A Raisin in the Sun
first semester
4 weeks
individual work
Dreams are your goals and long hopes. The best that can ever happen is when you accomplish your goals in order to get where you want to get and your dreams come true. Your dreams and long hopes can come to reality. Sometimes your dreams and long hopes never end up happening at all. In the story Walter has a dream. Walter Lee Younger is selfish, frustrated, man trying to reach his dream, but in the end he finds something more valuable.
Walter is selfish. He will complain about various money problems and how they live to his wife Ruth who he has been married with for eleven years. Walter turns himself inside out for Ruth and she ends up shutting him down. This is clear when Walter is saying to Ruth, “I’m trying to talk to you bout myself and all you can say is eat your eggs and go to work.”(1.1.34.) Walter is saying that he can’t feel like saying what he wants to say because Ruth ends up shutting him down. Later Ruth continues and tells Walter to go to work. This shows that Walter is out of control most of the time in the beginning of the story. Later in the story we see that Walter is selfish when he continues talking with Ruth. This is clear when Walter is saying to Ruth,”Don’t understand about building their men up and making ‘em feel like they somebody”. (1.1.34) Walter is saying that he feels useless when speaking and that colored women are good for nothing. This quote shows that Walter is trying to say what’s best for him, but feels that he’s speaking for nothing.
Walter is frustrated. In scene two he feels as if he can see the future stretching right in front of him. Walter doesn’t want his family thinking that he has a wonderful life being a limousine driver. He wants his family to know that he wants to be somebody in life by achieving his dreams. He wants to open a liquor store from the ten thousand dollar investment money that belongs to Mama with his friend Willie Harris. But Mama and the family don’t think is the best for the family. They start to see Walter overreacting to their opinion about the liquor store. Walter looks at money as if it were to be life. We see this is a conversation between Walter and Mama, “No-it was always money, Mama we just didn’t know about it”, (2.1.74). In other words Walter says that life is about money. This quote shows that Walter is frustrated and is turning his feelings inside out. Later in the story we see that Walter is frustrated when he looks at money as life. This is clear when Walter is saying to Mama, “Sometimes it’s like I can see the future stretching out in front of me- just a plain day”.(2.1.73) Walter is saying that he looks at himself in the future being useful. This shows that Walter really wants to be somebody in life.
Walter from Lorraine Hansberg story A Raisin in the Sun wants to achieve his goals. Early in the story he’s selfish and frustrated that he argues with his wife Ruth and his sister Beneatha. In the end of the story, Walter starts to change and touches his mother deep in her heart. We see this when Walter is saying to Mama, “What’s the matter with you all? I didn’t make this world! It was give to me this way! (3.1.143). In other words Walter is saying that life was meant for him to be this way. This quote shows that it’s just meant to be that way and that there shouldn’t be no reason for why everybody is out of order. Later in the story we see that Walter is somebody in life. We see that Walter stands up for his family when he says to Mama, “All right Mr. Linder that’s your neighborhood out there! You got the right to keep it like you want!”(3.1.144) Walter is saying that he really cares about his family. This quote shows that Walter has really deep feelings about his family and is very proud of standing up for his family.
This is evidence that Walter is a selfish frustrated man trying to reach his dreams. His dreams are to buy the liquor store with the investment money, but the family doesn’t think its best. Throughout the story he’s frustrated and feels that nobody’s listening for what he thinks is best. In the end we see that he accomplishes his dreams. In the end they decide to use the money to buy a new house and Walter changes by realizing that he has a family that he has to stand for.