J. Charles Washington states that Walter is both structurally and thematically the play’s dramatic focal point:
“It is Walter Lee, the bearer of aims and goals that have been conditioned by the prevailing values of the society, who is, dramatically, most representative. It is Walter Lee…who emerges as the most unique creation for his time and ours. It is his behavior throughout the play…which gives the play prophetic significance” (Washington 111).
If Walter is the central focal point of the play, then it follows that the primary meaning of the play is the tragedy of Walter’s reach for the American Dream. The American Dream, or the second-class version of it reserved for Black Americans and other poor people, is a recurring theme in the play. Both Mama and Walter are displayed as seeking to improve the conditions affecting their lives and possess dreams for their futures.
Some critics say that Walter seems to possess an inordinate degree of slef-respect and expects too much out of life for himself and his family; however, Washington believes this may have more to do with viewers’ perceptions than with Walter’s actions (112).
“If one has been conditioned to expect little, as many Blacks have been through racism, or to believe that Blacks deserve and are entitled to little, as some members of society have been led to believe, then the demand for any degree above this ‘conditioned less’ will seem excessive” (Washington 112).
It is for this reason that viewers consider Lena’s dream more “normal,” because there is a logical explanation for her behavior. Because her family comes first, her purchasing the house they need so badly may seem to viewers of the play to be a more sensible idea than Walter’s desire to open or invest heavily in a business.
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Washington, J.Charles. A Raisin in the Sun Revisitid. Black American Literature Forum, Vol. 22, No. 1, Black Women Writers Issue (Spring, 1988), pp. 109-124. Published by: St. Louis University. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2904153
-Maddie Sokal
