Category: American Dream

The amazing story Of Mice and Men happened during the 1930s. Around that time it was very different from today. The race was a big important thing that gave whether a human had the chance to make cash. The 1930s were a major time where humans started questioning people in the American culture because of how they look. A Lot of people like John Steinbeck thought that his life was worse than everyone else and was wondering if his life is even worth it. In Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck shows that man’s dream is designated to be gone by an insane reality. George was a smart and able man who took charge of mental people like Lennie and George found a good-paying job which he knew he could do. George and Lenny and The book Of Mice and Men go over mostly on the friendship of two workers in California when most of the work was done by people and not by machines.

Wavy’s better half’s fantasy was obviously displayed in the novel. She needed to be in the films. Wavy’s significant other had no name. She was constantly alluded to as Curly’s better half. She had no character and just until the finish of the story, the peruser knew next to no about her. She reveals to Lennie that her fantasy was to be a well-known film star. She was a pretty lady and that fantasy nearly appeared to be plausible, however, she was brought into the world poor so essentially reality disclosed to her that she was to simply be a spouse and do housework or work on a ranch. One day ‘a show come through here and I met one of the on-screen characters, and he revealed to me I could be with that show.'(88) He was clearly deceiving her and simply had disclosed to her that stuff so he may get an opportunity to engage in sexual relations with her. She gullibly sat tight for the letter however it never came. Rather, she simply hitched wavy, a man she didn’t love. She was an exceptionally despondent lady and her fantasies would never have worked out as expected on the grounds that she was poor and uneducated. The companionship of George and Lenny The book Of Mice and Men centers around the fellowship of two vagrant laborers in California when the vast majority of the work was finished by individuals and not by machines. George was a little man who acted common and astute. Lennie was a tremendous man that had the psyche of a kid. Together George and Lennie would bob from occupation to work with no cash in their pockets and just the fantasy of some time or another owning their very own position to prop them up. The two men were not ready to remain in one spot… People tend to dismiss their objectives and dreams. Rationally, individuals battle to keep up their mental soundness in this round of life that has no arrangement of principles.

In the book Of Mice and Men, this story depicts the disparity between individuals’ fantasies and what can really be cultivated. John Steinbeck, the creator of Of Mice and Men, uses his general subjects of kinship and depression, through his profound portrayal and association between characters so as to illustrate. John Steinbeck composed and set his novella of the mice and men amid 1930 in the agrarian focal valley of California where he was brought up. In the wake of living abroad and in new york for at some point, Steinbeck moved to the pacific woods in 1948 and went through the following quite a while inquiring about and composing an epic novel about the historical backdrop of the salinas valley. Upon his arrival to California, he found that his composition and his prosperity had distanced him from his neighbors. By including such an extensive amount of his own involvement and perceptions in his work Steinbeck had grown very and ill-disposed association with the place where he grew up in his work. Steinbeck bolstered himself as an unskilled worker before coming back to California the next year. He kept composition and in 1929 distributed his first novel, a measure of gold to tepid reaction.

He wedded tune henning the following year and the monetarily 1935 when tortilla level a comic novel managing Mexican Americans turned into his first business and basic achievement and was granted the region club of California gold decoration for best novel by a California. The demise of his dad that year and his mom passing in 1934 made the triumph a clashing on for Steinbeck. However, before the finish of the story, Steinbeck uncovers that fantasies can be as noxious as they are advantageous. What George finds—and what Crooks as of now appears to know when he disdainfully spurns Candy’s idea to go along with him, Lennie, and George—is that fantasies are over and over again just a verbalization of what never can be. In such cases, dreams become a wellspring of serious harshness since they lure negative men to put stock in them and afterward mock those men for their guilelessness. The specialists’ affection for Western magazines recommends simply such a relationship to dreams: Each one laughs at the magazines in broad daylight however figures out how to sneak stealthy looks when nobody else is looking, as though they subtly needed to be the cowpoke saints of mash fiction. Nobody appears to comprehend this sharpness superior to Crooks, whose grim self-hatred is never more grounded than when he gives himself a chance to have faith in Lennie’s fantasy, just to be ruthlessly reminded by Curley’s better half that he isn’t qualified for bliss in a white man’s world. Most of the characters in Of Mice and Men concede, at some point, to longing for an alternate life. Prior to her demise, Curley’s significant other admits her craving to be a motion picture star. Hooligans, severe as he may be, permits himself the wonderful dream of hoeing a fix of patio nursery on Lennie’s homestead one day, and Candy locks on frantically to George’s vision of owning two or three sections of land.

Before the activity of the story starts, conditions have denied the greater part of the characters of these desires. Curley’s significant other, for example, has surrendered herself to an unfulfilling marriage. What makes these fantasies ordinarily American is that the visionaries wish for clean joy, for the opportunity to pursue their own wants. George and Lennie’s fantasy of owning a ranch, which would empower them to support themselves, and, most significantly, offer them insurance from an unfriendly world, speaks to a prototypically American perfect. Their voyage, which stirs George to the difficulty of this fantasy, tragically demonstrates that the unpleasant Crooks is correct: such heavens of opportunity, happiness, and wellbeing are not to be found in this world. Ultimately, the fantasies of farms and rabbits that George and Lennie’s treasure are the very things that fix them. Tempted by how close he supposes he is to understand his fantasy, George fools himself into feeling that Lennie can mind himself and avoid inconvenience when past occasions affirm the opposite. At last, George does not give up at Lennie’s demise in light of the fact that the farm is everlastingly lost to him, but instead on the grounds that his companion—the one great truth of his life, the one reality that reclaimed George from uselessness—is always lost to him. To underscore the circumstance, Steinbeck receives limited third-individual portrayal and utilizes a tone that can best be depicted as uninvolved. His method is an outgrowth of his longing to meld sensational and novelistic strategies into another arts organization, which he called the ‘play-novelette.’ Accordingly, he depends on setting and exchange to pass on his message. Hence, he starts every part with an abstract of subtleties that enables perusers to imagine the scenes much as they may be watching an arranged introduction. When he has plotted the environment, nonetheless, he steps away and depends on exchange to convey the principle string of the story. Altogether, Steinbeck starts and closures the novel at the campground. This roundabout improvement strengthens the feeling of certainty that educates the whole novel. Similarly, as Lennie is bound to cause harm and be compelled to come back to the campground thus, as well, will George be compelled to surrender the fantasy of owning his very own homestead? Rather, he will be diminished to the status of a desolate wanderer, looking for natural delights to reduce the ethical detachment and defenselessness that Steinbeck recommends is a piece of the human condition.

