Walter Lee Younger In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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Naive. Greedy. Self absorbed. When a person only cares about themselves and their own dream, it does not matter who they hurt in the process of obtaining it. How far could a person go in conquering their goal, even if it means hurting the people closest to them? In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry shows the struggle of a man picking between his family and his future in the 1950s. Walter Lee Younger, a selfish, unrealistic, money hungry man, who works as a chauffeur, will do anything he can to own a liquor store and better himself in life. However, not everything works out as well as Walter hopes for.
The Youngers lives in South Side Chicago in the 1950s. The African-American family of five lives in an overcrowded apartment. Like most families, every member of the Youngers has a dream. Walter has always yearned to own a liquor store. His sister, Beneatha, longs to become a doctor. Both Walter’s mom, Lena, and his wife, Ruth, hope to someday own a house …show more content…
As a father and a husband, he wants the best for the family. However, the way he pursues that mindset may end up tricking the people he is trying to get a better life for. Walter is an extremely ambitious person, he will do anything he can to achieve his goal. He has always wanted to open a liquor store with his friends, Willy Harris and Bobo. Walter says, “Yeah. You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be ‘bout thirty thousand, see. That be ten thousand each. Course, there’s a couple of hundred you got to pay so’s you don’t spend your life waiting for them clowns to let your license get approved-” (33) Walter believes that investing money into a liquor store will in return help the Youngers stay out of poverty forever. He is willing to go to whatever lengths he must in order to own the liquor

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