Many people allow their hardships to attack them and force themselves to give up, but one must learn to switch the script and use those hardships for the greater good. “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” Throughout all the poems, there is a chain of hardships shackled on the person’s ankles, but it was left to that person to preserve that dream, take advantage of the given situation, and follow through with the dream. If one wants to establish a dream, that person has to preserve it for those who already own that dream. Joseph Bruchac explains this process as an immigrant coming to America realizing the dream that was promised was already owned by the Native Americans. He says, “as dreams of forests and meadows waiting for those who’d worked a thousand years yet never owned their own” (10-13). He uses the immigrants as an example of those who chased their dream to a whole other location, just for them to find it’s owned by someone else. “Another voice speaks of native lands within the …show more content…
Take Phillis Wheatley for example, a kidnapped slave taken to America, but becomes a successful author and in the end becomes free. In one of her poems she starts with explaining the land she came from, “[t]was mercy brought me from my Pagan land(1).” By stating that her land is “Pagan” or devilish, she then finds mercy for leaving her homeland. Furthermore saying, “[s]ome view our sable race with a scornful eye (5),” showing that races of color as well as religions can be discriminated upon people and make them slaves. Even though she was an African American individual as well as a slave, she took advantage of her offerings, “[r]emember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin'd, and join the angelic train” (7-8).” Wheatley prospered without infringing upon anyone else, but rather establishes gratitude toward her
The novel Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff is mainly about a seventeen year old girl named Jolly, who encounters many difficulties as she has two children from two different, absent fathers. Jolly desperately needs help raising her two children, Jeremy and Jilly, and LaVaughn helps babysit temporarily. LaVaughn is caught up in Jolly’s problems and she guides her on the right path. However, LaVaughn cannot sacrifice her academics to babysit for her because she wants to go to college and she wants to start to build her future. These two main characters take separate paths as they each develop and mature throughout the stages of the novel and they have similarities and differences. Both, Jolly and LaVaughn, illustrate actions that demonstrate the theme of “making lemonade” from the situations they are given.
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.
We all have faced challenges that make our lives succeeding difficult, but the way we approach these challenges is what affect us in the long run. In “Annabelle Lee”, by Edgar Allan Poe, “Oranges” by Gary Soto, and “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost they all feature speakers that deal with hardships that they must overcome. The three poets use literary devices to show how they deal with theses challenges along with the struggles that come with it.
The dreams of people are the most important things to anyone. Mainly due to the fact that dreams make up whom a person is at heart. An infinite number of people have had and will continue to have their lives destroyed because they chased a dream, and unfortunately they didn’t run fast enough. Among these people are Lennie Small and Jay Gatsby. These two gentlemen had the displeasure of chasing a dream that was unachievable even from the very beginning. This eventually led to the death of these two young people. In the end, a more precise name for the American dream just keeps coming to mind. That is The American Nightmare.
The American Dream exists in the hearts of all Americans and is a concept that drives many people from all over the world to the borders of a welcoming America. It holds the promises of infinite possibilities in a limited world. Escaping from societies where societies where racism and poverty are often prevalent, immigrants come to America to grasp a part of the infamous American Dream. Nonetheless this dream also exists in the hearts of many Americans already present in America. Perhaps it burns the brightest in the hearts of African Americans, whose past is tainted with execution based on their race. Yet, the American Dream is not applied or only conditionally available for those that seek it the most- minority or immigrant populations. The
The lie of the American dream is that it promises to fix humanity's problems with material gain – it promises happiness from things that are not capable of giving it. And so, followers are all left unfulfilled by the great American dream, left with a reality that is much different than what was so easily guaranteed. The reality that everyone experiences, whether it is the suburban soccer mom or the tired immigrant, is that the dream is mostly unachievable. The reality we think exists is only a myth – a true mythological reality.
The speaker of “On Being Brought from Africa to America” conveys her point through irony when referencing her so-called savior. The author of the poem, slave-girl Phillis Wheatley, is thought to be embodied by the speaker. This girl, the voice of the poem, states “Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land… there 's a God...there’s a Saviour too” (1-3). The use of the rhetorical distinction between god and saviour to indicates that the owners of the speaker are supposed to be her saviors since they bought her as their slave, raised her in Western culture, and taught her how to read and write. While these special circumstances indeed did elevate her above other slaves, the speaker’s subversive disdain shows us that this “mercy” has cost her too. She was robbed of her family, her heritage, and ultimately a life of freedom and equality.
The thought of achieving a personal dream seems to be the driving force behind the American society during the era of the ‘Depression.’ This was a time when many dreams were created; dreams of being successful, owning a land and looking after animals or growing crops. The people who had these dreams were mostly ranch workers, or migrants, people who never stay in one place long enough to form ever-lasting relationships, hence the dreams of many of the ranch workers in this beautiful novel. The American Dream Everyone has a dream to strive for. The poor ranch hands wish to be their own bosses, and actually have stability.
The American dream is undeniably longed for by all, who would refuse to live the life of their dreams? Dreaming is simple; achieving those very dreams is another story. However, even when there is faith for the dream, it always ceases to exist because of reality’s spiteful ways. Crooks may be unfortunately correct, the American dream only lives inside of your head.
The possibility of making our hopes and dreams become a reality used to lie at the heart of what we have come to know as the American Dream. Long before the present “the only credential...was the boldness to dream,” according to Vanity Fair contributing editor David Kamp. This dream has been what has drawn so many people to America; more pronounced was the sense of possibility. The American Dream was once a glimpse of simplicity as shown in Norman Rockwell's “Freedom from Want'” painting, portraying a family enjoying a nice meal, without the modern oversized house, extraordinary décor, or any other excessive things, just a simple family with a simple meal in a simple house, and they sure look happy. Historian John Tirman writes about the ideology of American exceptionalism and that “if the world is our oyster, there is no need for restrictive rules and regulations...” in his 2009 article. We have strayed from...
The American Dream is an aspiration that millions of people reach for in their lifetimes. The idea that living in America will assure happiness and success is a reason why many people migrate to this country. In actuality, the many people searching for it may not fulfill this dream lifestyle that America hypothetically offers. Like in the poem Harlem, by Langston Hughes, and the songs “Darkness on the Edge of Town” and “Racing in the Street” by Bruce Springsteen, the main characters are battling with the idea of the American Dream and the life that it offers. Harlem describes what happens when you put a dream off and this dream may as well be the American Dream. “Darkness on the Edge of Town” describes what it feels like to lose the life the
The article Keeping The Dream Alive by John Meacham is addressed to people who feel the American dream has died. The author compares historical events and today’s issues to encourage the reader that a simple call to action can revive the dream. Towards the end of the passage he quotes John Adams’ proclamation, “’If the American dream is to come true and to abide with us… it will, at the bottom, depend on the people themselves.” Assuming the reader is waiting on the government to provide a solution, Meacham presents ideas that encourage the readers to make the change themselves. The arrangement of historical feats and beliefs persuade the readers that the future of the American dream is in their hands.
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.
the “American Dream” a dream that is unreal. The American dream was intended for people of
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.