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A Raisin in the Sun

by Lorraine Hansberry

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Walter's Character Development and Significance in A Raisin in the Sun

Summary:

In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Walter Lee Younger undergoes significant character development, evolving from a frustrated, self-centered dreamer to a mature, dignified family leader. Initially, Walter is consumed by his desire to invest in a liquor store with his father's insurance money, leading to conflict and disappointment when the money is lost. However, Walter's transformation is catalyzed by his realization of his family's legacy and his responsibility, culminating in his refusal to sell their new home back to a white neighborhood association, thus asserting his family's dignity and unity.

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How does Walter's character evolve in A Raisin in the Sun?

Walter Jr.'s attitude, personality, and outlook on life dramatically change several times throughout Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. At the beginning of the play, Walter Jr. is depicted as a self-centered, frustrated man who is not fulfilled by his meaningless occupation and anxious about the possibility of investing the insurance money into a liquor business. Walter also feels that the women in his family do not support his dream and becomes severely depressed when Lena informs him that she has spent the money on a home in Clybourne Park. Once Walter learns that Lena put a down payment on a home, he becomes emotionally unhinged and spends the majority of his days drinking. Walter Jr. develops into a bitter, jaded man who is only concerned with his dreams and completely neglects his wife.

When Lena sympathizes with Walter Jr. and agrees to give him the majority of the insurance money to invest in his dream and Beneatha's education, Walter Jr. experiences a dramatic transformation. Walter Jr.'s attitude significantly improves, and he is grateful for Lena's gift. Unfortunately, Walter Jr.'s business partner steals the money and ruins his dream of owning a liquor business. Walter Jr. also recognizes that his family's future is in jeopardy and once again transforms into a bitter, desperate man. At the end of the play, Walter Jr. is faced with the difficult decision to sell Lena's home back to the White community or reject Mr. Lindner's offer. Lena influences Walter Jr. to make the right decision, and he demonstrates integrity and honor by refusing to sell the home. By the end of the play, Walter Jr. transforms into a selfless, bold individual who is willing to put his family's dreams ahead of his own interests.

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How does Walter's character change from the beginning to the end of A Raisin in the Sun?

I believe that Walter's transformation throughout the play is one of internal growth. At the beginning he's like a child, living in the home of his mother (who is still the head of the family). He may have his own wife and child, but he still acts like a child himself. His own son sleeps on the couch, and Walter still fights with his sister like children do.

Throughout the play, he begins to, ever so slowly, become a man. He starts to challenge his life and what it has become. Sadly, he has to hit rock bottom before he can finally start to take ownership over his own life.

There are a few pivotal moments when we see him starting to emerge, although they are not pretty. When he is talking with George, and George is speaking down to him, Walter knows that this kid is not treating him with the respect he should deserve.

When Ruth tells him of her pregnancy, he does not respond in a way that paints him as anything other than selfish.

When his mother finally gives Walter the money for their future, he looses it all and hits rock bottom. But, it is here that we see him start to stand up. It takes him to the point in his life where he has to choose whether or not he will be the failure he has always been or not.

When he refuses Linder, we see Walter as the head of the house. He has come into his own, and wherever that takes him, he has found his pride.

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How does Walter's character change from the beginning to the end of A Raisin in the Sun?

The significance of Walter's change cannot be overstated. His transformation is representative of the entire family's progress in the play (from disjointed to unified). His change also stands as a primary articulation of 1) the play's conflicts regarding dignity and identity and 2) the play's themes relating to individual possibilities, choice and empowerment, and the relationship between social class conflict and identity.

Walter initially is a sufferer, mastered by his circumstances. His only hope is to change those circumstances. When the possibility of using inheritance money to change his circumstances is eliminated, Walter immediatly slips into despair. This is a powerless man.  

Walter's attitude has a significant impact on his wife, mother and sister as they struggle in their own ways to come to terms with their circumstances as well.

The prospect of a new child disturbs him. The prospect of continued poverty distresses him. The pride his mother hopes will find him looks like an unlikely outcome when his liquor store plan falls through. However, the change does come. 

When his friend runs off with the money, Walter feels particularly hopeless, ironically, however, he achieves a sense of himself as an adult and leader of his family in part through this event.

Walter's transformation brings positive hope to the family, along with pride and unity. In his change, Walter has discovered that he has the power to change himself even if he does not have the power to change his circumstances. 

...whether or not he achieves the American Dream, he does achieve a sense of himself as an individual with power and the ability to make choices.

This power is highly significant to the play. An assertive and dignified family has found its footing in a world where these qualities are not easily achieved. The play explores the difficulties that make this achievement so difficult, but, importantly, Walter demonstrates that this transformation and achievement is possible. 

This is not a victory over circumstances, but a victory despite circumstances. 

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In A Raisin in the Sun, how does Walter Lee evolve throughout the play?

In Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Walter changes from the beginning to the end. In the beginning, Walter is a bitter black man. He feels that life is not fair. He is angry because he cannot seem to get ahead. He is dissatisfied with his job. Working as a chauffeur is demeaning to him.

