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