A Raisin in the Sun Characters

Walter Younger can be really hard to get along with. For most of the first act, he's nasty to just about every other character in the play. He picks fights with his sister, Beneatha. He says all...

Lena Younger, a.k.a. Mama, totally rocks our world. She's a down-to-earth, hard-working black woman who doesn't suffer fools. Mama has dedicated her life to her children and struggles to instill h...

Joseph Asagai, Beneatha's Nigerian boyfriend, calls her "Alaiyo," which means something like "One for Whom Bread – Food – is Not Enough." Beneatha is very touched by this, because it shows tha...

Ruth is in some ways like a typical housewife of the 1950s. She makes breakfast, cleans the house, supports her husband, and keeps her own desires to herself. Unlike the stereotypical 1950s house...

By far the youngest member of his family (stage directions describe him as ten or eleven years old), Travis represents the future of the Younger family. Hansberry drops some not-too-subtle symboli...

Asagai really works the Nigerian thing to get ahead with Beneatha. Knowing that Beneatha has a longing for identity and roots, he tells her all about Africa and gives her African records and a robe...

George is Asagi's competition for the affections of the lovely Beneatha. He's really good looking and his family has tons of money. None of this impresses Beneatha, however. George really doesn'...

Mr. Lindner seems like a nice enough dude at first. He says he represents a kind of "welcoming committee" from Clybourne Park, the predominately white neighborhood where the Youngers are planning...

We think Mrs. Johnson is totally hilarious. She's like the nosey neighbor in almost every sitcom that ever aired. Much like Kramer on Seinfeld, she has a real skill at getting free food out of her...

Bobo is Walter's buddy. Just like Walter, he gets ripped off by Willy Harris in the great liquor store catastrophe. Poor Bobo only gets one extremely short scene so we never learn much about him....

Willy never shows up onstage, but he plays a significant role in the Youngers' story. And by "significant," we mean, "very, very negative." After convincing Walter that investing in the liquor stor...