collection of notes is how human beings come to religious beliefs. That’s one of those things that comes from the culture.

It’s interesting that Hansberry thought that a writer, in developing a character, had to get to at least one value that came from somewhere else.

Her question is a master class for writers.