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

1153 Words5 Pages
Walter Younger in the play, A Raisin in the Sun, carries the male leading role. He is a man concerned with money, wealth, and power. Walter’s late bloom into manhood has several devastating repercussions on his family due to his choices to act in scheme attempting to gain a substantial bump in wealth. Walter Younger’s interactions with his family causes stress on both him and the members in his house. Walter is illustrates he has not yet become a man. Walter’s obsession with material things, specifically money, result in poor investment decisions, relationship troubles, and bad temperaments. Walter’s obsession with material things as well as poor money management is seen early in the play. In the first scene of the play Travis, Walter’s son, asks repeatedly for fifty cents in order to take to school. Ruth, Walter’s wife, denies the money for Travis because the family is short on money and is attempting to hold as much as possible (Hansberry). Walter in return to Ruth’s action towards Travis’s pleading gives Travis an entire dollar and tells Travis to take a cab so he does not have to walk to school…show more content…
Walter and Ruth discuss a check in the first scene that is supposedly coming in the mail. The check later comes and is worth $10,000 dollars (Hansberry). The check is insurance money granted to Walter’s mother for her husbands loss. The check becomes Walters addiction he thinks about the money and how he could spend it and the ability the money has to help solve his problems, and what he says his families problems as well. Walter discusses, much in the way Travis “discussed”, the money with his mother. This eventually leads Walter’s mother into giving the check to Walter. Walter invests with his friends in a liquor store. Walter does not realize what is going on until it is too late. Walter's want to become rich blinds him from the truth that his friends are taking the money and
Show More
Related

  • The American Dream Research Paper

    825 Words  | 4 Pages

    The American Dream Essay In the 1950s, many people’s American Dream consisted of raising a family, owning a house and a car, and maintaining stable incomes at their jobs. Economic stability was valued much more highly than money or materialism. However, as time passed, society changed and so did its measure of success; people became dissatisfied and wanted more. Not only do people today want everything those in the 1950’s wanted, but also aspire to lead more materialistic and wealthy lifestyles

    Read More

  • Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

    1010 Words  | 5 Pages

    A Essay: Tragedy of A Dreamer No matter how much effort they make, there are always some people who cannot get ahead in life. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun which is set in Southern Chicago in a period between 1950 and 1951, Walter Lee Young, the protagonist of the book, is a man who “cannot get ahead in life”. He is frustrated by his position in life. However, his pursuit of materialism and goal to prove his worth as a man illustrate his image as the biggest dreamer in

    Read More

More about Essay On Walter Younger In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Open Document