Walter lives in an apartment that is disappointing. He is surrounded by strong women who are quite vocal. He and his wife Ruth argue:

Ruth: Eat your eggs, they gonna be cold.

Walter: That’s it. There you are. Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs...Man say: I got to take hold of this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work...Man say: I got to change my life, I’m choking to death, baby! And his woman say—your eggs is getting cold!

When Walter is not arguing with Ruth, he is arguing with his sister Beneatha or his mother, Mrs. Younger.

Walter often escapes the arguing by hanging out with his friends, drinking and dreaming.

Dreaming of owning his own business, Walter gives Willy Harris his father's insurance money. When Willy leaves town with the money, Walter becomes even angrier. He feels that he is a failure. This leads to more drinking and bitter arguing.

To replace the money he lost, Walter plans to sell the new house Mama has bought. Because Karl Lindner and the white neighbors do not want the Younger family to move into their white neighborhood, Walter is planning to sell out. He has fallen so low.

When Mr. Lindner arrives, Mama insists that Walter follow through with his deal of selling the house after explaining it to his son Travis. Walter cannot sell out while looking at his son. He becomes the man of the house finally. He makes the right decision. He informs Mr. Lindner that the Younger family will indeed move into the new neighborhood. He promises to be good neighbors.

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In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, what causes Walter to change?

A Raisin in the Sun is the work for which Lorraine Hansberry is most well known. The play debuted in 1959, and the movie, starring Sidney Poitier, appeared in 1961.

Before answering your specific question, I'll summarize the plot up to the point with which we need to concern ourselves.

The story centers on a poor, urban black family who comes into some life insurance money when the head of the household dies. The money, $10,000, creates conflicts within the family, as Walter, now the oldest male in the family, wants to use the money to invest in a liquor store start-up with two other men. Walter's mother, Lena Younger (wife of the deceased man, referred to hereafter as Mama), wants some of the money to go toward Beneatha's (her daughter and Walter's sister) medical education. As the widow, the money belongs to Mama. However, she does not approve of Walter's plan to invest in the liquor business. After using $3500 as a down payment on a new house, she gives him the rest of the money, telling him to hold out what Beneatha needs for college and put the rest in a checking account under his name. It's up to him to manage the checking account as he sees fit.

At this point, Walter's spirits improve significantly. Shortly afterwards, a white man arrives at their apartment and offers to pay the family NOT to move into the white neighborhood. The family is insulted and sends him away. What the audience doesn't know yet is that Walter has taken the entire 6500 that Mama gave him and given it to a man named Wily, who is supposedly one of the liquor store investors. As the family is in the process of preparing to move, Walter learns that Wily has cheated him and run off with the money.

The family is devastated. Obviously they are particularly angry at Walter, who is suffering more than anyone else over the situation. Walter leaves the apartment, but the family doesn't know where he goes. When he returns he tells them that he has called the white man from the neighborhood and told him they will take his money.

Okay—now this is the key part of the story. Walter is about to change. At this point he is feeling victimized and is willing to shame himself and his family by being paid off to stay out of the white neighborhood. The rest of the family feels that this is even worse than the theft of the $6500. When Mama asks him how he will feel when he does this he goes into a long, dramatic monologue in which he pretends to speak to the white man:

And maybe—maybe I'll just get down on my black knees . . . (He does so, Ruth, Bennie and Mama watch him in frozen horror.) "Captain, Mistuh, — Bossman (groveling and grinning and wringing his hands in profoundly anguished imitation of the slow-witted movie stereotype.) A-hee-hee-hee! Oh, yassuh boss! Yasssssuh! Great white — (Voice breaking, he forces himself to go on.) — Father just gi' ussen de money fo' God's sake and we's—we's ain't gwine come out deh and dirty up yo' white folks neighborhood ..." (He breaks down completely.) And I'll feel fine! Fine! FINE! (He gets up and goes into the bedroom.)

At this point the rest of the family sits amid the packing crates feeling terribly low. Beneatha says that Walter is no brother of hers, and Mama chastises her for failing to feel sympathy for what he has been through. At this point Walter seems to have lost everything—his dream of owning his own business, the family's money, and now, at last, his self respect and the respect of his own family.

But it turns out that Walter's tirade has had a therapeutic effect. The audience doesn't know it yet, but as he sits silently his outlook begins to change. When the white man arrives to pay them off, Walter has changed his mind. With his young son Walter Jr. at his side, he tells the man that they are not going to take the money, that they are a proud people and that they will try to be good neighbors, but that they are going to move into the house.

Walter's change appears to be a result of hitting the bottom and then getting back up again. When he heard the words coming out of his mouth, it gave him a chance to really look at himself. He realized that after losing so much, the only thing he had left that mattered was his family and his dignity, so he responded with an act that satisfied both.

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What makes Walter's character significant in A Raisin in the Sun?

