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Need help on characters in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun? Check out our detailed character descriptions. From the creators of SparkNotes.
- Travis Younger
Get everything you need to know about Travis Younger in A...
- Walter Younger (Big Walter)
The A Raisin in the Sun quotes below are all either spoken...
- Ruth Younger
Walter Lee’s wife and Travis’ mother. About thirty years...
- Walter Lee Younger
The A Raisin in the Sun quotes below are all either spoken...
- Lena Younger (Mama)
The matriarch of the Younger family, Lena, commonly referred...
- Karl Lindner
But you’ve got to admit that a man, right or wrong, has the...
- Plot Summary
Get all the key plot points of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin...
- Mrs. Johnson
Get everything you need to know about Mrs. Johnson in A...
- A Raisin In The Sun
Description, analysis, and timelines for A Raisin in the...
- Travis Younger
- Walter Younger
- Beneatha Younger
- Mama
- Ruth Younger
- Joseph Asagai
- George Murchison
- Mr. Karl Lindner
- Travis Younger
- Bobo
- Willy Harris
The protagonist of the play. Walter is a dreamer. He wants to be rich and devises plans to acquire wealth with his friends, particularly Willy Harris. When the play opens, he wants to invest his father’s insurance money in a new liquor store venture. He spends the rest of the play endlessly preoccupied with discovering a quick solution to his famil...
Mama’s daughter and Walter’s sister. Beneatha is an intellectual. Twenty years old, she attends college and is better educated than the rest of the Younger family. Some of her personal beliefs and views have distanced her from conservative Mama. She dreams of being a doctor and struggles to determine her identity as a well-educated Black woman. Rea...
Walter and Beneatha’s mother. The matriarch of the family, Mama is religious, moral, and maternal. She wants to use her husband’s insurance money as a down payment on a house with a backyard to fulfill her dream for her family to move up in the world. Read an in-depth analysis of Mama.
Walter’s wife and Travis’s mother. Ruth takes care of the Youngers’ small apartment. Her marriage to Walter has problems, but she hopes to rekindle their love. She is about thirty, but her weariness makes her seem older. Constantly fighting poverty and domestic troubles, she continues to be an emotionally strong woman. Her almost pessimistic pragma...
A Nigerian student in love with Beneatha. Asagai, as he is often called, is very proud of his African heritage, and Beneatha hopes to learn about her African heritage from him. He eventually proposes marriage to Beneatha and hopes she will return to Nigeria with him. Read an in-depth analysis of Joseph Asagai.
A wealthy, African-American man who courts Beneatha. The Youngers approve of George, but Beneatha dislikes his willingness to submit to white culture and forget his African heritage. He challenges the thoughts and feelings of other Black people through his arrogance and flair for intellectual competition. Read an in-depth analysis of George Murchis...
The only white character in the play. Mr. Lindner arrives at the Youngers’ apartment from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association. He offers the Youngers a deal to reconsider moving into his (all-white) neighborhood. Read an in-depth analysis of Mr. Karl Lindner.
Walter and Ruth’s sheltered young son. Travis earns some money by carrying grocery bags and likes to play outside with other neighborhood children, but he has no bedroom and sleeps on the living-room sofa.
One of Walter’s partners in the liquor store plan. Bobo appears to be as mentally slow as his name indicates.
A friend of Walter and coordinator of the liquor store plan. Willy never appears onstage, which helps keep the focus of the story on the dynamics of the Younger family.
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The main characters in A Raisin in the Sun are Lena Younger, Walter Younger, Beneatha Younger, Ruth Younger, and Travis Younger. Lena Younger is the matriarch of the Younger family. With...
Study guide for A Raisin in The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, with plot summary, character analysis, and literary analysis.
A Raisin in the Sun is centered around the persistent deferral of the Younger family’s dreams. The Youngers are a working-class Black family with various dreams of upward mobility. Walter wants to take control of his life, restore his sense of masculinity, make his family proud, and eventually take on a new role as head of the Younger household.
Character Map. A Raisin in the Sun | Character Analysis. Share. Walter is a chauffeur and aspiring business owner in his mid-30s. He follows current events in the civil rights movement and is unhappy in his job working for a rich white man. He's the main character, or protagonist, of the play and goes through the most significant change.
