Walter Raisin In The Sun Quote Analysis

Walter does not feel like he is the man of the house so Mama and Walter sit down and discuss it. She tells him,

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.

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.

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,

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.

He was very determined and highly motivated to get his family out of the ghetto. It says “Mama: Son how come you talk so much ‘bout money? Walter: Because money is life , Mama!” (Hansberry pg.14) . This quote shows how Walter Lee is trying to adapt to the American Dream by a lot such as being obsessed with a business idea that he thinks he will solve all of his economic and social problems.

In this sense of wanting to be respected and build a life for themselves not based on servitude, Walter greatly compares with Big Walter, his deceased father. When speaking to Mr. Linder, Walter brings up a fight his father was in, caused by prejudiced beliefs, in which Big Walter almost killed the racist man out of anger. Comparably, Walter Jr. longs for respect in life, causing him to be unable to accept his job as a chauffeur. He expands on the desire to be more when he states, “Mama, that ain’t no kind of job. that ain’t nothing at all” (73).

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.

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 Lee Younger tends to make bad decisions. He doesn’t have very strong relationships with his family members because of his selfish ways, making him seem to be a boy instead of a man. Hansberry describes Walter Lee Younger as an “[… intense young man, inclined to quick nervous movements and erratic speech habits¬¬— and always in his voice there is a quality of

complex member of the Younger family. Walter Lee wishes he was the head of the family but unfortunately for him the title belongs to mama. All Walter seems to want on the outside is the liquor store, but in reality he wants to be somebody. Walter is driven by his emotions and ambitions. A great analogy for Walter is a raccoon from the book “Where the Red Fern Grows.” Walter may seem like a desperate alcoholic just wanting a way to free booze, but in reality he is driven to lead his family, gain their approval, and become the man he can only dream to be.

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