A Study of The Personality of Walter Lee in Lorraine Hansberry’s "A Raisin in The Sun"

Success and Values

Walter Lee defines success as material and financial gain. Beneatha defines success as self-actualization, or learning about and nurturing oneself. But to their mother, Lena, success is less self-centered and lies more in creating a happy, healthy family. Lena frequently compares her children's values to her own and her late husband's, and finds her children to be less moral or spiritual in their hopes and dreams. She does not believe that material success will elevate the family, as Walter Lee does, instead observing that his grasping after success is damaging his family. Consider the generational differences in defining success, but also consider how Walter Lee's and Beneatha's notions of success resemble those of their parents.

Lena's question reflects the division between herself and her son in terms of their values: Lena is first and foremost a Christian, and Walter Lee's head is full of moneymaking schemes. Walter Lee tries to shift blame for their poverty onto Lena in order to make her feel guilty for not supporting his proposal. He believes that the liquor store could make him rich, and that's all that matters to him. His mother, in contrast, places morals above money, refusing to fund what she sees as an immoral business just because it could make them some money. She would prefer to be poor yet virtuous, whereas her son chooses money over virtue.

Walter Lee is dissatisfied with his life. His mother thinks he has all anyone needs to be happy, but he wants more for himself and has not been able to figure out how to get it. The idea of his life going on this way torments and oppresses him. Walter Lee goes on to talk about how he sometimes looks through restaurant windows downtown and sees "them white boys . . . sitting back and talking 'bout things . . . sitting there turning deals worth millions of dollars . . . sometimes I see guys don't look much older than me" (Hansberry, 1959, p. 58).

Dreams

An important aspect of Walter Lee's character is revealed in his interaction with Travis. He sees and admires his son's ability to hope: Travis is young enough still to believe that the world is open to him and can be his if he wants it, with no limits. Walter Lee wants to believe in limitless possibilities, too, and he hangs onto his own ability to hope and dream. Travis's innocence and hopefulness remind Walter Lee of his own potential for dreaming.

Walter Lee's feelings about his dreams and Ruth's attitude toward them crystallize in this passage. He is desperate to escape the circumstances of his life, and his dreams represent his belief that he can still change his life, in spite of his weak financial position. But the fact that Ruth does not support him drags him down; part of Walter Lee's vision of his life is that he should have a wife who believes in him. Walter is feeling the pressure of having so many people to take care of. He works at a full-time job, but Ruth must also work in order for the family to stay afloat. Walter Lee lashes out at his sister because he can't say to his mother or his son what he feels he can say to his sister: that it is hard for him and Ruth to support everyone.

Ironically, Walter Lee criticizes Beneatha for the same thing Ruth criticizes him for: having aspirations. Beneatha dreams of being a doctor one day, and her dream is actually fairly realistic, especially compared to Walter Lee's dream of striking it rich in business. Walter Lee cannot see that helping Beneatha now will help the family in the long run because once she can practice medicine their financial burdens could be lightened substantially. Of course, Walter Lee's pride may contribute to his blind spot; perhaps the idea of his sister becoming more successful than him is too hard for him to swallow.

The Role of Family

Walter asks George if he is not bitter too. "And you - ain't you bitter, man? . . . Don't you see no stars gleaming that you can't reach out and grab? You happy? . . . Bitter? Man, I'm a volcano... Here I am a giant - surrounded by ants! Ants who can't even understand what it is the giant is talking about" (Hansberry, 1959, p. 58). Walter presumes a kind of harsh camaraderie with George based on the fact that they are both African men, and in George's company he is unable to contain his anguish over his lot in life.

Ruth has dreams, too, and she used to share them with Walter Lee. Those dreams are perhaps more realistic than the ones he has cooked up with Willy and Bobo, and Ruth sees practical ways of attaining them. However, she cannot seek them - or achieve them - without Walter, because he is part of them. Lena has made her own dream come true by buying this house, and she is trying to help Ruth and Walter realize their dreams, too, in her way. She knows Walter needs to change his life, and she offers the house as a tool for change. Lena enters, startling Ruth and Walter Lee. Walter asks where she has been, but she does not answer. Walter insists on knowing where she has been, worried that she has spent the insurance money. Travis enters, and Lena calls him to her. Suspense builds as Lena begins to explain where she has been and what she has done. Finally, she announces that she has bought a house, telling Travis that it was his grandfather who gave him the house.

Ruth is thrilled at Lena's news, and she asks Walter to be glad, too. He remains silent. Lena describes the house, to Ruth's great joy, and Lena turns to Walter Lee and tells him, "It makes a difference in a man when he can walk on floors that belong to him" (Hansberry, 1959, p. 76). Her words about pushing out and doing something bigger sound just like his words. Even though she recognizes the potential danger of moving into a white neighborhood, her desire to keep her family together overrides any apprehension she may have.

References

Hansberry, L. (1959). A Raisin in the Sun. Random House.