American Dreams of Hope
The American dream or shared American experience can be found in many of the early American written text and transcribed texts. Immigrants and native people indigenous to North America founded this country. Both of these groups seem to have similar ideas, which appear to be the formation of the American dream. One of the most prominent traits is hope that takes many forms throughout the texts. Through careful examination of the early American literature we can find this and other commonalities amongst the early American literary canon.
Christopher Columbus wrote a letter to his good friend Luis de Santangel regarding his first voyage to the new world. Although Columbus likely did not land on the American shores
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A Native American named Red Jacket provided a reply to a missionary named Jacob Cram. Red Jacket’s response is replete with hope and thoughts for better tomorrow. He writes in the first few lines about the day the Great Spirit has bestowed upon the council that he was addressing. Red Jacket says, “He has taken his garment from before the sun and caused it to shine with brightness upon us” (230). He appears to be saying this day is brimming with hope for resolution. Red Jacket continues his address by telling Jacob Cram and company a history of his people and how they had lived in peace and tranquility with great hope until white men encroached demanding more and more. He continues to explain his tribe’s position saying, “We do not wish to destroy your religion or take it from you. We only want to enjoy our own…”(Red Jacket 231). This statement shows a continuation of hope and belief in the American dream from the original Americans. Red Jacket concludes by saying “…we will come and take you by the hand and hope the Great Spirit will protect you on your journey…”(231). With great eloquence, Red Jacket spreads his message of hope to those that wish to take away his religion and beliefs. This is the ultimate expression of the American dream considering those beyond one’s own
For centuries, the American Dream has motivated citizens of the United States to go above and beyond in their efforts through life, yet not everyone is hoping to reach the same outcome. The stereotypical prosperous dream was for the average individual to have a successful job with a supportive and wealthy family. However, for some, their idealized version of the American Dream is different. Although the American Dream came in variations, a commonality within all of them was the pursuit of happiness. In the epilogue of The Epic of America, James Truslow Adams argues his idea that the American Dream cannot be defined by one type of accomplishment or triumph. He claims that the American Dream cannot be defined by one type of achievement or particular success, reiterating the fact that the dream is not about tangible goods creating a sense of artificial happiness, but every individual seeking to fulfill their utmost potential. Adams saw that the American Dream was eroding into a need for material possessions, causing him to combat the shift and attempt to preserve the original idea. This theory is echoed in Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle. Despite being hindered by
In attempting to define the American Dream, considered more of an individual definition today, one would need to take into consideration the cultural background and location of the individual. In April of 1630, traveling across the Atlantic on board the sailing vessel Arbella, the original American Dream was a community sense of hope and prosperity among English Puritans seeking a new beginning in New England. Before setting sail, from Southampton on that chilly April day in 1630, Reverend John Cotton provided the company with a farewell sermon entitled “God’s Promise to His Planation.” Starting the sermon with a reading from the second book of Samuel, Chapter 7, verse 10: “I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more.” Cotton is confirming what many had already decided upon, that they were God’s chosen people and it was their right and duty to America and carry out his work.
The concept of American dream originated in the 1600s, even before America was a country (“Ten Facts”). The forever changing American dream, has instilled in American literature the choices people are forced to make regarding their aspirations. Every generation has changed the common idea of what the American dream entails. There are immense possibilities as to how the common person interprets the American dream. The American dream inspires people to make their own decisions and prompts people that there is always another possibility (Izaguirre). In American literature the theme of choices and possibilities is prominent.
In the United States there is an idea many pursue called the American dream, which differs from person to person. The American dream according to americanradioworks.publicradio.org is “a revolutionary notion: each person has the right to pursue happiness, and the freedom to strive for a better life through hard work and fair ambition”. Yet it has been said there is no real definition of American dream, instead it merely proves that it has an unconscious influence in American mentality (Ştiuliuc 1). The American dream is different for each person because everyone yearns for things that will they hope will in return make them happy. Whatever that may be, each person goes through different struggles to obtain what they want. According to Frederic Carpenter, the American dream “has never been defined exactly, and probably never can be. It is both too various and too vague” (3). The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse depicts the different interpretations on what the American dream actually is through the opinions and actions of Hector Esperanza, Efren Mendoza and Mrs. Calhoun.