In Of Mice and Men, there are several plot events that lead to the destruction of people or things. Steinbeck uses this conflict or rising and falling action, to help tell the bigger story of George and Lennie and life as a migrant farmworker in the 1930s and 1940s. Through these plot events, the theme of destruction is also revealed.

The Impact of the Great Depression on American Farmers

Steinbeck sets Of Mice and Men during Depression-era America. Economic and ecological conditions of the time oppressed workers like George and Lennie, whose pursuit for land was prevented by cruel and powerful forces beyond their control. Following World War I, a catastrophic recession had a significant impact on American farmers. First, the recession led to a drop in market prices for farm crops, forcing farmers to produce more in order to earn the same amount. To meet this demand, many farmers bought more land and agricultural equipment, a move aimed at increasing their income that really only increased their debt. When the stock market crashed in 1929, many farmers lost their property but also struggled to find alternative work due to an ever-increasing unemployment rate in the country. On top of these struggles, a horrible drought in the Great Plains turned once-fertile farmlands into a dust bowl and caused poor, migrant agricultural workers to pack up their families and travel to California looking for a better life. California’s mild climate, longer growing season, and fertile soil made the area seem like a promised land to these struggling American farmers. However, these migrant workers were not welcomed by California farmers and natives who were also feeling the effects of the Great Depression. Government infrastructures were already overloaded, and the influx of migrant workers proved to be more than the system could handle.

The Harsh Life of a Migrant Farmer

Since migrant farmers were met with contempt from California farmers and a lack of available jobs, their displacement and poverty intensified as they faced a harsh, unrewarding life. As Steinbeck reveals in several of his works, such as The Grapes and Wrath and Of Mice and Men, the life of a migrant farmworker was grueling, challenging, and often hopeless. Just like George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men, most farmworkers were homeless and starving and would wander from place to place looking for work. They were often exploited by landowners and banks for their willingness to work for minimal pay. These low wages left these workers suffering in squalid living conditions and feeling powerless, degraded, and hopeless. Many migrant workers were single men who habitually moved from place to place simply to find work. Such a life would leave most men feeling isolated and rootless, craving human company, stability, and some control over their own lives.

Finding Hope in the American Dream

Just as George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men travel to work on ranches in the hopes of finding a better life, many migrant farmers during the 1930s and 1940s would cling to the American Dream of happiness, freedom, and the ability to sustain themselves by owning a piece of land. While very few farm workers ever attained this dream, its mere presence in their minds would act as a form of hope or reason to keep going. The long-held conviction that the West was the Promised Land, a place to get a fresh start and find concrete employment, also added to this notion of the American Dream. The American Dream was often dangled in front of migrant farmworkers only to be cruelly yanked away by circumstances out of their control. For example, flyers advertising the need for farmworkers were distributed in areas hit hard by unemployment, influencing workers to move westward only to find too many workers and not enough jobs. In addition, the establishment of Route 66, one of America’s original highways, paralleled the westward movement of the migrant workers, making the trip seem more possible and hopeful for more workers. Ultimately, there was power in this shared dream and equal power in its failure to materialize.

Steinbeck’s Social Protest

Born in 1902, John Steinbeck grew up in Salinas, California, one of the state’s richest agricultural valleys, and spent his summers as a ranch worker, listening to stories and observing the lives of the working man. So, when the economic crash of the Great Depression directly affected the farmworkers of the American West, Steinbeck felt disgusted by the terrible suffering of the struggling ranch workers around him. His belief that landowners and bankers were partly responsible due to their exploitation of the cheap labor these workers provided led Steinbeck to write about this topic, exposing its reality to the world. Some of Steinbeck’s best-known works deal with the struggle of the poor, migrant workers, and Depression-era farmers, detailing the grueling life they faced. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck focuses on the working man’s dilemma, detailing the clash between a powerless worker, Lennie, and his elite oppressor, Curley. Through this scene, Steinbeck makes a social protest statement about the role that indifferent, cruel landowners and bankers played in migrant workers’ suffering. Through writing Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck helped to persuade political leaders to provide more aid to people left most impoverished by the Depression. Steinbeck was clearly influenced by his own experiences with the farmworkers of the American West, which led him to write novels that influenced understanding and change for these struggling agricultural workers.

“The Jungle”, written by Upton Sinclair, is a novel which exploited immigrants lives that were affected while living and working in industrialized cities in Chicago during the early 1900’s. The novel is based around the lives of characters who each had their own experiences and struggles that they faced while being immigrants from Lithuania going into the Meat-Packing Industry, also known as Packingtown.

The main character that Sinclair made one of the more important and was considered to be a representation of what immigrant’s experience and struggle with is Jurgis Rudkus. Jurgis was a man who originally came from Lithuania, but decided to leave his country in the hopes of achieving the American Dream in the United States. He was described to be a hardworking and determined person who was strong as well. He is idealistic as well, which would describe why he had such high hopes for entering a new country and being hopeful for what was to come. Lithuania at the time becomes very corrupt, which is the reason why many decide to leave. Like many immigrants, he wanted to be able to provide a better life for not only himself, but for his fiancé, and eventually his wife Ona Lukoszaite. Packingtown, Chicago, Illinois became the area where Jurgis began his new life, but his dreams were quickly destroyed as the struggles of what immigrants must go through became more and more apparent to him. He struggled with the English language, which is something that had been seen as important to much of the immigrants who entered the United States in order to get by with working daily. Besides not being able to speak English, Jurgis and his wife Ona were both disorientated upon entering the United States because life here was different than their life back in Lithuania and the lifestyle became something difficult to get used to. Working in the stockyards became difficult for him and other immigrants who worked alongside him because they were being put through hard labor, long hours of work, and the same amount of little pay that they would receive for any amount of work done. While noticing all of what was going on, it became apparent to Jurgis that his own American Dream was destroyed, which changed his view point forever and eventually turned him into someone different than he was while living in Lithuania.

