Walter's Decision

When Mrs. Younger first bought the house a man stopped by to pay them off to not move into the house. It was a white neighborhood and the whites did not want any blacks in the neighborhood. They declined this offer because everyone wanted out of the apartment and into a new house. Of course, this all happened before Walter lost all of the insurance money and even the part that was going to go to Bennie’s college fund. Walter felt he needed somehow to get the money back and his life revolved around money. He felt it was the only important thing in life and the thing to go after. He called the man back over on moving day to accept the man and the neighborhoods offer. This was his plan at first but then his mom and the rest of the family felt this as a disgrace and that it was wrong to sink so low for money. Walter in the end decided to go with his pride instead of the money. This was a very, very hard decision for Walter because for a very long time or for most of his life he only cared about being rich and being a business man. It was not an easy decision for him but it was definitely the right one. He went away from it stronger and with pride. He went away with his family being proud of him and that is what matters more than money. I think he did a very difficult thing and that it was completely the right thing to do. It is terrible that they were in that situation where Walter would give up his pride for money but times can be rough. I think that the Younger family will do a lot better now that they are out of the apartment. I will feel there will be less fighting once they have more space and hopefully they come more together as a family. I think Walter has learned a very good lesson and hopefully he can go from there and change what is most important to him.

W.E.B. Dubois

W.E.B. Dubois talked in this chapter about how music was important and how it didn’t just affect the blacks but it also affected the whites to. The blacks moving into the religion really changed how religion and the songs in church were. At the end though he talked about how the negro problem affected the blacks soul. He touched on it about how mean the whites were and how the blacks had to act a certain way. The way that the whites wanted them to act so that they could somehow get through life. The blacks had to cover up their true soul in order to please the whites and be this person who is not them at all. They could though bring out their soul in their music and in church which was somewhat of a relief but it was also that they had to change their religion due to the whites. So this wasn’t completely who they truly were. They had to always watch their steps and make sure they were always pleasing. They had to watch what they say and could never really let their soul be free and be who they really are. This was such a hard task for the blacks and it took a great toll on them and they had hope that one day their soul could be free. They always tried to keep some hope on that things would be better or that they finally would be free.