The Sun is Also a Star: Chapter 83 Summary & Analysis

Natasha explains that she and Samuel used to be inseparably close. They were the dreamers, while Patricia and Peter were the "non-dreamers." Natasha listened to her dad talk long after her mom and Peter stopped listening, but that changed when Natasha was thirteen. Patricia was tired of living in a one-bedroom apartment and making so little money. She often lamented her fate to Natasha.

Then, Samuel lost his job. He said that maybe it was a blessing that would allow him to pursue acting, but he seldom auditioned. One afternoon, Peter and Natasha arrived home from school to find him in the living room, reciting lines from A Raisin in the Sun. Samuel was holding the script, even though he had it memorized. He was reciting a monologue about seeing his future stretched out, empty, in front of him. When he noticed his children, he seemed ashamed that they'd caught him, and he scolded them.

After that, Natasha and Samuel didn't do things together anymore. He began spending all his time in the bedroom, reading and reciting long and dramatic monologues. Patricia took extra shifts to make ends meet, and Natasha began working during the summers. Two months ago, Samuel managed to get a part in a small production of A Raisin in the Sun. When he told Patricia, she asked him flatly how much he was getting paid. Everyone was shocked that she reacted this way, but Natasha suggests that her mom wasn't at fault—her dad spent years living in plays instead of the real world, and neither Patricia nor Natasha have time to dream anymore.