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The American Dream examined in Literature
The American Dream examined in Literature
American dream literature review
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Was America A Dream For Everybody? Was America a dream for all everybody? Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes had two different views on this subject. Walt Whitman shows how good the American dream still is, while Langston Hughes shows how people lost hope in the American Dream. Both men have interesting views on the topic. They both give very good facts about each side of the story. It depends on what people put into the dream that they get out of it. Langston Hughes says that that America dream is not for everybody. As Langston says, “Let America be America again.” He is saying it used to be a dream for many, but many people slowly lost that dream. Langston also said, “Dog eats dog, mighty crush the weak.” saying people with more power
After reading both, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Paradox and Dream” by John Steinbeck, it is extremely clear that both authors believe the American Dream differs from person to person. Though, the main similarity between American’s different versions of the American Dream is that each person wants more than they have. No matter the social status or salary, each person dreams of more; more money, a bigger home, a better job, etc.
The American Dream is what everybody dreams when they come to the United States. The dream of working hard and their determination help them to become successful. In the poems "America" by Claude McKay, " Let America be America Again" by Langston Hughes, "A Message to America" by Alan Seeger, " I Hear America Singing" and "Long, Too Long America" by Walt Whitman can relate to the American Dream. In these poems, the speaker can show a connect to the American Dream by showing how they felt either being proud or upset with what is happening during that time.
The American Dream is something common to most individuals, however it's one thing that everybody views in several ways. The American Dream is totally different for everybody, however they share a number of a similar aspects of it. The dream relies mainly on the setting of wherever one lives and one‘s social status. for instance, The Declaration of Independence was by Thomas Jefferson, who was an upper class white male. He needed freedom, however freedom for people like himself that were white land owning people. martin luther King, in his I have a Dream speech, also demanded freedom, but mostly for African Americans like him. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in his book the great Gatsby, that he wants to eliminate the rich, which he was a section of. every American Dream is somewhat totally different, however all of them relate to the days that one lives in.
Then the narrator continues to relate nostalgically to the longing for an America built on freedom and equality for all. This could be the dream of the author himself. Wagner states of the author, "Like his first masters Whitman and Sandburg, like his fellow black Toomer, and like so many other American poets of the period, Langston Hughes never tires of proclaiming the absolute necessity for all to do what they can to save the democratic ideal" (371).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Langston Hughes was dedicated to writing about the hardships and problems of African Americans. He wrote for and connected with the average, everyday African American. While he connected majorly with the African Americans, Langston also managed to attract attention from many white people, too. In one of Langston’s poems titled, “Let America Be America Again”, he writes “And yet must be- the land where every man is free / The land that is mine- the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, Me.” (Lines 63-64).
The American Dream is a thought that everyone has at some point. Some are bigger than others and some are harder than others, but everyone hopes to accomplish their American Dream. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows that the American Dream is a myth, not a reality. John Steinbeck shows the American Dream being a myth through a few of the characters in Of Mice and Men. For example, Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and Candy all have American Dreams, but they also have some obstacles that stop them from completing their American Dream.
The concept of the American Dream has always been that everyone wants something in life, no matter if it is wealth, education, financial stability, safety, or a decent standard of living. In addition, everyone will try to strive to get what they want. The American Dream, is said to be that everyone should try and get what they hope they can get in life. In the play A Raisin in the Sun the author Hansberry tells us about a family where each has an American Dream, and Hughes in the poem “ Let America be America Again “is telling us to let America be the America that was free for us to obtain The American Dream. Hansberry and Langston see America like as a place to find the dream desired, although they also see limitation to obtain the American Dream, such as poverty, freedom, inequality, racism and discrimination.
Poems are expression of the human soul, and even though, is not everyone’s cup of tea when the individual finds that special poem it moves their soul one with the poet. There are many poets in the world, but the one that grab my attention the most was no other than Langston Hughes. It would be impossible for me to cover all the poems he wrote, but the one that grab my attention the most is called “Let America Be America Again.” It first appeared in “1938 pamphlet by Hughes entitled A New Song. Which was published by a socialist organization named the International Worker Order” (MLM) and later change back to its original name. I have never felt such an energy coming out of a poem like this one which is the reason that I instantly felt in love with it.
