Walter Younger In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Walter struggles in understanding who he needs to be for his family. He wants to take his place as the patriarch of the family, but he feels incapable of providing them with the lifestyle they deserve. This concern is always at the forefront of his mind, and it affects his attitude and outlook. The anxiety that Walter is dealing with creates confrontation with his sister. He fears that her dream will interfere with his own agenda of making a better life for his family. The severity of the tension becomes more and more apparent with Walter’s unwise investment. Walter is dealing with the burden that he has let his family down, while Beneatha is flabbergasted by the reality that her future has been snatched away from her, and she had no control over it. While reflecting on the situation, Beneatha remarks, “ I sound like a human who just had her future taken right out of my hands! While I was sleeping….things were happening in this world that directly concerned me and nobody consulted me—they just went out and did things—and changed my life” (Hansberry 3.15). Walter and Beneatha’s individual issues with the outcome of the situation cause them to find fault with one another during a time when their family needs to pull together to get through such a financial hardship. Walter is in an emotional pit; his turning to alcohol and music instead of his family for support expands the

All in all Mama and Walters dreams both involve money. Mama shows us her longing for the acceptance of society when she immediately buys a house in a white neighborhood, to provide for her family. Walter shows us his desperation to be a valuable human being when he steals money in hopes of starting his liquor business. Walter wants to be respected and live a happy lifestyle for this family. He longs to be the head of the household. Walter see’s himself with a liquor store as having power. It isn’t till the end until he rethinks the values of himself and his family’s future about how there is more to living than just having material riches. Mama only yearns for her family to be respected and live up to what society perceives.

This only further infuriates Walter. Not only does his mother make a complete power-grab by buying the house; she bought it in a cracker neighborhood! Walter storms out and is almost ready to kill someone over it. He feels he has lost his only shot at power. Walter comes back home screaming at his whole family, they don’t support him, especially his mother. He accuses her of not supporting his dream.

A Raisin in the Sun is a drama that is a “Man vs. Society” type story. Walter Younger is the protagonist of the story even though he isn’t a traditional hero, evident by him stealing Beneatha’s college fund. Almost every protagonist is sympathetic, just because they are put in the spotlight and the audience wants to sympathise with him or her. Walter is the man and the societal issue he

Walter seems to be overcome with a search for power and a drive to become wealthy and leave the life of being a worker behind him. It also shows that he cares for his family seeing how he is striving to give them the best, but that aspect is overshadowed by his greed. I feel the scene also shows the Younger family at its lowest point in the movie. Walter is on the complete edge and is thinking of stealing a community's money and the rest of the family, besides Momma, seemed to lose their faith and trust in him. When things seemed hopeless with the loss of the money, they only became worse as a loss in more than money occurred. A loss in their character, faith, history, and respect for each other overcame the family, particularly Walter and Beneatha. Nevertheless, Momma soon sets Beneatha straight with an emotional and positive speech about how there is "always something left to love" and sets the standard that the family should adhere to. It marks the turning point at the end of the movie

In the beginning Walter is very selfish and only seems to care about the liquor store, he even asks Beneatha why she can’t just be a nurse or marry a rich man. The reason he says this to her is because he wants her to not go to medical school. Walter would rather invest the money rather than use it to pay for her schooling. Walter puts his own selfish needs before his family’s

After telling the exciting news of the family moving into their own house, Walter was furiated. Mama found Walter half drunk at the bar later that day, from the aggravation and negative energy the family gave off on him earlier that day. Walter and Mama have a conversation at the bar, and Mama is willing to give him 6,500 dollars and she ask him to promise her he will put half away in the bank for Beneatha's education, giving Walter the rest toward his business partnership. At this part of the book Walter saw that Mama had trusted Walter with the money his father had worked so hard for all of his life. He promised Mama that he would not let her down. Knowing Walter being so tempted by his dream of the liquor business, he finally had a decent amount of money to put him and his family into a good position. Walter no thought in the mind, puts the full 6,500 dollars towards the liquor business leaving nothing for Beneatha. Walter being so greedy, thought he knew what was best, and yet he is running into a bigger problem he would had never

     Tom and Walter are in similar situations. They are living almost in poverty, and they are denied authority. Walter’s goal is not selfish, in that it is not just for him, but also for the benefit of the entire family.

