WALTER

• 'just look at 'em down there... Running and racing to work...' pg12 


  Voyeurism = Nick

  AAVE - omission of the auxiliary verb 'em = regional dialect used reflects the realist drama genre

  Ellipsis - longing and hope to one day be in their place
•  "looked young . . . real young . . . but . . . it's gone now." pg12


  Chauvinism (male prejudice against women) highlighted, looking young is important and beautiful for women.

  Ellipsis

  Bathos - rude, demoralizing her, synecdoche of appearance.
• 'I want so many things they are driving me kind of crazy... Mama - look at me.' pg 53


  His personification of his ambitions emasculates him since they take over his body - stative verb 'verb'

  Mitigation 'kind of' reflects a sense of shame / inability to admit he feels 'crazy' since that would reflect badly on the AA community.
• ’I pass them cool, quite – looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking ‘bout things … seeing there turning deals worth millions.’ pg54


  premodifier, colloquial, vague language (white boys + things) creates sense of unjustly exclusion, out of reach, racial injustice

  paints vivid picture of inner turmoil, jealousy, and the boarder social injustice
• '(with immense passion) Because it is life, Mama!’ pg54


  heightened emotion in the prosodics, encapsulates fervent desires for a better future

  intonation 'life' loaded with significance

  emotional stress on end focus 'mama' conveys his need for her support

  voice = passion, desperation.
• 'No he don't! Excuse me for what? What you always excusing me for? I'll excuse myself when i needs to be excused!' p62


  Repetition of 'excuse me' to emphasise his frustration, desires for respect + agency

  Ironic attempt to assert independence and authority against the matriarch that is his family - link to TOM - simultaneously being dependant on them for validation

  AAVE + fragmented sentences = agitation

  Reflects his anger at the broader struggles of racism, poverty and his 'dream deferred' that is built up inside him.
• 'i got some plans that could... i think like he does.' p62/3


  Auxiliary verb 'could' and hypothetical term 'plans' reference the future possibilities - which is all that Walters 'plans' are - he is constantly talking about what he could do, instead of what he has.

  Walter individualism in his belief that he is like those that have succeeded: he doesn't understand why he hasn't.

  Speech about economic success.
• 'Ain't you bitter man? Ain't you just about had it yet?...Bitter?... Bitter?' p63


  Fragmented interrogatives, choppy frantic nature to his dialogue

  Repetition of adjective interrogative 'bitter' creates dissatisfaction + anger at society berating his dreams

  AAVE
• Don't you see no stars gleaming that you can't reach out and grab?...Bitter? Man, i',m a volcano. Bitter? Here i am a giant-surrounded by ants!' p63


  Symbolic, figurative language ('stars' = distant dreams, aspirations and opportunities)

  Adjective 'gleaming' is alluring

  Metaphor = destructive force brewing - conveys both intensity and volatility, inner turmoil.

  Juxtaposition of scale ('giant' ' ants'), alienated in SS Chicago, he perceives himself to have greater potential
• 'Prometheus' pg64

  Ambitions = over the top. Prometheus = symbol of divine punishment. Stole fire from the gods, and therefore was tortured by having liver eaten by an eagle every day.
• 'how we gets to the place where we scared to talk softness to eachother' pg66

  AAVE

  post-modifier 'softness' suggests removed vulnerability

  Ruth and Walter's struggles stem from their entrapment in poverty, their jobs, and their apartment: the desire to leave evolves into an emotional escape through alcohol, and to lash out at those involved in the entrapment. 
• 'I went to the Green Hat.' speech. pg81


  Hansberry displays the detrimental effect of 'a dream deffered' through Walters nihilistic speach about the green hat.

  Slowness + elipsis + non-fluency featurs form voice of isolation.

  Polysyndetic listing 'and i' = endless and directionless

  Describing his search for meaning, visitng sites of sucess but returning to the green (envy) hat.
• 'Get something sportier for Ruth... we'll kiss eachother...i hand you the world!' pg84


  Pathos = extreme sadness is soaked in the speech, he is speaking to himself.

  Happiness based on money - thinks it will fix his marriage.

  Ignorant hyperbole 'i hand you the world.' segregation gifts money a distorted power in poverty

  Walter does not want to limit Travis's imagination like his was by his father.
• 'that money is made out of my Fathers flesh...' pg101

  Metaphor: It was proof of his life.

  Hansberry linking rage to religion, religious iconography, sacrifice.

  Money is the lifeblood of human existence (Marxist lens)

  Emphasises the devastation caused by losing the money - circle back to the idea of generational dreams = gone now.
• 'the man. Captain Boss – Mistah Charley… Old Captain. Please Mr Boss man.’ pg112


  Exaggerated AAVE lexis for showing respect to the white man: use it to get money from Linder = revert back to the idealised black man from the white perspective. Lose of idealism + dignity.
• 'gonna put on a show for the man.' pg112


  Perform as the subservient perfect AA (must perform to survive)

  Meta theatre reference to audience.

  This is the tragic loss of the play - yet Hansberry doesn't end it - she doesn't allow it to be a tragedy.

  Release of all dignity.

  Inclusion 'for the man' highlights oppressive white men / white dominated society
• 'and that's my sister over there and she's going to be a doctor' pg117


  Cyclical, character arc learning the the importance of collective dreams

  Future perfect tense: certain declarative
• 'that money is made out of my fathers flesh.' pg101


  The money is proof of his life, his work, his suffering in America.

  Sacrifice
• 'the most backward race of people' 


  walter has internalized the racism in society.

  pre-modifying 'most backward' lexically derived from racial discourse in the 20th century
• 'sometimes its like I can see the future stretched out in front of me… the future Mama. Hanging over there at the edge of my days. Just waiting for me – a big, looming blank space – full of nothing. Just waiting for me.’


  negation - 'nothing', realism on acknowledging a meaningless, empty future

  In comparison to G, who reaches for the past, W reaches for the future (race)
• 'Man says to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman says: Eat your eggs. (Sadly, but gaining in power.) Man says I got to take hold of this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work.' pg18



  Informal language: cavemen sociolect

  Feminist lens: he cannot blame society, so he blames women.

  Exclamative vs imperative.
• 'Cause we all tied up in a race of people that don't know how to do nothing but moan, pray and have babies.' pg65 


  Pejorative triad

  Double negative for emphasis of the limited roles of AA women

  Dynamic verb 'tied up' suggests AA women hold AA men back

  In conflict with Ruhh