Walter Lee Younger is the play's protagonist and is depicted as a dynamic character who experiences a significant change in his perception and outlook on life. Walter's character also creates conflict in the play, which drives the plot and leads towards the play's climax, where Walter redeems himself and maintains his family's integrity by refusing to sell Lena's home in Clybourne Park.

At the beginning of the play, Walter is portrayed as a passionate dreamer who feels stifled and held back by his family and current situation. Walter wishes to establish his own liquor business using Lena's $10,000 insurance check in the hopes that he will become financially stable and improve his family's living conditions. However, Walter feels as if everyone is deterring him from attaining his goals and realizing his dreams. Walter resents his wife and mother for initially overlooking his dreams and resorts to alcohol after Lena refuses to give him the money to invest in his liquor business. Walter's passionate appeals for realizing his dream create sympathy for his character, and the audience has sympathizes with his unfortunate situation. However, Walter is a complex man who comes across as insensitive, selfish, unintelligent, and shortsighted at times.

Walter's plight corresponds to Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem," which begs the question "What happens to a dream deferred?" Walter's depressed personality and lamentation influence his mother to finally give him the insurance money to invest in his dream. Unfortunately, Walter proves that he is inept at doing business as one of his shady partners steals the money. Walter responds by attempting to sell Lena's home back to the white neighborhood commission of Clybourne Park but hesitates to finalize the deal in the presence of his family. During this climactic moment, Walter experiences a change of heart and maintains his dignity by refusing to sell Lena's home. His courageous, honorable decision displays his maturation and character development as he makes the significant decision to foster his mother's dream. Overall, Walter Lee Younger's character serves as the play's protagonist, who makes several important decisions that affect his family's future and drive the plot of the play.

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What causes Walter's character to change in A Raisin in the Sun?

In act 3, Walter Jr. ends up inviting Mr. Lindner over to their apartment in order to sell him back Lena's newly purchased home in Clybourne Park. Walter Jr. believes that he can redeem himself and earn back the lost money by selling his family's home. When Mr. Lindner initially sits down to do business, Ruth tells Travis to leave, but Lena stops Travis and says,

No. Travis, you stay right here. And you make him understand what you doing, Walter Lee. You teach him good. Like Willy Harris taught you. You show where our five generations done come to (Hansberry, 146).

At this moment, Walter Jr. seems to experience an internal change and begins to think about his ancestors. Lena's words motivate Walter Jr. to start thinking outside of himself, and they essentially guilt him into considering the progress his family has made over the generations. Walter Jr. proceeds to gradually elaborate on his family's makeup by mentioning that he comes from generations of plain people. As Walter Jr. speaks, he gains integrity and begins to fully understand the weight of his decision in regards to his family's legacy. After Walter Jr. mentions that his father almost beat a man to death, he says,

Yeah. Well—what I mean is that we come from people who had a lot of pride. I mean—we are very proud people. And that’s my sister over there and she’s going to be a doctor—and we are very proud (Hansberry, 147).

Walter Jr. then makes the honorable, defining decision to reject Mr. Lindner's offer and vows to move into the new home in Clybourne Park despite the uncertainty and possible danger. Overall, one can argue that Lena's words and Travis's presence motivate Walter Jr. to experience a dramatic change of heart at the end of the play.

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How does Walter Lee change in "A Raisin in the Sun," and what causes it?

In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, Walter Lee Younger Jr. grows into a more mature person during the course of the play. Walter Jr. lived in his father’s shadow while the older man was alive. With his death, Walter Jr. wants to step up as the head of the family. Although both he and his wife work, their earnings are not enough for them to afford their own apartment; they and their son live with his mother and sister. Walter pursues the American dream, wanting to own his own business rather than working as a chauffeur. He pins his hopes on using the money from his father’s life insurance, even though he knows the decision about how to use it is rightfully his mother’s choice.

After Walter naively loses money for the business by naively trusting a friend, he is resentful and gloomy about his prospects. He opposes his mother’s decision to buy a house in a white neighborhood and tries to convince her to accept a buyout from the neighbors. The change in Walter, when he shows his own self-respect and stands up for the family’s right to live wherever they desire—not where white people think is appropriate—comes when he rejects the offer that Mr. Lindner brings from the neighborhood association.

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How do Walter's decisions in A Raisin in the Sun demonstrate that human beings are dynamic?

Let's first establish the definition of this literary device. 

Dynamic: a character who changes over time, having his/her behavior and motivations affected by the people and events that occur over the course of the narrative

To establish the claim that Walter is dynamic, let's review his major decisions over the course of the play: 

  1. Walter decides to convince everyone that investing in the liquor store is an excellent idea
  2. Walter consistently decides to leave his family after an upsetting episode, angrily exiting the scene
  3. Walter rejects Lindner's offer
  4. Walter invests all of the money in the liquor store
  5. Walter does not leave angrily after upsetting episode
  6. Walter calls Lindner to accept his offer
  7. Walter rejects Lindner's offer

As we can see, Walter's decisions over the course of the play indicate change and growth. What is important is understanding that Walter's behavior changes because of the people and events that affect him; without acknowledging this reality, Walter's behavior simply looks erratic. 

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