Walter Younger is the most hopeful character throughout the play, A Raisin in the Sun. He has hopes of providing for his family, even if his hopes may not be the best way to go about earning a living. Throughout the play he is always saying how he wants to provide a better life and home for his family. He is so focused on that goal that he fails to realize the impact of his dreams on the remainder of his family. Walter Younger possesses the traits of an African American man living in Chicago during the times of oppression wanting to live the American Dream.
In the exposition of the play, Walter is obsessed with the check coming in the mail, and Mama giving him the money so he can open a liquor store with two of his friends, Bobo and Willy. The liquor store is the way in which Walter plans to provide a decent life for his family and for himself. He wants the power over the white man, and he believes the liquor store will make him even, or even superior to the white man during the times of oppression. He feels undermined, because he is a chauffeur and because his son, Travis, has to sleep on the couch because they cannot afford to buy a bigger place. However, his obsession with his dream takes a negative toll on the other members of his family. The money is Mama’s and so she gets to decide what to do with it. She plans to put part of it toward her daughter, Beneatha’s, tuition to become a doctor. Beneatha and Walter’s wife, Ruth, both share the belief that the money is Mama’s to spend and she should be the one to decide what to do with it. Walter is so obsessed with his dream that he fails to notice his wife’s unhappiness that pushes her to the decision to get an abortion. His dreams of a better life actually cause h...
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... the realization that he does not need a liquor store to make him happy. He needs his family to be happy in order for him to be happy. Walter matures throughout the story, and his American Dream disappears, and new dreams appear.
Walter Younger is the most dynamic character throughout A Raisin in the Sun. The reader can see the immense change in his character: from needing money and power to buy his happiness to his families happiness providing his happiness. He starts off wanting the liquor store, and then he ends up standing up to a racist man so his family can be happy and proud of him. At first, he fails to realize his wife’s and mother’s unhappiness, but throughout the story he begins to notice and he, in turn, becomes more mature. Walter faces some set backs on his dreams and happiness, but in the end he turns out to be a better person because of them.
A Raisin In the Sun is about the characters overwhelming feeling in the importance of achieving their individual dreams. Beneatha’s need to become a doctor, Ruth’s desperation for a home, and Walter’s cry for money to invest played a deep role in the theme of this play. Without their dreams, the play would be nothing. So, how desperate can one be for a
Development of characters are shown in multiple events and situations within A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry that will either leave the character changed or not. Walter Younger Jr. undertakes multiple changes throughout the text which develops characteristics of his way of thinking. His experiences change his morals and his appreciation for his family and his surroundings for what they are. Walter’s understanding and feelings are also shown throughout the text, where he becomes a more advanced individual within himself and for his family. Walter is confronted by the event of having another child when his wife, Ruth, shares the information about what has happened and what her plans are to resolve and continue the scenario.
In A Raisin In The Sun, there is a diverseness of character personalities. Walter Lee for starters is a chauffeur for a white man, he has a temper when challenged or upset, and socializes with a crummy crowd. Ruth, Walter’s wife, is an early bird, remains at home to tend the house, and maintains a laundry service for the apartment complex they inhabit. Travis, son of Walter and Ruth, is an innocent young boy who wishes to obtain an occupation, but has been shielded from needing to do so. Beneatha, Walter’s sister, is a lackadaisical, inconsiderate, jobless, sassy, realist who bounces from hobby to hobby. Lena, mother of Walter and Beneatha, is a tenacious elderly female who is an avid Christian that works as a maid for a white family, actively shows passion for her children’s dreams, and possesses the insurance check from her husband’s eradication that may be able to materialize those fantasies into reality.
Walter Sr. was Walter and Beneathas father he died and his wife mama received ten thousand dollar for life insurance. Walter wants the whole ten thousand dollars for himself and put it down on the liquor store. But Beneatha wants to go to medical school and be a doctor. Walter thinks that it is selfish of Beneatha that she wants to attend medical school because he then wouldn't get all of the money for the liquor store. Beneatha "that money belongs to Mama, Walter, and its for her to decide how she wants to use it. I don't care if she wants to buy a house or a rocket ship or just nail it up somewhere and look at it. It's hers. Not ours hers." Mamas getting all the money and it is up to her if she wants the money for herself give it to Beneatha for school or give it to Walter for the liquor store. Now that it is getting closer to the date in which the money will arrive. Walter is acting more and more desperate for that money.
In the movie Raisin in the Sun, the plot focuses on the struggles of The Younger family, an African American family that lives in a cramped apartment in urban Chicago. The Younger’s main struggle within the movie is determining how to spend the inheritance money that their recently deceased Walter Younger Snr had left behind as his legacy. Within the family dynamics lies a conflict between the ideals of Walter Snr’s wife, Lena and her stubborn son Walter who wants to use the money to grow a alcohol business, become rich, and lose his dignity as a hard working man. Another main conflict is between Beneatha and her brother, Walter, her momma, Lena, and Ruth, her pregnant sister-in-law.
