A Raisin in the Sun Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Walter Lee Younger

A chauffeur in his mid-thirties who dreams of a liquor store and sees money as life. He loses his father's money to a con man, nearly sells out his family's new home, then refuses the buyout with his son watching — and finally stands like his father.

Appears in:: Part 1: Friday Morning, a Check on the Way; Part 2: Saturday: The Check Arrives; Part 3: The Money Moves; Part 4: The Loss and the Choice
Themes:: Deferred dreams; Money versus dignity; Generations and inheritance; Womanhood and ambition

Lena Younger (Mama)

The matriarch who holds the insurance check, a potted plant, and the family's moral spine. She buys a house in a white neighborhood, entrusts Walter with the rest of the money, and is the last to leave the apartment.

Appears in:: Part 1: Friday Morning, a Check on the Way; Part 2: Saturday: The Check Arrives; Part 3: The Money Moves; Part 4: The Loss and the Choice
Themes:: Deferred dreams; Money versus dignity; Race and housing; Generations and inheritance; Womanhood and ambition

Ruth Younger

Walter's weary wife, a domestic worker in her early thirties, pregnant and quietly considering an abortion because the family is too poor. She stays the practical backbone and stands with the family at the end.

Appears in:: Part 1: Friday Morning, a Check on the Way; Part 2: Saturday: The Check Arrives; Part 4: The Loss and the Choice
Themes:: Deferred dreams; Womanhood and ambition

Beneatha Younger

Walter's college-student sister who wants to be a doctor and experiments with everything — hair, faith, suitors. The loss of her $3,000 tuition nearly kills her idealism; Asagai's proposal keeps the question open.

Appears in:: Part 1: Friday Morning, a Check on the Way; Part 2: Saturday: The Check Arrives; Part 3: The Money Moves; Part 4: The Loss and the Choice
Themes:: Deferred dreams; Generations and inheritance; Womanhood and ambition

Joseph Asagai

Beneatha's Nigerian classmate, who names her 'Alaiyo,' urges her toward her African heritage, and asks her to marry him and practice medicine in Nigeria.

Appears in:: Part 2: Saturday: The Check Arrives; Part 3: The Money Moves; Part 4: The Loss and the Choice
Themes:: Generations and inheritance; Womanhood and ambition

Karl Lindner

The polite white face of the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, offering money to keep the neighborhood white. Defeated twice — thrown out once, refused at the climax.

Appears in:: Part 3: The Money Moves; Part 4: The Loss and the Choice
Themes:: Deferred dreams; Money versus dignity; Race and housing

Travis Younger

Walter and Ruth's young son, who sleeps on the living-room sofa and is the reason Walter wants to be bigger than he is. He watches his father refuse Lindner's money.

Appears in:: Part 1: Friday Morning, a Check on the Way; Part 3: The Money Moves; Part 4: The Loss and the Choice
Themes:: Race and housing; Generations and inheritance

Willy Harris

Walter's friend and partner in the liquor-store scheme, who runs off with the entire $6,500, including Beneatha's school money. He never appears on stage.

Appears in:: Part 1: Friday Morning, a Check on the Way; Part 4: The Loss and the Choice

Bobo

Walter's other liquor-store partner, who arrives on moving day to deliver the news that Willy is gone with the money.

Appears in:: Part 1: Friday Morning, a Check on the Way; Part 4: The Loss and the Choice

Also in the story

Supporting characters

George Murchison

Beneatha's wealthy, assimilated suitor, mocked by the drunk Walter and dismissed by Beneatha for his shallow materialism.

Appears in:: Part 3: The Money Moves
Themes:: Womanhood and ambition

How they are connected

Key relationships

Lena Younger (Mama)Walter Lee Younger
She buys a house in a white neighborhood, entrusts Walter with the rest of the money, and is the last to leave the apartment.
Ruth Younger Walter Lee Younger
Walter's weary wife, a domestic worker in her early thirties, pregnant and quietly considering an abortion because the family is too poor.
Beneatha Younger Walter Lee Younger
Walter's college-student sister who wants to be a doctor and experiments with everything — hair, faith, suitors.
Beneatha Younger Joseph Asagai
The loss of her $3,000 tuition nearly kills her idealism; Asagai's proposal keeps the question open.
Travis Younger Walter Lee Younger
Walter and Ruth's young son, who sleeps on the living-room sofa and is the reason Walter wants to be bigger than he is.
Travis Younger Ruth Younger
Walter and Ruth's young son, who sleeps on the living-room sofa and is the reason Walter wants to be bigger than he is.
Travis Younger Karl Lindner
He watches his father refuse Lindner's money.
George Murchison Walter Lee Younger
Beneatha's wealthy, assimilated suitor, mocked by the drunk Walter and dismissed by Beneatha for his shallow materialism.
George Murchison Beneatha Younger
Beneatha's wealthy, assimilated suitor, mocked by the drunk Walter and dismissed by Beneatha for his shallow materialism.
Willy Harris Walter Lee Younger
Walter's friend and partner in the liquor-store scheme, who runs off with the entire $6,500, including Beneatha's school money.
Willy Harris Beneatha Younger
Walter's friend and partner in the liquor-store scheme, who runs off with the entire $6,500, including Beneatha's school money.
Bobo Walter Lee Younger
Walter's other liquor-store partner, who arrives on moving day to deliver the news that Willy is gone with the money.

Go deeper

A Raisin in the Sun themes & symbols

Deferred dreams · Money versus dignity · Race and housing · Generations and inheritance

Themes explained

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