Another omission from the original stage production, but one which appears in the complete version (and in the American Playhouse presentation), is in the scene in which Travis is playing with a group of neighborhood boys; for sport, they are chasing a rat. Later, Travis is at home, telling his family about the fun he had chasing the rat with his friends.
In each of these scenes which were omitted from the original stage production, Hansberry was attempting to make a deeply felt statement. In the scene with Mrs. Johnson, Hansberry takes a position on the Booker T. Washingron/W. E. B. Du Bois debate, in which Hansberry is clearly siding with Du Bois. Hansberry is also using this scene to poke fun at the blacks who are too fearful of racist reprisals to demand equality.
In the scene where Beneatha unveils the natural look, Hansberry is making a statement on the identity crisis within the black community long before the Afrocentric awakening of the 90s.
In the scene where Travis is chasing a rat for sport, Hansberry is attempting to show the horrors that daily confront the children of the poor.
