Podcast on Walter Lee

Noah Laskoski discusses the play "A Raisin in the Sun" and focuses on the character Walter Lee. Set in the 1950s, the play explores the challenges faced by African Americans striving for equality. Walter, a hard-working chauffeur, dreams of financial success for his family and plans to invest in a liquor store. Despite opposition from his family, Walter remains determined. He faces external problems of racial discrimination and lack of opportunity, which also affect him internally. These struggles take a toll on his self-worth, but he remains driven. Noah admires Walter's work ethic and hopes to find similar passion in his own life. Hello, my name is Noah Laskoski, and I will be elaborating a podcast telling you all there is to know about the historical and inspirational play, A Raisin in the Sun. The play was set in the 1950s era, a time period where African Americans dreamt about a life where they could work alongside whites and have equal rights, not just in everyday life, but in the workforce as well. The play uses a young family as an example and dives into many aspects of their lives. Challenges they face with racial segregation are a significant factor in the play and show how African Americans as a whole get treated when trying to strive for equality. I will be going into depth on the father of the family, Walter Lee. I believe he plays a very important role in The Raisin in the Sun. He plays as a hard-working class African American in his mid to late 30s. He is a very ambitious man that works as a chauffeur for upper-class white families. He works for one thing and one thing only, financial success for his wife Ruth, son Travis, and of course himself. Walter wants to be able to provide for his family and live a life that mostly white people at this time live. Walter knows he will not achieve his goal by being a chauffeur for wealthy white people, so he has dreams of saving up enough money to invest in a liquor store venture. Knowing it will provide stability for him and his family, other members of Walter's family do not feel that Walter should invest in a liquor store. This is because it is too risky and can lead to financial ruin. Walter does not listen to the rest of his family. This is because it seems like the liquor store is all that is on Walter's mind, as proven when he states, Yeah, you see this little liquor store we got in mind? Costs $75,000, and when we figure the initial investment on the place would be about $30,000, see, that would be about $10,000 each. Act 1, Scene 1. His attitude towards the liquor store proves how driven he is to do well for his wife and son. He just doesn't want the color of his skin to get in the way of that, but Walter seems to keep running into problems of all kinds, not just external problems, but internal or emotional problems. He constantly finds himself running into racial discrimination and lack of opportunity. If you didn't think that was enough to deal with, the internal problems get caused by the external problems, making things much harder for Walter. When these things happen, it destroys his self-worth, not to mention the pressure of supporting his family and making ends meet. This is proven when he states, I'm 35 years old. I've been married 11 years. I got a boy who sleeps in the living room, and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live. Act 1, Scene 2. I can't imagine this is an easy pill for Walter to swallow, watching his family struggle in such a way. I chose Walter to discuss in this podcast because of his ambitious attitude towards life. I do not have to face the challenges that Walter had to, but I hope throughout my life I can find something that I am passionate about and work towards it every day, just like Walter. I guess you could say I almost strive to be as passionate about something as he is. This is one of the many reasons I chose Walter Lee. I did not choose him because he is a good father or a likable person, but because he has the work ethic like no other, and that is something I value greatly in life. Thank you so much for listening.