Walter Lee, the protagonist of Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun, is obsessed with the ideal of wealth, similar to Willy Loman. When his father dies, Walter Lee's mother receives Big Walter's life insurance money and how to use the money becomes one of the major conflicts in the story. Walter Lee cries, "Mama, do you know what this money means to me?...Mama, I want so many things" (73). He is convinced that his dreams of being something more than a chauffeur can only be achieved with money. This obsession is no longer hope, but delusion, as he loses sight of basic human values of love and family, like his mother cherishes. Mama says to Walter Lee, "Oh, so now it's life. Money is life" (74). Walter Lee puts everything on the line by taking a risk with the money his mother gives him, and ends up losing it all and being left in a worse position than he was as a poor chauffeur. He feels lost and alone after this defeat and moves in the opposite direction of achieving his dreams. Walter Lee's experience manifests the extent that delusional dreams fail to get an individual anywhere in life.
A clip from the 1961 film of A Raisin in the Sun. Walter Lee and Mama's argument over values shows Walter Lee's delusional dream, his obsession with wealth as the only road to success. Watch 0:00 - 5:00.