The late American historian James Truslow Adams famously originated the phrase, if not the concept, of "the American Dream." As Adams defined it, "The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement." For much of the nation's history, the notion of an "American Dream" has sustained innumerable immigrants and citizens of less-developed countries who looked to the United States as the land of opportunity. There have, over the decades, been particularly difficult periods, in which the vision of a land of opportunity has waned, such as during the Great Depression. Tough economic times invariably force even the most idealistic or imaginative to reassess their notions of specific venues where the opportunities for advancement are markedly superior.
The student's question includes a number of sources comprised both of fictional accounts of life in America and nonfiction depictions of individuals (e.g., President Franklin Roosevelt) who have commented upon or inspired in some way a new evaluation of the concept of "the American Dream." F. Scott Fitzergald's tragedy The Great Gatsby is often cited as a example of a novel that dissects that concept and concludes, somewhat ambiguously, that the dream remains ephemeral. The Great Gatsby, of course, is about a young, somewhat naïve aspiring bond trader who leaves his Midwestern roots for the glamour and excitement of Wall Street.
Told from Nick Carraway's perspective, the book follows his adventures among the elite of Long Island from the vantage of the new money section known in the book as West Egg. Nick's neighbor, Jay Gatsby, is the novel's center insofar as the ideal of an American Dream drives the narrative. Gatsby, formerly James Gatz, is driven by the pursuit of success. His other obsession is Daisy Buchanan, Nick's second cousin who married into great wealth. Gatsby is determined to win back this lost love but knows that, if he is to succeed, he must attain the kind of wealth to which Daisy has become accustomed. The American Dream dictates that hard work is the key to material success, and Gatsby works hard to achieve his goal. The problem, though, is that Gatsby's chosen path to success is entirely criminal. He cannot succeed, although the odds are against him anyway. He cannot have what Tom Buchanan has no matter how much he earns through vice and, in the end, is just one more casualty of the endless struggle for wealth and social acceptance. Note, in this regard, the novel's final passage, after Gatsby has been killed and the Buchanans continue on as before:
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning ——
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
In playwright August Wilson's Fences, Troy Maxson is imbued with a bitterness from the experience of having his life dictated by his ethnicity. As an African American baseball player whose peak coincided with the era of racial segregation, he knows that his chance at success are behind him. His sense of the American Dream is entirely cynical, born of that experience. His bitterness, however, extends to his son Cory, a promising football player with a chance to attend college on an athletic scholarship. Observe in the following passage from Fences Troy's take on the American Dream during an exchange with his wife Rose:
Rose: Cory done went and got recruited by a college football team.
Troy: I told that boy about that football stuff. The white man ain't gonna let him get nowhere with that football. . .He ought to go and get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make a living."
Once, Troy was a young, skilled athlete. He is also black. To be black during the 1940s and 1950s was to be segregated from white society and denied opportunities that were supposed to be an integral component of the social contract known as the American Dream.
These are the fictional works inspired by their author's real-life observations of America and the road to success. Both are cynical, suggesting that the American Dream, if it exists at all, is only for a select few to whom material wealth is already promised. That Fitzgerald wrote his novel during an era when immigration and xenophobic sentiments were at a peak and displays of ostentatious wealth were common (even as the Great Depression loomed over the horizon), is testament to the prism through which he viewed the American Dream. It was these authors' mission to puncture the balloon.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected during the period when the balloon had burst. The Great Depression was four years old and unemployment was alarmingly high. While few Americans were cognizant, or cared, about the darkening clouds gathering over Europe—Adolf Hitler ascended to the chancellorship of Germany that same year—Roosevelt knew that the public's morale had to be lifted. His series of "Fireside Chats" were intended to lift the public's spirits. Television had yet to be invented, and families were reliant on radio as well as theaters and the printed media for their news and entertainment. Roosevelt understood that by bringing a soothing, confident voice of authority into American homes via these radio-delivered speeches and homilies, he could help an emotionally wounded people recover some of their confidence. And, he was right. By addressing the economic and social challenges confronting Americans, he was able to provide a measure of assurance that a steady, capable hand was at the helm, and that conditions would improve.
What did Roosevelt's "fireside chats" mean for the American Dream? Plenty. When tens of millions are out of work and the concept of bread lines has replaced notions of an American Dream, the president's discussions of the New Deal and the programs designed to put people back to work were more than a little welcome. Roosevelt's ability to trumpet the New Deal and the promise of a better future helped reinvigorate the American public's mental outlook and once again make the American Dream a viable option.
The Time magazine column penned by First Lieutenant Nate Rawlings is a contemporary attempt at addressing the current issue of immigration within the context of the concept of an American Dream. Lt. Rawlings raises a valid point when suggesting that those who enlist in the Armed Forces of the United States deserve an opportunity to pursue that dream.
Whether one believes that the American Dream exists is entirely subjective. Yes, hard work and perseverance can lead to professional success and material wealth. They are, however, no guarantee of success and wealth. Forty years in the coal mines is extremely admirable. Those forty years, however, are more likely to have lead to respiratory illnesses than to material comfort. Too many examples of ostentatious wealth derive more from mastery of arcane financial instruments intended to subvert regulatory structures rather than from manual labor.
No comments:
Post a Comment