Ona Lukoszaite is another main character of the story and was the wife of Jurgis Rudkus. She was described to be fragile and helpless, yet optimistic and kind hearted. Ona faced her own struggles upon starting a completely different life in the United States because just as her husband, she too was forced to do hard labor in order to make ends meets. Because she was seen as a fragile character, her struggles involved being raped by her own boss and not being able to do anything about it in order to not have her and her family’s life destroyed. Ona faced the struggles of being a mother to a child named Antanas. She ends up dying during child birth, as well as her newborn. Ona represented guilt and pity in the story. Jurgis feels guilt from capitalism pressures he faced while being married to her. The readers feel pity after reading the pain and struggles she went through. Antanas was the child of Jurgis and Ona. He was one of the characters from the novel and was seen as a form of hope for the future by his parents because they felt he would have a better, different lifestyle then they did. Unfortunately, he died by drowning in a pothole when he is still a kid. Dede Antanas was Jurgis father who was one of the characters that supported the decision of his son Jurgis to go to Chicago and live a better life. While in Chicago, Dede figured out that not even the elderly were appreciated or respected. He ended up dying from a persistent cough. Phil Connor was Ona’s boss who is portrayed as an enemy for Jurgis by not only hurting Ona, but also a man who took advantage of his own privilege that he has in this country. Jack Duane was a character that was put into Jurgis life to introduce him to the reality, and more abrupt world of Chicago while being his cellmate. Mike Scully was characterized as the head of Packingtown. He was portrayed as a crooked man whom Jurgis first believes is his friend, but later discovers he is responsible for the death of Antanas and Ona. Teta Elzbieta was the stepmother of Ona, whom was a representation of what it is to not really live, but to survive in a world that is full of tragedy after tragedy. Tommy Hinds was Jurgis’ last boss and ran a hotel business where he helped immigrants’ guests and passed out literature that had to do with socialists. Tommy was considered to be a good man. Lastly, Stainslovas was the eldest son of Teta Elzbieta’s and was another worker that suffered working in hard labor. He died from being attacked and eaten by rats. All characters have been affected one way or another for where they are and what they face.

Working conditions described in the book are portrayed to be disgusting, unsafe, and exploitative. Disgusting conditions meant the industry was full of diseases, rotten foods, and contaminated meat. Men were able to sweep off handfuls of dried rat feces from the top of the meat. Unsafe conditions stemmed from food being mixed with more rat feces, in which had strong chemicals like borax. These strong odors filled the rooms and eventually caused people to get sick and die. Besides being affected by chemicals and odors, it was also in unsafe condition because many of the men had difficulty in being in work areas that were crowded and difficult to work in. An example of this would be when Jurgis sprained his ankle from work because of the amount of rotting corpse of cow meat. The working conditions were also exploitative because of who was in charge of much of these jobs whom made the workers feel unsafe in the environment they were around. An example of exploitative working conditions would be when Ona was raped by her boss Phil Connor, in order to save her job fand the jobs of her family members.

Women faced different exploitation in their own jobs, like Ona. Jurgis was aware of the struggle’s women faced, which meant he would have rather let Ona remain home instead of work. “Jurgis was determined that Teta Elzbieta should stay at home to keep house, and that Ona should help her.” (Chp.4) They would be prostituted and/or raped by their bosses and people who took advantage of their own position in work. Many of these women allowed themselves to be put through this kind of treatment because to them, it meant that they would still be allowed to continue working and not lose their job. Losing one’s job during this time was difficult to face because many of these immigrant women had no other choice but to continue working hard for their families. New women would be enslaved into working and if the women were to speak up about what they were going through, then they would unfortunately be fired. During this time, there was no sexual discrimination laws around the work environment. In some cases, it was difficult for women to find jobs in the first place. An example of this would be Teta Elzbieta who resorted to begging for money after not being able to work for jobs that “she was compelled to do.” (Chp.14)

Three examples of corruption that Jurgis experienced when he arrived with his family as an immigrant would be the corrupt bosses, interest on the house, and “professional swindlers”. Jurgis working for Mike Scully meant he needed to be around a crooked and corrupt millionaire who rigged any next municipal election. Interest on the house started to go up because of the real estate agent and lawyer lying to the family. Expenses for the house was unbelievable. Monthly price became much higher than they had realized. Their lawyer lied to the family by not letting them know about their own agreement, which lead to the eviction of family. Besides those two, Jurgis also met “professional swindlers”, people who have a home and families that begged for money when they did not need it.

Sinclair’s solution to society’s problems in Chicago and in other corrupt working environments was to exploit them and their poor working conditions that they had people of the lower class working. This novel sold to large numbers of people, making it well-known. However, his message was not effective at first because society was more angry at the fact that the food they were eating had diseases and were unsafe, rather than worrying about what the employees had to deal with. New federal food laws led to new inspections being placed across industries in order to stop “bad” meat from being sent out for the public to eat. Sinclair’s message was effective overall because it opened eyes across the globe and led to safe food conditions, rather then let these type of work environments continue to work with unsanitary foods and putting people through hard labor like in the novel.

Some of the decisions that Jurgis makes are confronting Ona’s boss who raped her, becoming an alcoholic when things became difficult, going to jail and finding out about the criminal world of Chicago, and forgetting about the importance of his family. Some of the events that were done by Jurgis are understandable. The working conditions defeated the real Jurgis, whom was strong, idealistic, and hopeful. He lost all hope after having nothing left from his family and the living situation that turned his whole life upside down. Everything that happened to Jurgis made him a more sympathetic person.

Although Upton Sinclair made this novel fictional, it showed many strengths and weaknesses that many immigrants faced coming and working in the United States. Some strengths they went through was working hard in these hard, corrupted jobs to maintain their families. This novel also showed readers how it is and was not easy being able to live during the rise of the industry in the 1900’s. Poor and unsafe working conditions made living the “American Dream” hard to even hope for. Sinclair’s novel was well organized and a helpful book for many to get a better understanding of what struggles immigrants faced in the past, as well as the similar struggles they may face today.