The Letter to Santangel by Christopher Columbus proved to be invaluable in many respects because of its description and detailed account of Columbus's discoveries. This letter written after a monumental time in history was rare but provided information that delved into Columbus's intentions, his audience, his beliefs, and his expectations of the New World. Lastly, the letter is also useful as a primary source in history to contextualize Columbus's discovery in 1492 though bias, it is valuable to read from the individual himself.
The American Dream started off as propaganda in order to make the American people of the early twentieth century work harder to build a successful economy. The idea of the American Dream is that every American citizen has an equal opportunity of making money along with owning a large house, some land, and having a family with kids. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates that the American Dream, no matter how simple is impossible to achieve. As everyone has their own interpretation of the American Dream, Steinbeck uses George and Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife to demonstrate how the American Dream is impossible to achieve and how important the dream was for people so they could carry on with their lives.
Through the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, and William Faulkner we have witnessed these characters working towards making it in America. America was founded on the idea of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The characters, although they each had different hopes and dreams, showed their desire to better themselves. They all had the determination of having something that they have been working hard, and they each saw that as their idea of happiness. That ultimately is what the American Dream is about.
Each character in the novel has their own interpretation of the ‘American Dream – the pursuit of happiness’ as they all lack happiness due to the careless nature of American society during the Jazz Age. The American Dreams seems almost non-existent to those whom haven’t already achieved it.
The American Dream has been the ideal way of life to every citizen. Equal opportunity to achieve success through hard work and persistence allows people to strive for The American Dream. For others, The Dream might have a different meaning to what the think is achievable. In the essay, “Is the American Dream even possible” John Steinbeck makes accusations about the American Dream and the credibility of it. The American Dream in Steinbeck's perspective is that in reality, The Dream is there to believe but not there to its full potential.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," says the Declaration of Independence. This phrase encompasses three major values shown throughout early American literature. The strong belief in religion, freedom, and a strong will for a better life. Each piece had one or more of these themes within them.
Before 1931, the phrase “American Dream” did not exist (Churchwell 344) the way it does now. But in that year, James Truslow Adams wrote a book called The Epic of America, which declared that “the American dream of a better, richer, happier life for all of our citizens of every rank, which is the greatest contribution we have made to the thought and welfare of the world...Ever since we became an independent nation, each generation has seen an uprising of ordinary Americans to s...
In a small, flat world, society exists only within itself. The people preoccupied in their own universe simply cannot fathom a world outside their own. Some historians cite the first gleam of a true "American Dream" didn't surface until the first colonization. However, in three historical films, recreations of very early distinctions in the very first American dreams are exposed for their accuracies and their faults. The spirits that voyaged onward, heading for a land of riches and freedom, had many characteristics in common. Still, inconsistencies existed in their tactics and their motivation, which led to some failed attempts and a few successful investments. It was these adventurers who brought on motivation and hope for the future of the beginning of these United States.
The American Dream can obliterate any prospect of satisfaction and does not show its own unfeasibility. The American dream is combine and intensely implanted in every structure of American life. During the previous years, a very significant number of immigrants had crossed the frontier of the United States of America to hunt the most useful thing in life, the dream, which every American human being thinks about the American dream. Many of those immigrants sacrificed their employments, their associations and connections, their educational levels, and their languages at their homelands to start their new life in America and prosper in reaching their dream.
The Native Americans who occupied America before any white settlers ever reached the shores “covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell paved floor” (1). These Native people were one with nature and the Great Spirit was all around them. They were accustom to their way of life and lived peacefully. All they wish was to live on their land and continue the traditions of their people. When the white settler came upon their land the values of the Native people were challenged, for the white settlers had nothing in common and believe that it was their duty to assimilate the Native Americans to the white way of life.
The colonization of civilizations has changed the world’s history forever. From the French, Spaniard, and down to the English, have changed cultures, traditions, religions, and livelihoods of other societies. The Native Americans, for example, were one of the many civilizations that were conquered by the English. The result was their ways of life based on nature changed into the more “civilized” ways of the colonists of the English people. Many Native Americans have lost their old ways and were pulled into the new “civilized” ways. Today only a small amount of Native American nations or tribes exist in remote areas surviving following their traditions. In the book Ceremony, a story of a man named Tayo, did not know himself and the world around him but in the end found out and opened his eyes to the truth. However the Ceremony’s main message is related not only to one man but also to everything and everyone in the world. It is a book with the message that the realization of oneself will open the eyes to see what is truth and false which will consequently turn to freedom.