Walter Raisin In The Sun Quote Analysis

Walter Lee is stubborn, very ambitious, and filled with pride at the beginning of the story. He strives for success with the money “Mama,” also known as Lena got from the life insurance from her husband who recently passed away. Walter was so selfish all he wanted was to provide a better life for he and his family because he was not satisfied with their current standards of living. He wants more and wishes to become rich because he believes he never had enough growing up, but at the same time he wants to provide money and societal respect for his family. He put his trust with the money into a person who betrayed him and he ended up losing it all including his sisters schooling money. After this scene in the play Walter was at his lowest point,

Ruth stresses the importance of maintaining a good image of her family. When George arrives to take Beneatha out, Walter and Beneatha are not being well mannered, so Ruth takes control and tries to make-up for their behavior. “Beneatha, you got company-what’s the matter with you? Walter Lee Younger, get down off that table and stop acting like a fool…(80)” Ruth is also independent and kind.

Because of this new depression, Walter starts to get himself wasted every day. He hasn’t been showing up to work, and faces the prospect of losing his job. Mama, realizing the potentially catastrophic effect this can have on her family, must intervene. She gives her son the one thing he has always wanted, power. She gives him the remaining $6,500 to use as he wishes (except for the $3,000 to Beneatha’s continued

Walter Younger wants to invest his money, and is tired of the white man stopping his desires. His dreams are to have money, so he can live the American dream just like the fellow white men. Also to provide for his family, and most importantly his children. He works as a chauffeur opening door, and driving the white man around. Walter in the story struggles with his living, and the poverty that his family are in. In the story, Walter tries to invest his money into opening a liquor business. After losing his money in the investment. Towards the end of the movie, he starts to realize that his dreams are already there. This was a major inciting incident in the story. To repeat, Walter and his family dreams are crushed by Walters poor choices.

Walter focused solely on the money and this caused him to think that all the money is his and he can go and do as he pleases. He was obviously disappointed when Mama did not give him any of the money initially but when she entrusted him with the remaining $6,500 it brought about a sense of pride and responsibility that had long eluded him. It was almost a renewing moment for Walter as his family life changed for the better since he was now acting as the man of the house.

Walter instead of begging at the feet of Mr. Linder accepting the money too not move in the white neighborhood he, stands his ground on behalf of the family and states that they’ve worked hard their whole lives and are deserving of a spot in the white neighborhood, and despite discrimination are ready to live their lives in that neighborhood. At that point Walter got the respect from his sister who rarely admits her love towards him but, also the infatuation and justification from his wife, Ruth, who was very proud. When Mr. Linder tried to move onto Mrs. Younger (Mama-Lena) she state’s “I am afraid you don’t understand. My son said we was going to move and there ain’t nothing left for me to say.” (3.1.137) standing by her son and completely supporting him and his decision as the head of the household. Walter finally felt his manhood coming back, as Mr. Linder shut his briefcase and welcomed them too the neighborhood despite the problems they will face later on. The family celebrated and packed their stuff into the moving trucks immediately, and headed for the start of their new lives!

Exposition The characters are introduced by Hansberry. It is the 1950’s in a tiny apartment in Southside Chicago. The Younger family has just suffered the loss of Walter’s dad, with a $10,000 inheritance check supposedly to arrive in the near future. Upon hearing about the check, Walter, the protagonist, hopes to be able to take the money to invest in a liquor store. His sister, Beneatha hopes to be able to use it to attend medical school and Mama

The Younger family has not been able to experience the finer things in life, and Walter, being the authoritative male figure, feels he is at fault knows that a change is needed. Walter’s solution is to use his father’s life insurance money to fund the acquiring of a liquor license. The women of the household are always ordering around Walter. It’s Ruth, Mama, or Beneatha telling him how to run things, and when he gets a chance to take the initiative by using the money to invest in his liquor license, his friend betrays him, and his dreams are crushed.

Walter’s mother comes in the room when he receives the terrible news and asks, “ Son… is it gone? All of it? Beneatha’s money too?” which soon leads to Walter Lee’s admittance of the loss saying, “I never went to the bank at all… Yes...All of it… It’s all gone, ”soon ensuring his beating from his mother (Hansberry 561). When the family finds out about this tragedy, the instant instinct of all of the family members was to blame it all on Walter Lee, accusing him of being the reason they will not achieve their dreams. The family does not stop to think about the pain and embarrassment Walter is going through and Lena, the mother of the family, is quick to bring this up saying, “Have you cried for that boy today? I don’t mean for yourself or for the family cause we lost the money. I mean for him: what he been through and what it done to him… Make sure you done taken into account what hills and what valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is,” ensuring that no one person in the family could blame Walter for the deferral of their dreams due to the loss of their money (Hansberry 573). The family has one goal each of them selfishly wants. Each has a different plan they desire with the money they are going to acquire, such as when Beneatha says she plans to become a doctor. The family knows this will be a costly choice and Walter is quick to say, “Have we figured out yet just how much that medical

Walter Lee Younger starts off the play as a man who is selfish and immature, willing to put money before family.

