A Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Walter Younger wants to be a “real man”. His dream is to become successful in business and make his family rich. However, when all his money is stolen, he becomes very pessimistic, abandoning the ideas of morality and dignity. At the end of the play, his son Travis inspires him to value his family’s pride over materialism. Over the course of the play, Walter’s view of manhood changes from someone wealthy and successful to a person who has pride and believes in human dignity.

Walter just cared about money he didn’t care about nothing he was only interested in money because he wanted to open a liquor store so he was only interested in mama’s money,mama didn’t want to give him the money for something like that. Walter didn’t care about his wife being pregnant because he was mad at mama for buying a house so walter didn't care about anythng.Walter didn’t believe in his sister beneatha wanting to be a doctor he told her to just be a nurse. Walter was just waiting for the money to come because he was thinking mama would give him that money. Mama didnt give the money to walter so he got mad and run away from home and did not show up for two days.WALTER…Just tell me where you want to go to school and you’ll go. Just tell me, what it is you want to be – and you’ll be it….Whatever you want to be – Yessir! (He holds his arms open for TRAVIS) You just name it, son…(TRAVIS leaps into them) and I hand you the world! (lorraine Hansberry,pg.2.2.131)

He thinks about Ruth, his wife, and treating her better when he thinks about becoming wealthy from the liquor store business. He talks about his dream to his son and tells him that he would buy Ruth a good car, “Rich people don’t have to be flashy…though I’ll have to get something a little sportier for Ruth—maybe a Cadillac convertible to do her shopping in…” (109). Walter is not a selfish person; he does not want to get rich only to make his own life better and buy himself a yacht, but he also cares deeply about his family. Moreover, Walter wants to improve Ruth’s job, and it is seen when Mama does not want to invest in his liquor store, he mentions Ruth: “Yeah—and tell it to my wife, Mama, tomorrow when she has to go out of here to look after somebody else’s kids” (71). His heart aches seeing his wife work to take care of others’ kids when she should be looking after her own, and he blames it on himself and his inability. After losing the check money, he calls Lindner, a white man, to pay them money for not moving into an all-white neighborhood. Again, his behavior seems irresponsible to other people in his family, but he just wants to get as much money back as possible to make up for the money he wastes. He says that Lindner would get in their house and he would be, “able to write checks for more than [they] ever had” (143). He is not trying to be selfish after all; he just wants to put pearls around his wife’s neck: “Yes, I want to hang some real pearls ‘round my wife’s neck. Ain’t she supposed to wear no pearls?” (143). His intentions are all for a good purpose, and it is very simple, just the rest of his family does not support him and does not agree with his

Lorraine Hansberry purposely used Walter as one character to represent the theme Money and Mortality. Walter’s character is revealed by a narrator, the narrator can simply identify that Walter is a very overprotective person when it comes to the topic of money. “Without even looking at his son, he begins to hard stare at his wife”. The narrator can identify this quote to Walter because; in the beginning of the play Walter and Ruth had an argument over the insurance check. This quote can be related to the theme Money and Mortality because; the narrator identified the concern of money towards Walter. “You know what the check is coming tomorrow”. The author, Lorraine Hansberry shows on how Walter is very excited to receive the check. This second quote from the play can show Walter’s concern with the check; the narrator can identify this by showing on how Walter is constantly reminding Ruth about the check. After Ruth tells Travis they have no extra money to give to him for school; Walter

Do we live in society of money & morality? In the play “Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry. This book illustrated the family values, morals and struggles. Which so happen that the family goes through tragic times but still remains to love each other through the good times and bad. The character I choose was Walter Lee for developing through the experiences of money and morality because in the beginning I viewed how Walter had a nasty attitude from every character in the play.

No matter how hard they try, there are some people who cannot get ahead in life. Walter Lee Younger is a man who is frustrated with his current position in life, and every disappointment he has encountered thus far. Although he tries to be a loving man, sometimes he does not know how to show the idea of love, 'Sometimes...sometimes...I don't even know how to try' (Hansberry 89). His position in life can be regarded as symbolic of every black male struggling to provide for his family by any means necessary. Although Walter has a job, it seems inadequate for his survival. As a result, he has become frustrated and lacks good judgement. Throughout this play Walter searches

His search for wealth not only affects himself but also his family. Not only does Walter ask Mama for his father’s life insurance money, he also refuses to act responsibly with his wealth “In fact, here’s another fifty cents…Buy yourself some fruit today—or take a taxicab to school or something” (31)! In this quote, Walter gives money to Travis against Ruth’s wishes. The passage exemplifies Walter’s desires to have power and wealth. He takes power from Ruth by going against what she has already told Travis. Walter uses money as a way to exercise this power, even if it may not be pragmatic for the family. From his perspective, he has the right to exercise his authority, because he is the man of the house. Walter thinks he has to exert this power due to his feelings of insecurity. He feels left out of prosperity and notices many instances of wealth in the outside

