Walter Lee Younger - Walter is a dreamer and he wants to be rich so he devises plans to get wealthy with his friends, particularly Willy Harris. When the play opens, he wants to invest his father’s insurance money in a new liquor store. He spends the rest of the play pointing out how the family problems would be solved if he would invest in a liquor store. (I think Walter should of just listened to mama. But, then the play would be boring.)
Beneatha Younger (“Bennie”) - Mama’s daughter and Walter’s sister. Beneatha is an intellectual. Twenty years old, she attends college and is better educated than the rest of the Younger family. Some of her personal beliefs and views have changer from her from conservative Mama. She dreams of being a doctor and struggles to determine her identity as a well-educated black woman.
Lena Younger (“Mama”) - Walter and Beneatha’s mother. The matriarch of the family, Mama is religious, moral, and maternal. She wants to use her husband’s insurance money as a down payment on a house with a backyard to fulfill her dream for her family to move up in the world.
Ruth Younger - Walter’s wife and Travis’s mother. Ruth takes care of the Youngers’ small apartment. Her marriage to Walter has problems, but she hopes to keep their love. She is about thirty. Constantly fighting poverty and domestic troubles, she continues to be an emotionally strong woman.
Travis Younger - Walter and Ruth’s sheltered young son. Travis earns some money by carrying grocery bags and likes to play outside with other neighborhood children, but he has no bedroom and sleeps on the living-room sofa.
Joseph Asagai - A Nigerian student in love with Beneatha. He is very proud of his African heritage, and Beneatha hopes to learn about her African heritage from him. He eventually proposes marriage to Beneatha and hopes she will return to Nigeria with him.
George Murchison - A wealthy, African-American man who loves Beneatha. The Youngers' family approve of George, but Beneatha dislikes his willingness to submit to white culture and forget his African heritage. He challenges the thoughts and feelings of other black people through his arrogance and flair for intellectual competition.
Mr. Karl Lindner - The only white character in the play. Mr. Lindner arrives at the Youngers’ apartment from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association. He offers the Youngers a deal to reconsider moving into his (all-white) neighborhood.
Bobo - One of Walter’s partners in the liquor store plan.
Willy Harris - A friend of Walter and coordinator of the liquor store plan. He runs off with the money and never comes back. (I would of never trusted any one with the money until I would see the end product.)
Mrs. Johnson - The Youngers’ neighbor. Mrs. Johnson takes advantage of the Youngers’ hospitality and warns them about moving into a white neighborhood.
