I Too Sing America Analysis

We Can Still Attain the American Dream

The American dream… A precept that has guided generations of the past, present, and soon enough, future. For me, These three words sew together what I always pictured my Grandma Helen and Poppy Art’s life as in their prime. With a son and a daughter, they made up the picturesque American family of four. In my imagination, I see my Grandpa and his briefcase coming home to my Grandma in her pearl necklace, with roast and scalloped potatoes hot on the table. He kisses her cheek and rockets his two children into the air, asking how their education treated them today. This was the goal of any man half a century ago -- coming home from a well paying job to a beautiful wife and kids. However, Poppy Art, just

The population of America is 318.9 million, an amazing number made up by incredibly diverse individuals. This means 318.9 million incredibly diverse life goals trying to be attained. In 1926 Famous poet Langston Hughes published his poem, “I, Too, Sing America.” the poem’s subject is a black servant working for a white American family. The Servant’s goal is to one day eat “at the table” and not be told to “eat in the kitchen” (hughes). Meaning, his goal was to rise above the low, servant background he came from and be the master. In the 21st century, America no longer has servants and in a lot of cases being in charge is not people's priority anymore, either. Instead, they are mostly just dreaming of happiness. Of course this happiness is still defined by the media, just as my Grandpa’s idea of the ideal life was during his time, but now there is a larger variation as to how that happiness looks. The average kindergartener is asked one question: “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Their answer, whether it be to become a princess, have babies, or fly to the moon, it's not based on what looks the most successful, it is based on what appeals to the kid as something they think will make them happy. As the Dalai Lama once said, “Happiness is not readily made. It comes from your own actions.” This is the basis of the revamped american dream -- it doesn’t matter where you came from because anyone, through hard work, can find