Every black male's plight in America can be regarded as a provider for his family. However, society does not afford black males the benefit of feeling secure about providing for their families. It can be easy for anyone to criticize society and place the blame on America for not affording Walter the opportunities of his white counterparts. Walter does not have control over his own responsibilities. Therefore, if he was given all the resources needed to provide his family his poor judgement and lack of business sense would create further stress on the family. Ruth, Mama, and his sister Beanetha attack him from every angle about his doubtful ideals. Ironically, those ideals are what Walter needs to shape and justify his manhood. Without ideals and proper resources to obtain them, a man's existence can be regarded as insignificannot

Walter’s concern for money is driving him crazy. “Anybody who talks to me has to be a good-for-nothing loudmouth, ain’t he ?...” (Hansberry, pg.32). This quote shows how money is always on Walter’s mind and is a consistent reason for dispute between Ruth and Walter. Another quote that shows how Water is constantly worried about acquiring money would be “No it was always money, Mama. We just didn’t know about it.” (Hansberry pg. 72). Walter’s perspective or overall goal in life is to become rich, so that his family

Walter has proven that he is extremely selfish while talking to Mama about why he is so infatuated with money. “Because it’s life, Mama!” (Hansberry 74). Walter refuses to see why opening a liquor store is so bad, as he does not agree that it is a waste of money to just gamble away. He has ultimately blocked out the opinions and views of his family and he only focuses on the life insurance check that is soon to come in. He wishes to put all his blind faith, and money, into his acquaintances which his sister Beneatha has warned him are unreliable. He is extremely carless with the money he has not yet been given. While talking to Beneatha’s date, Asagai, Walter drunkenly slurs that he wishes to talk to Asagai’s father about business. “Big. Invest big, gamble big, hell, lose big if you have to” (Hansberry 84). If Walter is so careless with the money he does not yet hold it in his hands, how would he behave with money he will possess? As Walter continues to express his ideas to the family, it is clear how selfishly invested he is in the liquor store more than he is in his own family’s

How to become a man technically? Walter Younger Jr. was a character, which had a mind full of hopes in “A Raisin in the Sun” of Lorraine Hansberry. He imagined his life would be rich and full of power; however, it was his dreams that he wanted to prove for his family that he would live in peace with money and power as White people during that time. Walter failed numerous times of trying to open his dream liquor store, loosing the money from his father’s savings. Walter emphasized his “masculine” every time he discussed with his family and after he gave out the speech of his final decision of moving their family lived in the house surrounded by White people area at the end. He understood that became a man was not hard if he could provide the need for his family after have been through many parallel struggles must face such as: American Dreams, Female Gender Identify, Masculinity, Afrocentrism, and Society Classes with Black people at that moment.

The quote ,”Mama: Oh—So now it’s life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life—now it’s money. I guess the world really do change . . .Walter: No—it was always money, Mama. We just didn’t know about it.” (Hansberry, pg. 74). Mama tells Walter that life hasn’t always been about money, life has been about freedom but to Walter life has always been about money. Mama wants Walter to realize that there's more than just having money in life to be happy, but to Walter money has always been the key to happiness because since he sees all the white folk that have money enjoy the lives they have he assumes it's because of the

He is very ambitious and determined in his goals of becoming successful. At the same time he is very immature and naive. He is also very passionate and emotional and this sometimes blocks out his decision making. Walter is dead set on opening up the liquor store in the beginning of the novel and sees it as a way to better the life of his family. In addition he is not content with his current life. His immaturity is revealed when he argues with his adult sister and also when he has frequent emotional breakdowns. An example of his constant fighting with his sister is when he says “You a horrible-looking chick at this hour” (p.35). This displays Walter’s juvenile behavior, since at thirty-five Walter is still fighting with his sister. Walter is like a roller coaster going emotionally up and down. He reaches his highs when he was about to buy the liquor store. Contrary he hits rock bottom when he finds out Willy ran off with the money. Although never said Walter likely suffers from bipolar disorder given his constant mood swings. Nevertheless while the rest of the Younger’s see their lives going down the drain Walter still has optimism and hope. He views the money as a way out the Younger’s current living conditions. Walter was so determined to achieve his dream that he became gullible and naïve and convinced himself that things have to go right, but when they did not he lost his mind. Walter is

Throughout the play A Raisin in the Sun by Larraine Hansberry, one theme is persistent and that is the theme of manhood. Manhood has the ability to be defined in many different ways depending on the person and the situations that they currently face. This statement parallels the play as each man in the story has a different idea manhood and how they should carry themselves. This play also brings in the idea that manhood can change within oneself to accommodate a new situation. The three main ideas of manhood in the play stem from two characters, one idea from Joseph Asagai, and the others from Walter Lee Younger. Joseph Asagai’s definition of manhood is being close to one’s roots and being able to better one’s community. Walter Lee Younger’s begins the play believing manhood is being able to provide for your family and later in the play it switches to being able to protect and stand up for your family.

Walter makes some bad decisions in the play such as taking Beneatha's college money, giving Bobo the liquor store money, and calling Mr. Linder for him to buy the house. But at the end of the play we slowly start to see Walter transcend into a man by taking by taking pride in his family and their wishes. To start, Mama gave Walter $6,500 to deposit $3,000 for Beneatha's education and keep $3,500 for himself. When Mama told Walter this, Walter was filled with excitement and called up his friends to get a start on their liquor company. Walter was being selfish and ignorant at the time by not setting aside money for Beneatha's education.