Works cited

1. “THE JUNGLE” The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, 4 November 1905, www.gutenberg.org/files/140/140-h.htm

During the 1920s, America welcomed an economic boom that established huge economic growth within American industries as well as aided the birth of a new consumer culture. With this, America saw the growth of ideals that aided the lives of the individual and bolstered a new optimism that strengthened the idea of the American Dream as a beacon of hope within society. However, the definition of the American Dream was often refabricated in order to become compatible with the individual’s devotion to the idea of his own prosperity and pleasure. The American Dream become a veil under which society used to hide its own corrupt idealism of wealth. The American Dream stood for the idea that the US would contain an equal opportunity for the individual but never gave hope to the idea of equal success; the American Dream could not guarantee economic sustainability or social equality within the US.

The concept of the American Dream slowly became the illusion of immediate affluence within American society. Certainly, the idea of the individual’s pursuit of prosperity, the success stories of the self-made man, and the concept of going from rags to riches formed the popularity of the American Dream in the 1920s and drove those who were impoverished to gain this aspiration to rise from their current social status. According to Kevin M. Kruse, writer for the Nation, “The American Dream was about how to stop bad millionaires, not how to become one.”(Source D). The idea was derived from the idea that the utilization of the phrase ‘the American Dream’ was only employed to describe political ideas, such as protecting individuals from corrupt entities of power, and not a slogan to fuel economic aspirations. Although the American Dream seems to manifest a prosperous lifestyle for some individuals, we can assume the Dream has nothing to do with these presumptions. In addition, in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s mansion symbolizes the concept of the American Dream as it is related to the inability of an individual to obtain it. The text states, “Turning a corner, I saw that it was Gatsby’s house, lit from tower to cellar…. Only wind in the trees, which blew the wires and made the lights go off and on again as if the house had winked into the darkness.”(81, The Great Gatsby). The main idea that Fitzgerald entertains within this quote is that the flickering of the lights as the mansion fades from view might be seen as the falsity of the mansion. As real as it might seem, the way it is described as winking into the darkness may entail the absence of its existence from the American dream as if to show that it is only a dream to obtain it. The presumptions of the economic aspects of the American Dream only delude the individual into chasing the idea of materialistic success.

As the American Dream became a beacon of hope in society, the idea of America being a land of opportunities became a common belief in many countries. With these presumed ideas, America became a magnet for mass immigration. As more immigrants came in search of the economic freedom promised to them, many faced restrictions put in place in order to limit, “the number of immigrants admitted from any country.”(Source C). This event was an effect of the new nativist ideology in the 1920s that seeked to prevent culture change. With restrictions on who was and wasn’t allowed to live the American Dream, we see the prominence of segregation and lack of equality of opportunity within the US. As the US restricted opportunity for immigrants seeking success, it also limited the ability of ordinary American citizens from being able to achieve their goals. This is prominent as a symbol of the state of the American Dream in Langston Hughes’ poem “I Too” as the narrator expresses the discrimination that is imposed onto him through the text, “They send me to the kitchen When company comes.”(Source A). The idea presented in this verse shows the way the author is secluded from reaching his goals because he is ‘sent to the kitchen’. This further confirms that the American dream had no benefit to those seeking to better their economic status and only deceived people into trying to obtain it.

The idea that the American dream was directly responsible for individual prosperity in the 1920s is a falsity derived from the belief in equal opportunity and the belief in the self-made man. Those who believe in the positive aspects of the American Dream may source the higher morale and optimism that was prominent at this time, but that idea was misleading. The overall higher morale in people only existed in the early years of the American Dream as many people still believed that they could change their lives around. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the narrator is established as a middle-class man who desperately tries to live the American Dream, but he slowly suffers from low self-confidence. The narrator remarks that he is “pinned and wriggling on the wall”(Source B) which shows us how he tries to live the values of the American Dream and how because of this, he is stuck in his place in society and cannot move. The narrator’s struggle and low self-confidence depict the negative effects the American Dream had on people. Even with the idea that high morale and optimism were associated with the American Dream, the overall effect it had on the lives of people trying to live up to it was detrimental as it attempted to convince others of a false image.

The American Dream was thought to be the idea of equal opportunity where anyone could gain economic success, but many failed to realize the falsity of the ideas the American Dream expressed. As more and more people attempted the structure their lives to the American Dream, more and more people were faced with the negative living style and poor morale associated with it. Any attempt for people to pursue the American Dream with wealth as their inspiration would be useless as it would only amount to their own demise.

Reality has flaws and situations that are less than ideal, while fantasy can be filled with nothing but a person’s desires. The disappointments reality can bring are the complete opposite of the bliss of fantasy. Just because fantasy is more desirable, living in it can have its flaws too. Although reality may be displeasing compared to a fantasy, making the best of a reality can make it more bearable to live in and constantly being consumed by a fantasy can amplify the pain of reality more than necessary. Coates clearly outlines the realities of being black in America along with ways to deal with it on pages 144-149 of his book, Between the World and Me. Coates’ utilization of devices about sentence structure and varying types of melancholic diction convey how although the realities of being black include being abused by the society they are in, there is a comfort in knowing that there is a community that expresses the same hurt and fear for having one trait that makes them the same.

