Choose a character from the play, A Raisin in the Sun, and create a character map of sorts. Describe this character and his/her significance in the play.  What do they dream of having? Why did you choose to discuss this character?  What about their personality and presence in the play spoke to you as a reader? 

Milena Noguera Csernick

Oh Walter Lee...

To me Walter Lee Younger was the most significant character of A Raisin in the Sun. Everyone (relevant) in the play is in one way or another linked to Walter. He is the one who adds all the sudden changes and twists to the play.  From simple details like the constant fights with Beneatha, Ruth, Travis and his own mother,  to big details like losing a 65% of the money that his mother received from her husband's life insurance policy, and which was planned to pay for the education of Beneatha and to better the family quality of life.   

As a reader, I had mixed emotions towards the character because on one hand I thought he was an inconsiderate and selfish man, but on the other hand the circumstances that involved Walter Lee led me to pity him, later to understand him and at some point I actually admired his personality.  When the story started I thought he was lazy and insensitive. Considering the responsibilities that having a child, a wife and a mother under his care I thought he was lazy because he didn’t seem eager to go to work.  But I really disliked him when he was such an insensitive husband towards his wife, for example, when he mentioned that she looked younger that morning... and later on he says something like, no, it was just a moment, now you look like yourself again.  Another example is when Ruth doesn’t want to give extra money (50 cents) to Travis to take to his school and Walter diminished her authority by giving him not only 50 cents but 1 dollar in defiance to his wife. That without mentioning that he called his sister a "horrible looking chick". He manipulated his wife and tried to manipulate his sister to get them to talk his mother into giving him the life insurance money for him to be able to invest it and that way "get rich".  And so the story goes on and on with his faults and long list of bad qualities. In the long run as I mentioned, I concluded that Walter Lee was who he was because of the circumstances that his environment had to offer him.  He was a good person, but he was very basic, low educated(which made him naive), had low opportunities(due to racism). In addition, he was full of problems, like low self-esteem, high sense of ambition, and many more aspects that got him to address his life the way he did.  The mixed emotions came when I thought: What if I were in his position? Wouldn’t I want the same things? Wouldn’t I act the same way? and I thought that with all those factors pushing me, maybe I would make the same mistakes.... after all, we are only human. right?