Ethnic discrimination and unfair treatment have always plagued ethnic minorities. The male protagonist Walter Lee is a typical black male. The essay argues that “A Raisin in the Sun” reflects the situations and contradictions of black Americans in different choices of hope, dreams, and ambitions during the US domestic rights movement in the 1940s.

As an American, Walter Lee shares his own “American Dream” with other Americans – becoming a successful, wealthy, admired man who improves his family’s living conditions. “Seem like God didn’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams – but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worth while.” Walter Lee wants to change. Meaningless work, and discrimination in life make he full of boredom. But he simply puts the focus on the money.

He dreams of sitting in a coffee shop like a white man, talking about business, and living a rich life like a white man. When his dreams can’t be realized for a long time, just like a grape is baked into raisins under the scorching sun, and the pressure of life makes people overwhelmed. He was stunned by this illusion, still facing the obvious scam but still dreaming of making a fortune.

Black men like Walter question themselves and get confused because of unrealistic dream, the embarrassment of life and the blow of reality. As a black man, like his other African-American ancestors, he is unequally treated in American social life, living at the bottom of society and living in distress. “I want to fly! I want to touch the sun!”. This expresses the dream of a lot of black people. But they are trapped by the contrast between reality and dream. The wife is also worried about the risks brought by her husband’s adventure. They all put this kind of fear and dilemma on each other, and they feel that the other party does not care about themselves. Thus, they are suffering from various pressures, and then they hurt each other and let the love become weaker.

But one of the greatest power of people, that is, courage to face up to oneself and self-respect in discrimination, and oppression get Walter overcome difficulties.  Walter Lee is in pain, and he could not defeat the suffering from the outside world. At this time, Walter Lee’s mother’s words to him awakened the masculinity that was sealed in Lee’s heart. “Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is.”

The quote is to remind the people of the past memory. It is foolish and unwise to pursue a dream and betray one’s class with something like money or other people’s standards. In American society, because of the disadvantaged position of black people in society, it is difficult for black people to fundamentally change their situation through the improvement of economic status before changing the ills of white supremacy and white centralism. He found himself by tracing his own history and cultural traditions, which is his origin. The position has gained Walter a sense of belonging, clarified his identity, and liberated the sealed masculinity.

The play shows that a lot of black people are pursuing the dreams of their own in conflicts and contradiction. Just like Walt Lee, the protagonist in “A Raisin in the Sun”, black men can also realize their dream if them find their sense of belonging, liberate the sealed masculinity, and gain self-identity by facing their history and recognizing their position in history.