Coates’ utilization of metaphoric language along with juxtaposition and an allusion convey how the realities of being black are more complex and challenging than they may appear to be. In this specific section, Coates was visiting Mrs. Jones, the mother of Prince Jones who was unfairly murdered by the police. When Coates asked Mrs. Jones if he expected the cop who shot him to be charged, she replied that she did but “her voice was a cocktail of emotions” (144). The word “cocktail” in its literal sense is a mix of alcoholic beverages, which may be enjoyed in some instances but in many others, a mix of too many alcoholic beverages can make someone sick and hungover. In a figurative sense, a cocktail has a hint of a dangerous connotation because it is associated with an ambivalence that shouldn’t be kept away from others. Her response to whether or not she expected the cop who shot her son would be charged was a mix of emotions that she most likely kept to herself for a long time. This mix of emotions is most likely because her faith in the justice system conflicted with her knowledge of reality. Mrs. Jones “spoke like an American, with the same expectation of fairness” as any of her counterparts regardless of race as well as speaking “a black woman, with all the pain that undercuts those exact feelings” (Coates, 144). About the previously mentioned analysis, Mrs. Jones’ expectations of justice are juxtaposed with the reality of being black in America. The juxtaposition of the “fairness” of America and “the pain” of being a black woman creates a disheartening tone which further contributes to the fact that the realities of being black in America are more challenging than what people perceive. This conveys how America’s fairness and justice are restricted to the privileged white people of America and anyone who is not a part of that, especially black people, will be discarded by the system that they are told will help them. Although Mrs. Jones believed that “the glory days of this country had long ago passed” and that the “glory days were sullied,” she failed to realize that the supposed “glory days” were “built on the bodies of” black people ( Coates, 144). The denotation of “sullied” is to damage the purity of something, which suggests that the history of America had purity and glory. America’s history may have had glory, but it did not stem from purity: Coates spends not only this excerpt but his entire book, explaining how America was built on the black body, so much so that it has become a motif for what America truly is. This conveys how the only “glory” that was “sullied” was Mrs. Jones’ flawed faith in the American justice system protecting the people that they persecuted to succeed. In closing, the destruction of black people throughout American history is a reality that all black people have to accept.

Coates’ utilization of repetition, juxtaposition, and despondent diction convey how black people have been victims of abuse by their society for a long period. Mrs. Jones remembers her son fondly in many ways but a particular way she remembers her son is through her gifting him a Jeep. She remembers him saying “Thank you, Mom” and contradicts that by saying in a morose tone, “That was the Jeep he was killed” (Coates, 145). The juxtaposition of Prince’s “thank you” and the Jeep he was “killed in” is a clear representation of the innocence of good-hearted black people that is met with a fatal end by people who they thought were sworn to protect them. This juxtaposition exemplifies the fact that the happiness that black people try to achieve in America is counteracted by the maltreatment that they face and have been facing constantly. Mrs. Jones also expresses the fact that he had “means”, and “a family”, and “was living like a human being” until “one racist act took him back” (Coates, 145). Mrs. Jones’ despondent diction when she declares that all it took for her son to be taken as “one racist act” holds significance because it further amplifies the abuse black people face because it conveys how they can be killed by just being a “human being”. This exemplifies the fact that black people face prejudice no matter what they do, even if they are causing no harm to others. Coates thought back to the Civil Rights protests that he once viewed contemptuously from a different perspective. Coates reasoned that maybe the participants of those protests, “willingly parted with the sanctity and security of the black body because neither sanctity nor security existed” (146). The phrase “sanctity and security” was repeated to convey how although sanctity and security were promised to all Americans, that promise has never been extended to black people so they have to fight for it. Since they never got the same promised rights as their white counterparts, black people continuously face abuse from the country they live in.

Coates’ utilization of juxtaposition and optimistic diction conveys how struggling collectively as a black community brings people together. Coates considers how the “hope” of many movements may be “to awaken the Dreamers” and convince them that the need to be superior is among the “design flaws of humanity” (146). The collective “hope” that activists have to tell Dreamers that their perception of reality is harmed and flawed is not only an example of optimistic diction but it also exemplifies a commonality amongst black activists that brings them together. Coates talks about how “the warmth of the dark energies” within Mecca, Howard, is “beautiful no matter how brief and breakable” (147). “Warmth” is usually not associated with “dark” energy which makes it clear that this juxtaposition suggests that the dark energies are not always harmful. Dark energy may seem dangerous to the people outside of it but Coates adding warmth to it indicates that there is a sense of community within being victims of irreverence by privileged white people. Lastly, Coates recalls being at a party at a club and says that within all of that energy and action, “there was a moment, a joyous moment, beyond the Dream” which made him recognize the presence of “black power” coming from a “dark and essential planet” (149). The “joyous moment” occurred when Coates was surrounded by light-hearted and celebratory energy which associates the jubilant diction with the black community. This is an exemplification of the fact that despite the circumstances that are expected to tear down the black community, the black community finds a way to build a bond stronger than the hate that is thrown at them.

Coates’ utilization of devices about sentence structure and varying types of diction convey how although the realities of being black include being abused by the society they are in, there is a comfort in knowing that there is a community that expresses the same hurt and fear for having one trait that makes them the same. Instead of accepting injustice, persevere through it with people who face similar situations. Living a fantasy can only be temporary while making the best of reality is sensible and can last a lifetime. The commonalities among people within that reality can form a stronger bond than a fantasy can ever conceive.

People often debate what the true meaning of the American dream is. Is it a perfect family? Marrying your high school sweetheart? Having a mansion? If you agree with James Truslow Adams’, you see the American Dream as simply just being, “ an opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” I feel as if the American dream is not one definition because with today’s society, you are always going to want what you can’t have. The rich and famous say they wish they didn’t have as much fame so they could have privacy, yet the poor would do anything to be rich and famous. Overall, everyone can agree that it is not in their dream to end up alone in life. In the book “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby, makes a string of bad decisions and life choices in order to win back his dream girl Daisy. Even though Gatsby has everything else he could ever imagine, since he doesn’t have Daisy, he isn’t truly satisfied. Throughout the book we begin to learn the true reason why Gatsby goes such dangerous lengths to gain his wealth, and that is to impress Daisy and win her back over. Throughout the book, Gatsby is trying to rebuild his past dream relationship with Daisy, and win her back over. He is so deeply in love with her throughout the book he does many things to impress her and gives her whatever he can just to please her. Much like the movie The Vow, which is about a couple who gets in a car accident and the wife loses all of her memory that the husband has to go above and beyond to win her over again just like he did the first time because he cannot live life without her. All of this goes to show the overlying theme that the American Dream is not a realistic goal to achieve as a whole but ending up with the love of your life is something that all can accomplish if you don’t give up on it. According to my mom, “Dream is only a word for something you can’t call reality yet.”