Walter begins to drink, stay away from home, and to constantly argue with his wife, Ruth. Walter's life is contrasted by the role of his recently widowed mother, who holds to more traditional values of acceptance of life's lot and of making the best of any situation. Walter Lee's "Mama" holds Walter's father up as an example of a man with pride and a man that, despite racial injustice in a dualistic society, worked hard to provide for his family. This adds to Walter's frustration. Walter now feels incapable and small in his mama's eyes.

Beneatha is referring to the fact that Walter plots and schemes get more ridiculous as time goes on. She wonders however, if there will be a limit to just how far he will go to attempt to provide a better life. He plans to go into business with his friends and buy a liquor store. However, furthermore, Mama will not allow him to spend obtained insurance check for 10,000 dollars, and instead plans to give most of her money to Beneatha for medical school. Walter, in a way, is jealous of his sister, for she will be able to fulfill her dreams of becoming a doctor. He, however, will have to keep living a monotonous life, not being able to support his family the way that he would like. He is also angry because Beneatha will get a large sum of Mama’s insurance money, and he will not receive a penny. This dispute leads to general hostility and overall anger in the household. Because of this animosity, there is much verbal abuse that takes place within the household, and also leads to the Walter’s alcohol abuse. Throughout the play, Lorraine Hansberry displays conflict through the lives of her characters.

Walter Lee in Raisin in the Sun is considered to be the most complex character due to his dramatic actions through his decision making throughout the play. Walter is a 35-year-old who lives with his wife Ruth, son Travis, mother Lena and his sister Beneatha. He is interchangeable, ambitious, driven man who has taken on the responsibility of being the man of the family due to the fact that his father has passed on, making him the main provider for his son and wife, but also for his sister and mother too. Walter is more concerned about making money than making his family happy and proud of him as a man. Walter would sacrifice anything in order to gain respect, and his way of achieving this would be to ensure that he is in a better financial standing that his family already is in. Walter can also be viewed as an angry man, mainly angry at his current financial situation, and is seen to be very argumentative with family. For example, his is seen to be arguing with his sister in the beginning of the play saying, ‘Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you crazy ‘bout messing’ round with sick people – than go be a nurse like other woman – or just get married and be quiet’ (Hansberry, 1959: 499), this proves that Walter does not think about the future of his family but only the

Walter Lee Younger is the main character in the play. He is selfish, money hungry, controlling and an angry man. Walter has a bad relationship with the rest of his family. He never listens to his wife when it comes to important things that will affect the rest of the family. Walter says (without thinking) “who even cares about you.” He always puts his sister down and tells her that she shouldn't be a doctor because that's a man's job and she needs to stay in a woman's place and be a nurse. “Who the hell told you that you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy about messing round with sick people then go be like a nurse like other woman.” Some of Walter's frustrations with life are his job and the white society. Walter is a chauffeur he wants to be the one in the back seat and not the one who is driving around the white man. He has

Linders deal would be a type of damnation for the Lees on a personal level for their family dignity but also on a wider scale as it would betray the entire black community It is only when the Lee family is able to reject the deal that they achieve a moral victory. Walter has called Mr. Linder to the house and Walter plans on selling his soul to Mr. Linder and degrading his family and his black community. Beneatha realizes this and says “Well – we are dead now. All the talk about dreams and sunlight that goes on in this house. It’s all dead now”(143). Beneatha sees that what her older brother is doing is going to ruin them and the family's future will be gone. Mama makes her grandchild, Travis, stay and watch his dad so he will witness what his dad has become. Walter quickly changes gears while looking into his sons eyes and realizes he wants his son to have a future just like his father wanted him to have a future. Walter tells Mr. Linder “This is my son, and he makes the sixth generation our family in this country. And we have all thought about your offer – […] And we have decided to move into our house because my father – my father – he earned it for us brick by brick”(148). Walter not only wants to keep the house for his son, he wants to keep the house in honor of his father. Mr. Linder turns from Walter and tries to get Mama to take his deal. Mr.Linder is shocked to hear Mama tell him that Walter’s word was final and that she has nothing else to say. It