Kurstin Howe
Ms. Price
Honors English 1
5 January 2018
Characters With Mental Disorders
Characters in stories could possibly have mental disorders. The character Walter in A
Raisin in the Sun has schizophrenia. Before analyzing the connection between Walter and
schizophrenia, it is important to understand a basic understanding of what the disorder is.
Schizophrenia can be defined as a person who has the inability to distinguish between what is
real and what is not. There are different types of schizophrenia, it can ruin relationships, can
negatively affect work, school, and everyday activities (Weinstein). Some of the symptoms are
hallucinations, delusional thoughts, paranoia or suspicion, substance abuse, and social
impairment (Harrison). In the play A Raisin in the Sun, Walter can be described as harsh. He
doesn't think before he does anything. He is desperate to solve all of his problems. Walter has
schizophrenia because he presents symptoms of the mental disorder such as substance abuse and
paranoia.
Walter has schizophrenia because he abuses substances. As said in the last paragraph,
substance abuse is a symptom of being schizophrenic. In the play A Raisin in the Sun, it says in
the stage direction, "Walter comes in during this performance; he obviously has been drinking"
(Hansberry 79). If Walter had obviously had been drinking, that implies he was drunk. Becoming
drunk is very much substance abuse. There is a line between just having a few drinks and having
many drinks, changing how a person acts completely. He goes to the bar quite often in the play
either with his friends or by himself. If he goes missing, people assume he is at the bar. If he can
not control his drinking, he might be schizophrenic. Therefore, Walter abusing alcohol is a
symptom of schizophrenia.
Another symptom of schizophrenia is paranoia. Walter shows the symptom of paranoia
by thinking everyone is against him. In A Raisin in the Sun, he says, "That's it. There you are.
Man say to his woman; I got me a dream. His woman say; Eat your eggs" (Hansberry 37). In the
play, Walter was sharing his dream of building a liquor store and Ruth said no because the
money he was trying to buy it with was not his money to spend. He got mad and said that she
was against him which was not true. Ruth was trying to change the subject by telling Walter to
eat his eggs. Walter was convinced that Ruth is always against him. When a person is paranoid,
you believe that everyone is out to harm you which was exactly how Walter was acting towards
Ruth. Therefore, Walter being paranoid is a symptom of schizophrenic.
It might seem as if Walter may have bipolar disorder but he matches with more
symptoms of schizophrenia. Those who believe that he has the bipolar disorder think that he has
significant "highs" and "lows". Although aspects of this argument are enticing, it ultimately fails
to be a stronger argument because they fail to see that Walter just has normal mood swings like
everyone else. Walter does not have the bipolar disorder because he matches more symptoms of
schizophrenia and does not have "highs" and "lows". He has mood swings just like everyone
else. Extreme highs and lows would be that the person might be suicidal when they are at their
lows and super extremely happy when they are at their highs. There is a clear difference between
extreme highs and lows and mood swings. Since he doesn't have the symptoms of the disorder,
that concludes that he is schizophrenic.
Therefore, Walter has schizophrenia because he presents the symptoms paranoia and
substance abuse. Readers fail to realize that a character in any sort of story whether it be in a
movie or book could possibly have mental disorders. Authors make their characters just like
actual humans so if readers think about it, mental disorders can be anywhere. All in all, Walter
and other characters may have mental disorders if people truly think about it.
Citations:
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun, Benediction Classics, 2017
Weinstein, Edie. “Understanding and Giving Support to Someone With Schizophrenia.” Psych
Central, 1 Feb 2016, psychcentral.com
Harrison, Catherine. “What Are Some of the Biggest Causes Schizophrenia?” Very Well, 4
December 2017. verywell.com
Catherine, Harrison, PhD Reviewed by Steven Flans Md. “The Positive and Negative Symptoms
of Schizophrenia” VeryWell, 7 June 2017, www.verywell.com
“Schizophrenia.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, www.nimh.nih.gov