In chapter five, Gatsby finally works up enough courage to invite Daisy over for a tea party at his house to reintroduce himself to her. Nick describing Gatsby goes on to say, “Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets”. Gatsby when he first reunites with Daisy is so nervous, shakey, and awkward, this first hints at how deep Gatsby’s obsession is with Daisy and this develops more and more throughout the book. This further shows no matter how long you’ve known someone, if you are trying to win them over you don’t want to mess up. Just as Channing Tatum acts in The Vow, when having a “first date” again with his wife. Later in the book, as we learn more about the relationship between the two, Gatsby does the extreme and puts everything on the line for his love, Daisy. In chapter 8, Daisy and Gatsby are driving home together after the intervention with Tom, Myrtle runs out into the street and gets hit by Daisy who’s driving. Nick questions Gatsby, “Was Daisy driving? Yes, he said after a moment, but of course, I’ll say I was”. This is the final true example of how crazy Gatsby was about Daisy and that he would give up his life for Daisy to not get in serious trouble and her reputation to be ruined. Because in Gatsby’s eyes, not being alive at all was better than continuing to live without Daisy. Finally, Gatsby’s fate is sealed when Mr. Wilson shoots Gatsby because he thought Gatsby was the one that killed his wife, Myrtle, when it was actually Daisy. This is the biggest example of how Gatsby would do anything for Daisy even give up his life for her, which was obviously not a part of the American Dream.

In the book we look into how Gatsby became such the wealthy man he was when he came from almost nothing. And how all he did to become rich was all to get Daisy. In chapter four, Gatsby has his business partner Mr. Wolfsheim, who he further explains is a gambler, “ No, he’s a gambler. Gatsby hesitated, then added coolly: He’s the man who fixed the World’s Series back in 1919”. This is the first time Gatsby hints at the way he made his riches. Although he didn’t say he participated in these acts, we can make inferences because Gatsby’s main business partner is involved in one the biggest illegal gambling schemes ever. Further, throughout the book, Tom and Gatsby start to get into a heated argument after Tom exposes Gatsby for trying to steal his girl from him. Tom uses Gatsby’s background to his advantage and goes on to talk about Gatsby’s “businesses” and exposing him for being a fraud and a criminal. Since Tom knows there is something going on between Daisy and Gatsby, he tries making Gatsby look like this awful person exposing Gatsby for his bootlegging business and selling alcohol over the counter during prohibition. All this illegal stuff Gatsby has gotten himself into is all for the sole purpose of winning over Daisy and that he believed wealth was one of the only ways to do so. Gatsby doing this can easily get him in a lot of trouble, but he did not care about the consequences as long as he was winning back Daisy in the end. Gatsby knew all along that if he gained his wealth and found his back to Daisy again, he would win her over because he knew in his heart, and knew that Daisy also knew they were meant to be together. As Channing Tatum’s character Leo said in The Vow, “No matter what challenges keep us apart, we’ll always find a way back to each other.”

Conclusion

In the book “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald one of the themes in the book is not all dreams are obtainable and this is demonstrated through Gatsby. Considering he goes to these extreme lengths, just to eventually give up his life for his number one dream of having Daisy. Concluding, Gatsby didn’t care about the things he had already or cared about making a good life for himself and only cared about them to achieve his one and only goal and dream, Daisy. Because, again, a main part of what society wants and expects within the “American Dream” is not ending up alone. And for Gatsby, without Daisy, that was not possible for him. His dream led to his death before he had his chance of completely fulfilling it, but yet fulfilled it at the same time because he knew if he would’ve stayed alive, Daisy would have chosen him.

Arthur Miller himself once stated that the play is tricky to categorize because none of its characters stand up and make a speech about the great issues which he believes it embodies. This is also a problem for anyone who would attempt to develop a clear idea about what messages Death of a Salesman attempts to deliver and consequently it is often advised that exploring any inconsistencies or complications is more beneficial than trying to explain them. As with any question one of the most important factors is personal interpretation; in this case perhaps rather than try to understand to what extent Arthur Miller wanted to explore American ideals in his play, a student could talk about their own engagement with the text or what has been suggested by critics from various schools of thought in the larger literary world.

Toward the end of the second act, Willy screams ‘the door of your life is wide open’ towards his son, Biff. Ordinarily, these are words of encouragement however in this context they are used as a threat; the ‘American Dream’ of equal opportunity has been twisted by consumerism into a necessity for self-improvement and success. The idea that self-worth can be determined by social standing is one which originated with Protestantism and it could be suggested that Willy lives in a society which embraces this concept and, indeed, that it is perpetrated by individuals such as Willy who cannot conceive of a value system which operates beyond the boundaries of a social matrix.

Furthermore, the way in which he sells himself to others, (lying to Linda about the amount he earns, calling himself a ‘big shot’ in front of his son, and the insistence that he is not ‘a dime a dozen’), could be interpreted as a criticism on the dehumanizing effect of capitalist society; as Willy himself says ‘a man ends up worth more dead than alive’. When this was mentioned to Arthur Miller he pointed out that Charley, a capitalist, is the most ‘decent’ human being in the play. I do not think that knowing exactly what occurred in the playwright’s mind as he wrote Death of a Salesman is as important as having the ability to explore the material and develop your own understanding.

In this particular case saying that Arthur Miller uses Willy as a mouthpiece for his own ideas about ‘The American Dream’, while a perfectly valid opinion, would miss out on the opportunity to explore the complex nature of the relationship between father and son, the small quotes which demonstrate various aspects of their personalities, the social forces and personal reactions which motivate each member of the Loman family and of course the various possible critical interpretations provided by such details.

In the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, one topic his writing focuses on is an idyllic perception of the American Dream. The people of Holcomb are stereotypical small-town Americans of the 1950s. When the town is completely upended one night, by the murder of the upstanding Clutter family, it shows that the American Dream is fragile. Although In Cold Blood was written in the 1950s, it can be used to reflect on the present. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood shows how people are tempted to shortcut the process of achieving the American dream through crime; home hold-ups were more commonplace in the 1950s which caused homeowners considerable anxiety, not only about being robbed but potentially being murdered; people today manage money electronically and don’t have large sums of cash at home, they also have advanced security for their homes which makes home hold-ups less profitable, more difficult, and increase the risk of being identified even if you kill the witnesses.

