One is the Loneliest Number

Two can be as bad as one- its the loneliest number since the number one. In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, it may seem impossible for characters to ever feel lonely based on the fact that five people are all living within one apartment. The loneliness I shall be discussing is a loneliness of the mind. Walter Lee is different from the rest of his family. Being the only man in the apartment, paired with the fact he does not make as much money as he'd like, often emasculates him. He dreams of making enough to support his wife and child comfortably in their own home. Thus, the liquor store plan. Walter Lee, sans support of Ruth, wishes to invest the insurance money in what appears to others to be a "get rich quick" scheme. Perhaps this is only because they refuse to read the details. Perhaps this plan is a definite way to make money. If Walter were a woman, would the other women listen to him? Could sexism be playing a role in Walter's voice being drowned out? Sexism usually occurs against women, which is why many people are not able to recognize that, in this instance, Walter's gender actually puts him at a disadvantage in his matriarchal family. The question then becomes, what happens to a lonely man's dream deferred?