Analysis Of American Dreams: The Epic Of America By James Truslow Adams

One of the most powerful myth of American myth which for centuries has been attracted people from all over the world to start life in a new life is the concept of the“American Dream”. James Truslow Adams in his book “The Epic of America”(1931) states that the “American Dream” is the dream of a land where everybody is equal and has the same opportunities for being happy and gain the success. He also refers to the chance for everyone regardless their origin of birth of proving their value and being recognized by one’s success.“The American Dream” become a widespread recognized term which referred to the way of life which American society lead and the values which its members believe in. But since this idea was very divided and had an individual

Brands author of the book “ American Dreams: The United States Since 1945”(2010) shows the United States as country which has struggled from the Great Depression yet managed to deal with it and become stronger than ever.As he traces the changes the United States have gone through as a nation he touches the great dreams and themes and their impact on a kind of growing distance between beliefs and goals of Americans and the rest of the world and a shared sence of belonging to American society. He indicates the changes of observing the reality by Americans and how though decades their goals and dreams have developed. In his opinion Gold Rush in California in the XIX century has a great impact on receiving mystical “American Dream” as a way of achieving success by getting rich really quickly as immigrants who in 1849 begin to arrive at West Coast with hope to find some gold in California rivers’ banks and start a new wealthy life. In his opinion this new idea of instant wealth spread across the country and become a new vision of the “American Dream” in the XIXth century. He also make a contradiction to the “old” vision of the Dream which refers to the Puritan beliefs that stated that one can only gain success by hard work and determination which would be appreciated and rewarded in the

This image we can find in Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”(1884) which tells a story of young boy Huck who is motherless, poor and has an abusive father. He decides to take to the river with a runaway slave in order to escape the oppressiveness of society. For both book’s hero and Mark Twain the American Dream meant being free for the society, restrictions and social norms and prejudice, and finally just to enjoy life in the wide-open Western frontier. Novel became kind of symbolic- a sign of understanding the Dream as the celebration of freedom , not only from physical rules but also from the discrimination of Southern society in the age of slavery and black’s