Dick and Perry believed the assumption that a wealthy family, the Clutters, would have a safe filled with cash in their home, and that they could shortcut the American dream by holding up the Clutter family and robbing them. “Since childhood … a longing to realize an adventure his imagination swiftly and over enabled him to experience: the dream of drifting downward through strange waters, …a ship’s hulk that loomed ahead, a Spanish galleon – a drowned cargo of diamonds and pearls, heaping caskets of gold.”(p.16-17) This quote references Perry’s dream of one day “magically” striking it rich and immediately fulfilling his life goals. His dream shows parallels to his expectations of robbing the Clutters. Dick can also be seen with ambitions to have his perfect American dream, but he doesn’t want to have to work hard or long, he wants a quick fix solution. “Dick who wanted ‘a regular life,’ with a business of his own, a house, a horse to ride, a new car, and ‘plenty of blond chicken.’ It was important, however, that Perry not suspect this – not until Perry, with his gift, had helped further Dick’s ambitions.”(p.55) Mr.Clutter lived the perfect American Dream, he had everything Dick and Perry had ever wanted. “Always certain of what he wanted from the world, Mr. Clutter had in large measure obtained it…He wore a plain gold band, which was the symbol…of his marriage to the person he had wished to marry…She had given him four children – a trio of daughters and a son.’ (p.6) When Dick and Perry hatched their plan to rob and murder the Clutters they planned carefully to leave no witnesses and flee the scene with no evidence of their presence left behind.

There was more anxiety about home hold-ups in the 1950s because then it was a more viable, common crime, and murdering the witnesses gave robbers a good chance of avoiding being identified; even if there is a similar murder rate today, it happens less frequently in one’s own home. The town of Holcomb, in the 1950s, was at a loss, with a lack of modern technology and techniques the police had rarely found any evidence to convict anyone, “I don’t know a soul who still thinks they’ve got hell’s chance of catching the one done it.”(p.191 Mrs.Hartman). In the 1950s, the easiest way to solve a crime was through having eyewitnesses testify and having suspects interviewed. “Without a confession, we’ll never get a conviction.”(p.190 Dewey) The most common way to convict anyone of a crime was to have a witness or multiple witnesses. “ ‘You left a witness. A living witness. Who’ll testify in court’(Nye)…’ Living witness! There can’t be!… There ain’t anybody that can connect me with any goddamn murder. Checks. A little petty thievery. But I’m no goddamn killer.’(Dick)”(p.223) Due to modern technology, there have been huge advances in criminology, allowing crime to be solved with evidence other than testimonies, witnesses, and confessions.

People today are less anxious about home hold-ups because very few people hold large sums of cash in their homes, and invaders can still trigger alarms direct to the police and be caught on camera even if they did kill the witnesses. “Except for two sets of boot prints, one bearing a diamond pattern and the others a Cat’s Paw design, the slayers had not left a single clue.” (p.190) The best evidence found at the crime site was weak, it didn’t create any leads, but was eventually used as supporting circumstantial evidence that Dick and Perry were at the scene. “…when you come home tonight, you’ll have to ring the doorbell. I’ve had all the locks changed…Just lock the doors and turn the porch light on…what’s wrong? Marie scared?… Hell, yes…her and everybody else.” (p.87) With a lack of home security in the 1950s, the best one could do to secure a house from intruders was to change the locks. Also in the 1950s, electronic banking had not been invented, it was a reasonable assumption that any rich family would have a safe filled with cash (Mr.Clutter being an exception) “It sometimes cost him ten thousand dollars in one week to run his operation… I seemed to remember a sort of cabinet, or safe, or something, right behind the desk in the room Mr.Clutter used as an office.”(161 Floyd Wells) The amount of home hold-ups in current times has decreased significantly, with security cameras, and alarm systems.

Dick and Perry’s attempt at shortcutting the American dream helps identify a type of crime that people are less anxious about today. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote helps us better understand the times in which we live, by showing events of the past that are less secure than today, but may have influenced the way that we live now. The fears of the past helped motivate entrepreneurs, who made the changes necessary for people today to live as they do. Security cameras and alarm systems, and the ability to transfer money electronically without bundles of notes offers comfort to today’s homeowners and lessens anxieties about a particularly brutal crime that happens in the one place everyone needs to feel safe and secure, in their homes.

To many people the American Dream is the opportunity to achieve their dreams. For decades, society raise the concept of American Dream and people pass this idea down to the next generations with the effort to accomplish and live the American Dream. The American Dream has slowly drifted away into a dream than a reality and many people can affirm that the American dream is real, but is it still real today? The media has displayed the American Dream for what it means and the perception of society which given answers to questions that people did not expect to believe. The obstacles people face while trying to achieve the American Dream are gender, ethnicity, and lack of education. The American Dream has been cherished by everyone who comes to American, but not everyone achieves it due to the obstacles they face.

Gender plays a significant role in the American dream, especially for women which has been implemented into societies, traditions, and cultures that their jobs are meant to stay at home if not they get stereotyped on what they doing that seem odd that the society viewed as. Over the years, women are able to take on any jobs and careers but they still face an obstacle because there are gender inequality everywhere which makes it hard for them to attain the American dream. The gender inequality includes: difference in the pay gap between men and women, being stereotyped, and bias towards women of color.Women face pay difference because they have responsibilities they have to do at home and may have not achieved higher education to afford a high paying job which is why there are more men working than women. In society many people think that women are not able to take on a leadership role because they lack dominance which creates less opportunities for women. Women of color are often biased when they work because they are different which is why they get judged for or due to double standards and may get less support which causes them to not be able to get a high paying job. There are issues such as sexual harassment and abuse which has cause a stir in society today and on socical media. Society is accustomed to having women being at home instead of working and having men taking on leadership than women. Therefore, the status quo has laid the foundation of the American Dream which leaves the women to not take part in it. In “I, Too”, Langston Hughes writes, “I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes” (Hughes 2-4) that shows how there is segregation going on between people of color and the white people which creates how people of color are not treated equally. Women are struggling to keep up with there different jobs and some of them could be single mothers that could be getting paid less than a boy who is in college working. Gender is one of many reasons why people cannot attain their American Dream furthermore, ethnicity can prevent people from achieving the American Dream.

