Walter Lee Younger is the quintessence of a dissatisfied person. Although unsuccessful, he is a dreamer and knows he is capable of greatness. When in the presence of money, determination and hope floods his mind and he blabs it to anyone who will listen. “Just tell me where you want to go to school and you’ll go. Just tell me, what it is you want to be—and you’ll be it…Whatever you want to be—Yessir! You just name it, son ... and I hand you the world!” (Hansberry 108). Walter wants Travis to be proud of him. Walter’s actions impact the plot and accentuate the feeling of racial prejudice that absorbs the Youngers. Walter looks his biggest enemy, racism in the eye every time he walks out of the squalid apartment that he calls home. Lorraine Hansberry cleverly uses Walter as a symbol of a victim of social injustice and discrimination that African Americans were constantly faced with in the 1950’s. Walter has dreams. He wants to believe that he can be just as successful as any white man. Walter’s disappointment in himself, and in society is prevalent throughout the play. The use of Walter’s sulking attitude ameliorates the theme by showing how racism in the United States prevented high success among African Americans. Walter cannot help but to feel sorry for himself, by the lack of entrustment his mother, wife and sister instill in him about potential investments. Ultimately, Walter’s conflict with himself is that he doesn’t want to settle with a life where he is anything less than completely successful.
Walter and his family frequently encountered racial discrimination through the hard times, living in Chicago in the nineteen fifties. When Mama decided to buy the house in Clyborne Park, the family had to come to terms that they would be very unwanted. In buying the house, it acted as a symbol of the true hardships that African Americans were faced with as they struggled to assimilate in a predominately white society. Karl Lindner shows the opinions many people had towards African Americans as he attempted to buy the house back from the Youngers. “What do you think you are going to gain by moving into a neighborhood where you just aren’t wanted ” (Hansberry 80). It is evident that the Youngers would face discrimination as they looked to a future without racial segregation. The Youngers purchase of a house in Clyborne Park, where black people are not welcomed, displayed the Youngers desperation and desideratum to advance their situation of living out of the confined and vexatious apartment in which they previously resided.
Walter’s family began to lose faith and confidence in him as the insurance money disappeared. Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, Walter learned why it is so necessary to maintain adequate relationships with family, as well as in business. Walter realized this at the end of the play, and it helped him in showing his son why love and pride in ones self supersedes materialistic success. As humans, we falter in out ability to make sound decisions, yet realize that it is more crucial that we don’t fail our support system of family.
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