Let America Be America Again, written by Langston Hughes, was written to make a satirical statement about the American Dream. He uses personification, alliteration, and imagery to bring home his point that the “dream the dreamers dreamed” (Hughes ???) not only has never existed but will never truly exist for the common man. According to the speaker, assumed to be Hughes but in reality could be anyone who is hopeless and unhappy in this land where “equality is in the air we breathe” (???), that as long as there are “kings” and “tyrants” (???), the American Dream is only an unobtainable goal but is something that must be kept alive.
Park Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in all of New York City, home to the ultra rich, the top tier of the American upper class, the 1% (Park Avenue). Those who reside in Park Avenue not only have vast amounts of wealth, but an immense amount of influence that has turned the tables in their favor. But, if you go a couple of miles North of Park Avenue and cross the Harlem river, you arrive at the other side of Park Avenue or otherwise known as the Bronx, one of the poorest districts in all of New York (Park Avenue). Here you see the real hardships average Americans must voyage through in order to put food on the table and provide shelter for their families. 40% of the 700,000 residents who live in the Bronx live in poverty making less than $40 a day (Park Avenue). Some of those residents have lost their jobs due to the economic recession, created by the bankers on the other side of the river (Park Avenue). The wages of these poor citizens has dropped in the past thirty years, while prices have sky rocketed. Even though economic and social hardships have struck these innocent citizens, they still have a chance at achieving the American dream, right? After all, this is America, the land of opportunity, the place where dreams are born and bred. However, America is not what it once was fifty years ago. In today's society, the American dream is hindered by issues involving gender discrimination, racial discrimination, and weak economic mobility. The influence of money has broadened among our society creating an elite group of winners, and leaving the rest as losers. Our government has been intoxicated under the influences of those holding a paper with a handful of zeros scrawled on 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.
Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes were two great of America’s poets who believed in the American Dream. The American Dream was the ideal that every U.S. citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. The American Dream meant everything to Whitman and Hughes during that time. Whitman’s poem was titled “I Hear America Singing’’ and Hughes poem was titled “Let America Be America Again.’’ Although Whitman and Hughes agreed that America was the land of opportunity, they had very different perspectives on who had achieved liberty and success.
Often depicted as a melting pot, America is always being put on a pedestal by the rest of the world due to the large amounts of successful immigrants in the United States. Millions of people have packed their bags and moved to America in hopes of achieving their dreams. While some succeed, others fail and are let down by the dim reality that not everyone can achieve their goals. This essay will compare the poems, “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes and “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus to exhibit my perspective on both works. Both poems portray people’s hopes that America will be great, however, due to the different eras and the authors’ backgrounds, the poems have different meanings. Lazarus’ poem was written in the early stages of America, as it describes her cheerful
John Steinbeck, in his essay America and Americans, uses many contradictions to explain his views on the American Dream. I have witnessed and experienced many of these contradictions in my life. Through my experiences, I have learned to believe that the American dream is no more than just a dream.
“I, Too, Sing America” is a poem written by Langston Hughes. This short poem is an 18 line five stanza free verse. Each line can have its own meaning but when the piece becomes one, the literal meaning is about …oppression. Oppression was at one time a huge thing in the United States, but if one is to say it has been eradicated, one is uninformed. The author of this poem, Langston Hughes, wrote poetry in the era of oppression and so wrote a poem about it. He not only wrote about oppression itself, but about the hope he has for its destruction. This poem symbolically states people shouldn’t be judged solely based on their appearance, but on their actions and the reasoning behind those actions stated by the line “I, Too, Sing America”. Langston Hughes uses influential symbolism and a robust tone in his poem “I, Too, Sing America” to construe oppression, and his hope for its obliteration.