Summary:
Walter Lee is a hard working man with high moral standards, but he was always missing the compassionated side that his family always deserved. Every single day everybody has a good lesson to learn, and in a sadly way, Walter Lee's turn to learn a little bit more about love and support had to be after his father's death and the money that his father designated as security for him and his family was gone too.
A Success of Life
Walter is a man just like many others; he has a job, a family, and he also has ambitions in life just like anybody else. Walter is not the only one in his family that has ambitions, almost everybody else in his family have ambitions as well. These ambitions created conflicts between family members after they all found out that Walter's mother (Lena) have been settled by an insurance company for the death of her husband, and she is about to obtain a large sum of money.
Walter was already making plans in how to spend his mother's money in one of his twisted ideas without considering others. It is obvious that Walter is somewhat ignorant to the necessities of everybody else in his family but his child (Washington 1). Walter was not the only one in that house who was already making plans for that money. His sister Beneatha was also making plans in spending that money on her medical degree; this lead to a problem between Walter and his sister Beneatha. Walter in a selfish manner was trying to manipulate his mother in order to make her feel sorry for him and give her no option but to give him some of the money of the settle that she just received. His mother, trying to make him feel better, tells him that he is a nice-looking young man with an occupation, a good wife and a brilliant son; but Walter still being selfish tries even harder to make his mother feel sorry for him:
A job. Mama, a job? I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine and I say, "Yes, sir; no, sir; very good sir; shall I take the Drive, sir"" Mama, that ain't no kind of job . . . that ain't nothing at all. Mama, I don't know if I can make you understand. (Hansberry 73)
Lena, after realizing how important that money was for the both of them, decided to buy a house and split the rest of the money between the both of them; Lena gave Walter sixty-five hundred dollars, and instructions how to split that money between his sister and him.
Lena, who recently bought a house in a neighborhood of white people for her family, is visited by a man named Lindner who was representing the committee of people that live in such neighborhood. This man offered Lena and her family to buy their house at a higher price than what they paid for it since such neighborhood is meant to be just for hard-working honest people, and they could not fit in such rank. Walter and his family got irritated because of the meaning of the visit of that man.
Walter, in a very selfish manner, decides to spend all of the money meant to be shared between his sister and him. Walter found out later that his crazy idea resulted to be a complete fraud for him and a big disappointment for his family after they all found out that he was scammed by one of his partners, and he was left with no money at all.
At this moment Walter is feeling devastated and really sorry for the loss of that money, and asking help from God while crying out .".. Oh, God . . . Don't let it be true . . ." (Hansberry 128). The whole family was devastated, and Walter with no words decides to take actions and face reality; he invited Lindner to come over to his house and do some business.
Walter expressed Lindner his pride for his family, and told him that the home that they are moving into is a something well deserved for his family because his dead father worked really hard all of his life in order to provide for them. Walter also told him that they do not want to be a hassle for anybody, and they will do their best to be good neighbors. His family supported his words and actions, but at the same time, they were shocked after seeing him act the way that he did; he was acting in behalf of the whole family, and not on behalf of himself.
Walter Lee is a hard working man with high moral standards, but he was always missing the compassionated side that his family always deserved. Every single day everybody has a good lesson to learn, and in a sadly way, Walter Lee's turn to learn a little bit more about love and support had to be after his father's death and the money that his father designated as security for him and his family was gone too.
Works Cited
Hansberry, Lorraine. "A Raisin in the Sun." New York: Vintage Books, 1994.
Washington, Gladys. "A Raisin in the Sun." Masterplots II: African-American Literature Series. Salem Press, 1994.
This is the complete article, containing 805 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