People who have immigrated to the United States to achieve the American Dream has a low chance of achieving it because they are different from the majority or the higher class even though the United States was formed by immigrants and people who wanted change. It is known that the white people have a higher chance of achieving the American Dream while the minorities have a lower chance due to how their family started off. These minorities include: African American, Hispanics, and Asians face these obstacles of achieving the American Dream. The minorities could possible be born into a family that already has low income from the hardships they went through in the past which is why they have started out poorly and possibly stay there due to the inequality they face from society especially for African Americans who were once slaves in the past. The past history of slavery, African Americans are still facing discrimiation today and the issues of maltreatment is constantly growing against African Americans. A lot of these minorities are facing gentrification in their neighborhood and police brutality just because of their race and views on these ethnicity which explains why the American Dream is out of reach for them. The struggles the minorities face in their job could be overwhelming to able to face the discrimination and bias while trying to keep their jobs to achieve the American Dream. In “Outlaw: My Life in America as an Undocumented Immigrant” , Jose Vargas writes, “Lolo always imagined I would work the kind of low-paying jobs that undocumented people often take (Vargas 328) that shows how immigrants face when they are expose to the adult world that favors the majority. These obstacles make it hard on minorities to grasp the American Dream to be set into reality. Having different ethnicities can cause many inequalities from achieving the American Dream in addition, lack of education can affect people from trying to achieve the American Dream.

Students have to go through many sacrifices to achieve the American Dream, they need to get a degree while trying to pay off tuition and get a job that may pay less than the minimum wage. Students who are born into families that are not rich have less opportunities to build themselves while society favors those who has many skills so there is favoritism towards people who are rich. Education is the core of the American Dream and education is getting traumatizing to students who can not afford it which cause stress which leads students to drop out. In the past, the reality of the American Dream was easier to achieve and people had the dream of becoming a millionaire or going to a prestigious college which is part of the American Dream but is no longer the same anymore.

The American Dream symbolizes prosperity, happiness, and even hope. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald presents the book and the American Dream from a different point of view. For many people in the book, it is just a fantasy of living in poverty hence the term ‘rags to riches’. The main character Gatsby losses cite of the American Dream and goes spiraling down because of trying to acquire Daisy’s love and more power and money. This novel shows how people over the years have twisted and contorted the reality and ideas of what the American Dream should look like.

To many people, Gatsby is the definition or inspiration of the wealthy and living embodiment of the American Dream in full motion. Nick Carraway says “something glorious” about Gatsby, and that he is filled with “some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life” (8). To the poor and non-wealthy people, it appears to them that Gatsby has made it to the top with fame and fortune, completing the American Dream. But instead of Gatsby being satisfied with his wealth, he wants to be like the “Platonic conception of himself” (89) and he becomes more powerful and rich so he can feel like a ‘God’ to himself. The American Dream is a very tricky and controversial topic with it having so many meanings, Gatsby, however, holds on to the idea that the American Dream is solemnly wealth and power, not looking over more concepts that come with the American Dream. An understanding of the American Dream is climbing the social and wealthy ladder, sadly Gatsby forgets about the other things to look out for such as happiness and love fulfilled. Gatsby believes in the idea of “the rock of the world is founded securely on a fairy’s wing” (89). Putting false realities in his dream, Gatsby finds comfort in wealth, not realizing that he needs and long-term supply of happiness, that being Daisy. Replacing his happiness with cold cash makes his soul and mindset stagger and not feel complete, there not finding his actual source of happiness. For many people of wealth, they fail to see that the American Dream isn’t all about gaining wealth and luxury things, but more about being stable and supplying loved ones with things they need, and gaining steady mental health.

Instead of following the concept of the American Dream of ‘finding happiness’, Gatsby more looks toward materialistic things to make his life more fulfilled, but it leads to him being lonelier and sadder. This idea of the American Dream helps boost Gatsby’s persona in the social realm of things because before they would not have accepted him, because of living in poverty and being poor. Gatsby thinks that wealth leads him to be a ‘son of God’ because of always maintaining his wealth and gaining power along with the money, but he forgets that to feel fulfilled in this life, we need someone to love and admire, and that is one major part that Gatsby forgot about. To get his wealth and ‘accomplish’ the American Dream, Gatsby gambled in some corporate scandals to easily gain wealth and power. Gatsby loses sight of what the American Dream is, as he states, “no sound” of warning upon his conscience, fading into an omen that becomes “uncommunicable forever” (100). Gatsby is showing that not only is there a loophole in the American Dream concept, but also scandals and illegal acts make America seem like the land of lies instead of the land of the free, because of this he fell short, “must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (159). But since he “does not know that it is already behind him” (159), Gatsby continues to seek contentment in fattening his purse. Unable to find his happiness, Gatsby fills those voids with things only money can buy, such as cars, clothes, watches, and huge houses, all just to go back to feeling lost and empty inside because that is all false happiness and he fails to change that.

Gatsby attempts to make his life better by using false hope and materialistic things to replace the void of no happiness. Gatsby tries to ‘buy’ Daisy Buchanan’s love back because when they first fell in love, he was financially incapable of doing so. Even though Gatsby’s “number of enchanted objects have been reduced by one” (84), with even a little bit of hope Gatsby has Daisy is more comfortable with a secure life of luxury and comfort. The thought of this made Gatsby frustrated because Daisy is attracted to materialistic possessions while Gatsby is the same way, with his wealth he has purchased many things to remind him of his riches. Gatsby is aware that “youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves” (132), Gatsby’s immaturity and selfishness hold him back from giving up his riches and wealth. Gatsby in some ways is rich physically but poor mentally, “the price for living too long with a single dream” (142). Gatsby has a false reality of life and it ends up hurting him. Instead of Gatsby trying to reverse his miss fortune and make his life work for the better, he ends up wallowing in his failures, as he describes as “a boat against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (159). Through all of this, a rhyme that states ‘life is but a dream’ had Gatsby realize that the quote was correct.

If you do not gain happiness, life is going to seem empty and pointless. So, is Gatsby throughout the whole novel meant to represent that in fact that money can’t buy happiness and that Gatsby’s struggles show us what we may turn into if we do rely on wealth to get us through life? In a survey taken by wealthy countries such as America and lower-end countries such as Nigeria, it shows that Americans are far more depressed and sadder with money and without, they are more rejoiced and find new meanings, and in Nigeria, the communities are always festive and for the most part happy. This novel is showing us the American Dream is not what it seems, and that hopefully we will see it before it’s too late.