     As Walter's dreams become bigger and bigger, he seems to neglect the 'smaller' things such as his family. "Here I am a giant surrounded by ants! Ants who can't even understand what the giant is talking about,? (Hansberry 85). Walter has big ideals, but his methods of achieving his goals and ideals are somewhat irrational. Walter can be regarded as more concerned with becoming self-employed without really thinking about the consequences, which may be imposed on his family. Later in play, Walter learns that he needs to set his dreams aside for the sake of the

In ''A Raisin in the Sun'' Hansberry uses Walter Lee Younger to represent the ambitious but, uninformed African American family. Walter's main role in 'A Raisin in the Sun' is to personify the African American families that make many gambles, which eventually lead to complete failure. Walter is shadowed by greed and ignorance which causes him to fail to achieve the success he wishes to gain. Walter Lee Youngers' greed is exemplified when he talks about, "Check coming today." (Hansberry 26). Walter's lack of wisdom and hard headedness allows him to portray American success, which he hopes of achieving in a very short time. When Walter Younger fails at what he has been trying to do he exclaims, "THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY FATHER'S FLESH."

Secondly, Walter viewed money as life. Money made him think of him reaching the pinnacle of his dream. Walter told Beneatha “You know the check is coming tomorrow” (Hansberry 928) which clearly demonstrate his eagerness for the money. Throughout the play, money is dominating his thoughts and he never stops asking about the money check that is coming from his father’s death insurance policy. He can not wait for it to come and make his dream come true. All Walter wants was to invest the money into the liquor store. In the play, when Walter heard Mama had bought house with the money, Walter was really upset with Mama. Bitterly Walter said “So that’s the peace and comfort you went out and bought for us today!” ( Hansberry 961). Walter lost his dignity and honor here because his uncontrollable desire for the money makes him really angry towards his Mama. As the play continues, Mama had some money left for Beneatha 's schooling and some of money for Walter

One reason that Walter does not achieve his dream is the fact that he is envious. For example, Walter’s job as a chauffeur requires him to drive around rich, white men all day. He recalls that when he is downtown he passes “‘...them cool, quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking ‘bout things...sitting there turning deals worth millions of dollars...sometimes I see guys that don't look much older than me’” (Hansberry 74). This shows that he wishes he had the life of a successful businessman instead of a chauffeur. Moreover, Walter is jealous of George Murchison, who has an interest in Walter’s sister, Beneatha. He insults Murchison by saying “‘I know ain't nothing in this world as busy as you colored college boys with your fraternity pins and white shoes’” (Hansberry 84). This implies that Walter wishes he had the life George had, and has to

Walter and Beneatha have a totally different mindset then Mama because of the way they grew up. The two children grew up in a different era then Mama they both were involved in racial eras, but in Walters and Beneathas era is more open time. The success and morels are bigger of the two children Walters morals is all about money rather than family because he thinks that money will make him into the leader of the family, and be able to get them anything they want. Beneatha is just like her brother that the basic is just not enough even her friend Asagai gave her a name that means “bread is not enough” (Hansberry, Raisin 1604) he is just saying that the basic stuff is just not enough for her she needs more. Success in Walters’s eyes is all about money, and it’s not all about him being greedy it’s just all about wanting to have more for the family. At the beginning of the play Walters’s son wanted fifty cents for school but when Travis asked his mom she said no then he asked Walter and he gave him the fifty cents like it was nothing. Walter just wanted his son to look up at him and see that he is a big successful man. Hansberry wrote “When we first meet him, he does not wish to alter it; merely to change his position in it” ”(Hansberry, Willie

A Raisin in the Sun is about a poor family who struggles to survive about to get a check that will change their lives. Walter lee younger wants to open a liquor store with the money. Ruth wants to invest with

In the beginning of the story all Walter wanted was the money. He didn’t care about his other family member’s ideas on what to do with it. This lead him to be really selfish and egotistical. This can be shown many times throughout the play. One particular part was when Walter was in the kitchen with Ruth and and of course, Walter was babbling about the money and his dreams of owning a