A Raisin In The Sun Walter Character Traits

Raisin Character Analysis

In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, Walter Lee Younger is seen as something of an outlier in his family. He is the sole adult male and exhibits an outward facade of self-assuredness towards his own plans to financially resuscitate the Younger family, even portraying an air of indignancy when they are challenged; however, this front is merely a result of Walter’s underlying desire to be recognized and respected as a competent, reliable man by his family. Walter tries to make shows of his manhood several times throughout the play. An early example is his actions after Ruth refuses to give Travis 50 cents for school where he responds to Ruth “What you tell the boy things like that for?... Here, son…Buy

To Walter, his ideas are big, important, and ready to burst forth in an explosive and lucrative fashion, yet the surrounding ants pay him no mind. Although Walter carries this frame of mind with him through much of the story, the very closing moments of the play feature a transformation in him. Walter decides to keep the house that Mama purchased with the life insurance money. Despite opposing it for the whole play, Walter broadens his point of view and rejects the offer by Karl Lindner. Walter has finally halted his quest for a high-risk, big business job in favor of supporting his family’s wishes. To recapitulate, the ambitious, lone man of the Younger family, Walter Lee Younger, grapples with conflicting ideas of what the best path forward for him and his family is, beginning with the shortsighted scheme of buying a liquor store to assuage his family’s woes, yet later realizing that buying the house is the best course of action to secure his family’s welfare. Walter’s actions at the end of the story transcend the petty, myopic mindset he once had. No longer blinded by his own pride, Walter is now free to identify the true

As stated prior, Walter is an ambitious and, to some extent, avaricious man. These traits are on full display as he describes his thoughts of cupidity to Mama, stating, "I want so many things that they are driving me kind of crazy...Mama, sometimes when I'm downtown and I pass 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 don't look much older than me" (Hansberry 75). He doesn’t just want to improve his family’s standing, he wants to be at the very top of society, with all the money and status that such a position comes with. He wants to be in those circumstances now, and he’s willing to take risks to get there as quickly as possible. Walter is someone who only sees the destination, electing to skip the journey entirely if possible. Alternatively, Ruth is far more Jaded than Walter. She doesn’t hold the same dreams of grandeur that he does. Instead, Ruth has her sights set on steadily improving her family’s life little by little. This trait