Walter White – or Heisenberg – is the main protagonist of the American series Breaking Bad.
Played by Bryan Cranston (a great actor), White is a chemistry teacher at J. P. Wynne High School. Safe to say, he has a middle class life, involving all the perks and pits of ‘mediocrity’.
At the start of the series, White discovers that he has lung cancer. This makes him challenge not just the utility of getting a very expensive treatment but also of his own life. But, catering to his family’s wishes and understanding that they need him, he decides to choose to live.
Walter White is a dynamic character. In this essay, I will attempt to analyze him based on his
- Circumstances
- Motives
If you wish to check out Walt’s personality profile, you can do so by clicking this. So, without further ado, let’s take a deep dive into Heisenberg’s world.
Circumstances of Walter White
It is impossible to understand White without knowing where he comes from. Walter White turns 50 at the start of the series.
With relevance to the story and Walt’s situation, his circumstances can be divided along three major axes.
Work
He is a chemistry teacher at a high school. But he had not pictured himself as being in this position. He had contributed to Nobel-worthy research and he was a partner at Gray Matter Technologies, along with his best friend at the time, Elliot Schwartz.
But Walt sold his share of the company, and the company later grew into a multi-billion dollar enterprise.
Instead of having been in an active lab at a resourceful facility, being financially independent at 50, Walt was stuck teaching to classes of disinterested students and enjoying a meager pay.
So, when the news of his lung cancer is out, Walt does not feel as if he has much to live for.
Except for one major reason.
Family.
Family
Walt is married to Skyler White, with a young boy, Walter White Junior, in middle school and a daughter on the way.
However, it is not like Walt is a perfect father or husband. Rather, he struggles with himself about the fact that he hasn’t provided enough for his family. He appears to be more tired in life but he softens in the pillow therapy scene in the show, for his pregnant wife and son.
Social Circle
It is also important to note that Walt holds some of his relations in high regard. He opened up in the pillow therapy scene partly thanks to his sister-in-law, Marie Schrader, and her husband, Hank Schrader.
Other than his immediate family and his wife’s sister, Walt’s social circle extends only to associates at work and his past friends. However, he is not very happy about his friendship with Gretchen, his former lab assistant and ex-fiance, and Elliott who Gretchen married.
He is tired, dejected, broke. However, he also has a loving family, a stable job, living in a middle-class neighborhood.
The main point of contention here is not feeling unfulfilled. Rather, Walt appears to hate mediocrity.
So, it is this context that sets the stage for the rest of Walt’s life.
Motives
We have looked at Walt’s circumstances at the beginning of the story. Now, we will see what drives him.
For the purposes of simplifying White’s motives, I have divided them into two different categories.
Getting Paid and Treated Adequately
Throughout the show, a running theme is Walt being compensated with what he deserves. The central goal is not just money. After all, if he had wanted only money, he would have tried to negotiate a higher price for his services as a meth chef for Gustavo Fring. Indeed, Jesse Pinkman was furious that he had agreed to cook meth for such a small price.
Moreover, I assert here that this central belief of “I should be treated how I deserve to be treated,” runs also in Walter’s work relationship with Tuco, Pinkman, Mike and Fring. When he feels that the other person is not treating as he deserves to be treated, he tries to neutralize the threat.
While sharing finances with Mike and Pinkman, he splits the money in equal proportions. He gives others what he thinks they deserve as aligned with the general logical conception of fairness. When he does all the work, he expects the other person to not take away the outcomes of the work he does.
However, these beliefs about what someone deserves is purely based on who does the work. For example, he claims that there is no other half for Pinkman, as he thought that he was doing all the work himself.
He fights with Mike, arguing against paying off other people when he operates with Mike and Pinkman after Fring.
However, there is another core belief that has often clashed with his belief of getting what one deserves. Let’s look into Walt’s motives regarding his family.
“All I do is For the Benefit of the Family”
This seems to be among the chief rationales for Walter’s sudden move towards selling meth. He understood that this has the potential of paying off his chemo treatment. Moreover, he wants to save and leave enough money for his wife and children to live the rest of their lives in relative affluence. He buys his son a Mustang. Moreover, he discloses his secret to Skyler and then takes her counsel over conducting his business more safely.
Having said that, there are many actions of his that are not justified by the two beliefs mentioned above.
With that, let’s take a dip into Walt’s ego trip. This is where I will refer to Walt as Heisenberg.
I’m Good At It; It Makes Life Worth Living
Based on Walter’s circumstances, one could conclude that he did not really only want to teach. Rather, the way that he teaches his lectures is disinteresting to his students. While he initially tries to pursue it passionately, as seen in the pilot episode, he apparently begins to lose his own interest as well.
His entire resume right until he sells his shares in Gray Matter Technologies, speaks of work that is lab-based and interesting. So, led by his desire to earn far more money than he was earning at the time, Heisenberg constructed his own lab in an RV. Later on, this lab is greatly expanded under Gustavo Fring and when he finally began operating independently of Fring. He appears to be driven while he is working in the lab.
There are two reasons for this:
- Increase in self-efficacy
- Increase in interest in life
For Heisenberg, there is ambition involved in making meth. When Pinkman talks about quitting, Heisenberg argues against this, showing his ambitions for expanding his business.
Another example is when he ends up earning such a significant amount that Skyler loses count of the money – which is not normal for Skyler, who is managing an entire car wash facility. She asks Heisenberg with exasperation about how long he would continue his drug business, because if it was only for the family, then they have enough money to last lifetimes.
Conclusion
Walter White aka Heisenberg is a well-written character who grows as the series progresses. This does not mean that White did not commit many mistakes.
But, don’t we all?
To understand a character or even a living person, it is important to take their circumstances into consideration. Once you do that, you will find that it becomes much easier to trace their motives by how they act in different situations.
Even if the character is a drug-emperor!
