ing in the morning. You all some eeeevil people at eight o'clock in the morning (Hansberry Raisin 1111).
Hansberry is certainly critical of Walter in her portrayal of his personality, attitude, and treatment of others. At the same time, she includes observations of his environment which allow us to understand the unhappiness and disappointments which underlie his behavior. She notes the furniture and the rug and the general sense that this is a house in which hope no longer dwells. This is a house in which the people are tired and beaten down by the struggle to merely survive.
However, Hansberry does not mean to excuse Walter because of these depressing surroundings. After all, Ruth is just as disappointed and depressed by life, but she does not abuse Walter as he abuses her. This may be a matter of gender, as Hansberry suggests, but there is a more important message here. What the author is saying is that racism is an abuse of power. The white racism of the United States is destructive because white people have the greater power, and blacks do not have the power to stop that
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