More Than Money: Walter Lee Younger’s Quest for True Self Consciousness

Much is expected of the black man in America–perhaps, too much. Even in a world that claims to be free of prejudice and hate, citizens of color must lead their lives with a certain type of awareness–remaining keenly conscious of their identity in a way white citizens are not. In his text ​Of Our Spiritual Strivings,​ civil rights activist W.E.B Du Bois describes the black psyche using a two ­sided “double consciousness”. Under this governance, the black individual must reconcile with the standard burdens of the social ladder, while also living under a veil of white contempt: “measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused pity...[containing] two thoughts..two warring ideals in one dark body” (Du Bois 4­6). Both a burden and a gift, this duality morphs into what Du Bois later defines as true self consciousness. Even if all African­ Americans traverse this conflict of ideals, it can be difficult to inhabit from a white, unconscious stance outside the veil. Walter Lee Younger, a black man in Lorraine Hansberry’s play ​A Raisin in the Sun​, can be used to discuss Du Bois’ double, and true self­ consciousness. I argue that Walter Lee obtains the later of Du Bois two phrases by taking responsibility for his family’s predicaments at the end of the play.

In order to appropriately characterize Walter Lee in service of Du Bois’ ideology, the scope of preceding terminology must be more deeply defined. More specifically, what is the black man’s quest? The easy answer to this question is freedom or liberation, but Du Bois does not allow the white man such peace of mind. Some might argue that Walter Lee and his family had already achieved those goals in 1959 when the play is set. Yet it goes without saying that the black man continues to struggle for identity in this world, plagued by the continual shadow of white contempt. Du Bois is determined to make the white race intimate with the black struggle, describing its depth and origin in his own life at an early age: “The worlds I longed for...were theirs, not mine. But they should not keep these prizes, I said; some, all, I would wrest from them. Just how I would do it I could never decide” (Du Bois 4). With this anecdote in mind, we can define the position of the black man as a forced juxtaposition, a cruel comparison, or an unending quest for self­ respect.

Just as Du Bois was compelled to gaze wistfully upon the “prizes” of another, Walter Lee remains on the sidelines of success as a chauffeur to a rich white man. Dissatisfied with his reality, he hopes for something greater than unfulfilling servitude: “I drive a man around in his limousine and I say, ‘Yes sir; no, sir’ very good, sir’...Mama, that ain’t no kind of job” (Hansberry 61). Walter Lee wants to set a better example for his family–to have a career that gives him independence and control, but finds himself hopelessly trapped.

Not until his mother puts this sorrow in perspective can we understand Walter’s error. By harkening back to the more oppressive period her generation overcame, Mama surfaces an important distinction: “Once upon a time freedom used to be life–now it’s money...[you’re] talking ’bout things we ain’t never even thought hardly” (Hansberry 61-­62).

From Mama’s point of view, it’s clear that Walter Lee’s interest and perspective has been skewed by an exposure to white opulance. It may be easy for Younger to complain about his current circumstances and forget the triumphs of his father’s generation, but if he is to progress towards independence and self­ consciousness, he must continue to question the shortcomings of his relationship with the white man.

It is important to note that Walter’s penchant for affluence stems from more than just his career. Perhaps the greatest contingency in the life of the Younger family has to do with a certain $10,000 insurance check received as compensation for the death of Walter Lee’s father. Determining how this blood money will be spent has the potential to affect the entire family. In his naivete, Walter Lee believes he must invest the money and take a risk–emulating the conduct of white men. This hunger for white knowledge and behavior is something Du Bois understands. Even with the right to vote, the black community continues to feel the shadow of white contempt and see within themselves a “compulsory ignorance”–a sharp desire “to know and test the power of the cabalistic letters of the white man” (Du Bois 8). As his wife Ruth comments, “Walter Lee says colored people ain’t never going to start getting ahead till they start gambling on some different kinds of things in the world–investments and things” (Hansberry 25). For Walter, the anxiety to reach a white level of success often supersedes good judgement.

Even in light of Walter’s haste, Hansberry's characters have good reason to be anxious. In the pursuit for equality, the black race has seen a cascade of small successes result in a collective failure: “The bright ideals of the past,—physical freedom, political power, the training of brains and the training of hands,—all these in turn have waxed and waned, until even the last grows dim and overcast. Are they all wrong...No, not that, but each alone was over­simple and incomplete” (Du Bois 10). Each victory represents a step forward for society, but Du Bois believes more must be done on an individual level.

