Study Guide

A Raisin in the Sun Characters

By Lorraine Hansberry

Walter Younger can be really hard to get along with. For most of the first act, he's nasty to...

Lena Younger, a.k.a. Mama, totally rocks our world. She's a down-to-earth, hard-working black...

Joseph Asagai, Beneatha's Nigerian boyfriend, calls her "Alaiyo," which means something like "One...

Ruth is in some ways like a typical housewife of the 1950s. She makes breakfast, cleans the...

By far the youngest member of his family (stage directions describe him as ten or eleven years...

Asagai really works the Nigerian thing to get ahead with Beneatha. Knowing that Beneatha has a...

George is Asagi's competition for the affections of the lovely Beneatha. He's really good...

Mr. Lindner seems like a nice enough dude at first. He says he represents a kind of "welcoming...

We think Mrs. Johnson is totally hilarious. She's like the nosey neighbor in almost every sitcom...

Bobo is Walter's buddy. Just like Walter, he gets ripped off by Willy Harris in the great liquor...

Willy never shows up onstage, but he plays a significant role in the Youngers' story. And by...