Walter Younger Thesis

Kalp Ostawal
Mr.Wiley
Language Arts I
February 5th, 2023

Trash to Treasure: The Story of Walter Younger

In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, she depicts the limitations and constraints of an upper working class within the colored community through her eyes and the lens of her time. In the late 1950s, Lorraine Hansberry wrote this play during an era of liberation in the African continent which transitioned into the start of the Civil Rights movement. Furthermore, the closure of an assimilationist philosophy and the further inclusion of African culture and ideas ensued after African sovereignty. The American dream was difficult for the black community as schools, restrooms, cafeterias, and even city transport were all segregated

Walter embodies the image of his father and his morals when he scolds Lindner, "My father almost beat a man to death once because this man called him a bad name or something, you know what I mean?”(147). Walter’s euphoric pride in his family was evident as his affiliation with his father’s principles was prominent. When Willy escaped with his money, Walter originally resorted to tomfoolery and begging to cope with his newfound pain. But when Mama reaffirms her faith in his judgment, he loses his vanity and ego, becoming a man his family respects. Walter continues to stand by his new beliefs when he lectures Lindner about self-worth, "And we have decided to move into our house because my father --my father--he earned it for us brick by brick”(148). Dignity is a word that represents pride, self-respect, and honor. Walter has established that he is a man meritorious of respect, a man of dignity. Hansberry illustrates how the dreams of African-Americans during the Harlem Renaissance were short-lived through the character of Walter. His ambitions are unfairly persecuted by external factors, as expressed by Langston Hughes' poem Harlem, "Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it just explode?"(Hughes, lines 9-11). Walter overcomes the societal strains of success and consequently learns the values of pride and