What makes Du Bois’ quest of self­ consciousness different for other forms of protest, is that it is uniquely controlled by an understanding of one’s identity. In other words, Du Bois sees value in both the American project and negro identity. In the black man’s toiling quest for freedom he has come to understand its value more than any other, but the solution is not merely to “bleach the negro soul”, for its identity also has something to teach America. We must not lash out in a brutal rage of protest or fall victim to an Uncle Tom submissiveness, but find a delicate balance–a true sense of self.

Throughout the play Walter Lee’s mother rejects his thirst for investment and growth, choosing instead to spend the money on a new home in the predominantly white neighborhood of Clybourne Park. Frustrated that he cannot invest the money, Walter begins to feel that his mother has “butchered up” has dreams and that he has no control over his family’s destiny (Hansberry 87). Whether out of guilt or sincere trust, Mama decides to give Walter the remainder of money so that he can “be the head of the family” like he is supposed to be (Hansberry 94). Yet in spite of everything his mother warned him, Walter Lee decides to invest the entirety, placing his sister Beneatha’s education in jeopardy. Crisis occurs when the money is lost after his business partner Willie takes it and runs. It is at this point when Walter Lee must again reconcile with a future removed from the prospect of wealth, allowing him to reconsider the effects of money on the his psyche, and gesture towards a more honest self­consciousness.

While the black man remains wholly conscious of his freedom and culture, the white man does not. Nor does he see the benefits of racial coexistence. Just prior to the loss of the insurance money, the Younger family is visited by a timid white man named Mr. Linder,who represents the Clybourne Park Improvement Association. His goal is to politely discourage the family from moving, by offering to buy their new home at a profit: “Our people out there feel that [we] get along better...when they share a common background. I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn’t enter into it...[we believe] that our Negro families are happier when they live in their ​own​communities” (Hansberry 104). Even when African American citizens are given rights to live a “white” life on paper, they must still grapple with stigma and oppression, forced to live within two identities.

Unwritten prejudice is still prejudice–separate is not equal, and Clybourne Park’s emphasis on separation is precisely what the Younger family is content to disturb. Indeed, Du Bois believes that what the black man yearns for more than anything, is to be an equal “coworker in the kingdom of culture”. To fit in the neighborhood of America, merging a warring dual consciousness into a singular, forged identity of true self consciousness.

The question becomes, does Walter Lee reach this moment of epiphany? It comes down to the final scene in which he invites Mr. Linder back into their home and is prepared to take his offer of money. In the midst of this decision Walter breaks down and realizes how low he’s stooping: “Hell, yes, I want me some yachts someday! Yes, I want to hang some real pearls ‘round my wife’s neck...tell me, who decides which women is suppose to wear pearls in this world? I tell you I am a ​man​...” (Hansberry 133). At this moment, the stage direction indicates that the word ​man​“penetrates” Walter’s consciousness. Mama suggests that if he takes the money, he will have “nothing left”–a true paradox. This key point reshapes Walter’s definition of a good life, away from material opulence towards a confidence in legacy. As Du Bois might put it, Walter Lee “began to have a dim feeling that, to attain his place in the world, he must be himself and not another” (Du Bois 9). That he cannot let Mr. Linder, or anyone else tell him how to live, and that riches are merely a facade without substance.

At the end of the day, the Younger family has something Mr. Linder does not–a resilient legacy. They cannot and should not buy their way out of trouble or into success. Rather, it is their pattern of perseverance that has got them to where they belong: “We come from a people who had a lot of pride...We have decided to move into our house, because my father–my father–he earned it [brick by brick]....We don’t want your money” (Hansberry 138). There can be no progress forward without a courageous assertion of rights. Herein we see the full manifestation of Walter Lee’s transformation. He now understands that it is better to toil in pursuit of acceptance and integration then to perpetuate separative submission; That the Younger family can be both African ​and American. And indeed, this new identity– an “oasis of simple faith and reverence in a dusty desert of dollars and smartness”, is truly a force to be reckoned with (Du Bois 11­-12).