Walter is a selfish, self-absorbed, drunk who throughout the play is making decisions based on what he thinks will help his theoretical liquor store. He takes from the people that he is supposed to love the most and smothers their dreams. It’s hard to feel bad for Walter but when you take a deeper look into his life it is easier to understand what is happening with him. Walter has never lived anywhere other than the family apartment and he wants more for his son. He wants to be able to send him to college and give him a better life than he had. So, what does he do? He invests his money into a liquor store and proceeds to have it stolen. He trusted someone and they took his money. He says, “Man…THAT MONEY IS MADE FROM MY FATHER'S FLESH- “ (Hansberry 128). After this mistake the lives of Beneatha, Big Mama, Ruth and Travis are all changed. No longer can they move or send Bennie through College. His dream has infected the entire family. A quote that fits well with Walter is, “ Or fester like a sore/And then run?” (Hughes 4-5). This quote asks if your dead dream will infect the people around you negatively. For Walter, it does. His actions have infected those around
Walter takes the money that mama gives him and invests in a liquor store with his friends Bobo and Willie Harris. Soon after he has a meeting with the two, Bobo shows up at Walter’s door. Bobo breaks the news that Willie Harris has taken off with the money and has not contacted them at all. Willie Harris has robbed Walter and Bobo, leaving Walter with nothing. Walter is shocked at this fact, he says “” (128). This causes another conflict in the story: Walter has thrown away over half of Walter Lee Younger Sr.’s inheritance money; he not only threw away his portion of it, but his sister’s as
that a discontented individual is often unable to take ownership of his life until he realizes that he must set a good example for his children. Walter is a protagonist who seems to only care about himself. He is really dependent on his mama's huge insurance check. Walter wants his mama's check so he and Willy Harris can open up a bar. This character continues to go down the wrong path until something tragic happens.
Walter is Mama’s oldest son. His dreams are to be wealth but at the same time wanting to provide for his family. His own personal dream is to open liquor store with his money he receives from Mama.
Someone once said,“People don’t change, they reveal who they really are.” Through the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry’s develops the character Walter the most as he transforms from self centered to a caring man.
From the play Raisin in the Sun, the decision that Walter makes to move his family to an all-white neighborhood proves how he's matured into a responsible, loving father. One can see evidence of Walter’s transformation through his sacrifice, as well as,his acts of courage.
Walter Younger plays both the protagonist and antagonist. Walter dreams of being like the rich people he drives around, becoming wealthy, providing for his family the rich people do. He seems to feel that he didn’t have much in his family, besides the family itself and he wants to give his family what he never had. Economic hardship make walter feel enslaved and also the economic hardship has deferred his dream. His character evolves throughout the play and with it does the pride and loyalty of the family. Walter is unsure of his position as the man in charge of the household at first. In the beginning most of his actions hurt the family, however his sudden rise to his position “made him sort of a hero in the last scene.� This “heroism� is what showed the families pride in order to complete a dream. “He speaks of his father’s hard work and the dignified way in which he conducted his life. Then, drawing Travis to him, Walter rejec...
Walter Lee Younger is a middle aged colored man who lives in the slums of Chicago with his wife, mother, sister, and son. Throughout the play ,A Raisin In The Sun, Walter struggles with living in poverty and all of the struggles that come along with it. Living in poverty has resulted in Walter becoming a bitter man who is rude to everyone is his intermediate family except his son because he feels like not being able to provide for his family makes him less of a man. This can be seen early on in the play when his wife, Ruth, and his son, Travis, are seen arguing over fifty cents that Ruth claims they cannot afford to give to Travis for school. When Walter hears of this disagreement he not only gives his son the fifty cents he needs but he also
Walter's dreams are to be the head of his family, have a respectable job, and to one day own a liquor store. Throughout the play, he struggles to gain support of his dreams. "Man says to his woman says: I got me a dream. His woman says: Eat your eggs. Man says: Ive got to take hold of this here world, woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work." (Act.1 Sc.1). Walter tries to talk to Ruth about his dreams, but she doesn't pay him any mind. She doesn't, because she thinks that he would not be able to make much of his dreams a reality, so long as they are Black and poor. Walter depends on the remainder of the 10,000 dollars that mama received, to fulfill his dreams of owning the liquor store. Mama is very wise and old fashioned, and she doesn't see fit to invest he husband's money in something as harmful as liquor. Walter, who only thinks on money, the grass the reason for his mother not initially giving him the money. Not only did Beneatha show no interest in his dreams, so did his mom. To Walter, Mama " butchered up a dream of his."(act. 2 sc.2). Walter, whose dreams are oppressed from lack of both physical and financial support, ultimately causes him to lose contr...
...hood plays a role in the work as a whole because it illustrates to the audience how a man is affected when he feels as if he is not living up to the standards of his gender set by society. The end result of Walter Lee changing because of his mother and her strong values plays an important role in the overall message. His mother’s words constructed him into a man with pride, self-respect, and who won’t let racism take over. Overall, Mama’s values morphed Walter Lee into a proud family man that his son could be proud of. An overall message the can be taken out of A Raisin in the Sun is to stay true to yourself with pride and not let racism affect keep you from pursuing your dreams.Walter Lee Younger, fluid character who played an essential role in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, changed due to his American dream, his manhood, and his mother’s strong values.