The American Dream: Special-topic in English

It was also in the middle of the 19th century that the gold rush took place. When gold was found in Sacramento, gold seekers and adventurers from Europe rushed over to the USA hoping to make their fortune. It was probably at that time that the expression "American Dream" was coined. Some were indeed able to fulfill their dream, for others it was a nightmare of disillusionment.

As early as a century before the events in Sacramento, Benjamin Franklin, the famous writer, scientist and statesman, wrote a piece of literature about the philosophy of money and how to make the best use of it. In this text he uses expressions like "time is money", "credit is money" and "money can beget money", which are still valid in our capitalistic world.

He says that this paves the way to wealth, but it depends on individual industry. There is definitely an American passion for getting up in the world combined with working hard. This is what has made the Americans a competitive society based on private enterprise. This land of opportunity has therefore been alluring for people who see no chances in life in their native countries.

The Protestant work ethic plus a great affinity to money have finally created the "American standard of living", admired longingly by Europeans after the Second World War. The American car, the swimming pool, the refrigerator were items of a dream world at a time when Europe had to make up for the damage caused by war. It was the American life style which was admired and imitated.

1.3. The shadows of the dream

But in how far is this American Dream reality? No doubt, the foundations of this American spirit were laid with highest aspirations. The concept of equality, however, has always been idealistic rather than realistic. It was not observed, for example, in the way native Indians and Negro slaves were treated.

And even after slavery was abolished discrimination against black people in America prevailed far a long time until they were finally able to gain equal rights after long struggles.

What the Statue of Liberty promises has never really been truly fulfilled. From 1882 onward to the present day there have always been restrictions in the immigration policy. The greatest problem arising from these measures is illegal immigration, especially from Mexico, which is combated vigorously. Particularly in our days the American Dream is crumbling.

Detailed information via the different media have made people more critical. Beautiful words in the style of the founding-fathers used by presidents in their speeches find no response in listeners outside the USA. There are realities like crime, environmental pollution, a high rate of unemployment in connection with a declining economy and the lack of a functioning social network which show America in a different light.

The gap between the rich and the poor is widening and the slogan "you can make it there" is restricted only to a few. The image of America as a guardian of democracy also lacks credibility in our days. It has become apparent that the true causes for waging wars in recent times have been downright economic reasons like oil rather than idealistic motivations.

For many people in the rest of the world America is still the dream land because it offers freedom of mind, freedom of religion and freedom from political persecution.

2. Literature

2.1 The Tortilla curtain

Cándido Rincón (33) and América (his pregnant common law wife, 17) are two Mexicans who enter the United States illegally, dreaming of the good life in their own little house somewhere in California. Meanwhile, they are homeless and camping at the bottom of the Topanga Canyon area of Los Angeles, in the hills above Malibu.

Another couple, Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher, have recently moved into a gated community on top of Topanga, in order to be closer to nature yet be close enough to the city to enjoy those amenities. Kyra is a successful real estate agent while Delaney keeps house, looks after Kyra's son by her first marriage and writes a regular column for an environmentalist magazine.

The two couples' paths cross unexpectedly when Cándido is hit and injured by Delaney, who is driving his car along the suburban roads near his home. For different reasons, each man prefers not to call the police or an ambulance. Cándido is afraid of being deported and Delaney is afraid of ruining his perfect driving record.

Delaney soothes his conscience by giving Cándido "$20 blood money," explaining to Kyra that "He's a Mexican." From that moment on, the lives of the two couples are constantly influenced by the others.

After the accident, Cándido's problems deepen. At first he can't work after being injured by the car crash and when he does not find a temporary job at a local work exchange anymore, he unavailingly tries to find one in the city, hoping to save money for an apartment in the North despite the low wages offered.

With América, his wife, pregnant, his shame at not being able to get a job and procure a home and food for his family increases, especially when América decides to find some illegal—and possibly dangerous—work herself. At one point in the novel, after Cándido is robbed by some Mexicans in the city, they are forced to go through the trash cans behind a fast-food restaurant so as not to starve.

The Mossbachers, Delaney's family, are also having problems of their own, though of an altogether different nature. Comfortably settled in their new home, in a gated community, they are faced with the cruelty of nature when one of their two pet dogs is killed by a coyote. In addition, the majority of inhabitants of their exclusive estate feel increasingly disturbed and threatened by the presence of—as they see it—potentially criminal, illegal immigrants and vote for a wall to be built around the whole estate.

In the midst of the escalating disasters, América gives birth to Socorro, a daughter, whom she suspects might be blind. But the couple has no money to see the doctor. Delaney stalks Candido back to their shack. He carries a gun, but doesn't intend to kill Candido with it. Meanwhile, America tells Candido about the night when she was raped, as she suspects that the baby's blindness was caused by venereal disease transmitted by the rapist.

Just as she is telling him this, Delaney finds their shack and is about to confront Candido about the forest fire, when the shack is knocked over in a landslide. Candido and America manage to save themselves, but Socorro is drowned in a river. The book ends with Candido helping Delaney out of the river. Time and again in the novel, however, it is hinted at that the real perpetrators can be found inside rather than outside the projected wall: well-to-do people insensitive to the plight of the have-nots.

Author:

T. C. Boyle

Boyle grew up in Peekskill, New York, received a B.A. in English and History from the State University of New York at Potsdam in 1968, an M.F.A. (1974) from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, and a Ph.D. (1977) from the University of Iowa.

Many of Boyle's novels and short stories explore the baby boom generation, its appetites, joys, and addictions. His themes, such as the often-misguided efforts of the male hero and the appeal of the anti-hero, go hand in hand with brutal satire, humour, and realism. His fiction also explores the ruthlessness and the unpredictability of nature and the way human society destroys the environment.

His novels include World's End (1987, winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction); The Road to Wellville (1993); and The Tortilla Curtain (1995, winner of France's Prix Médicis étranger).

2.2. Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman is the story of an aging salesman without any success and his relationship to his sons, especially Biff. The action takes place at the time of post-war America and the scene is laid in a small town. The reader of the play learns that the town has changed considerably recently. When the Lomans first moved into their little house it was outside the town, surrounded by a garden where they planted flowers and their own vegetables.

At that time America was different. There was friendship, a man could rely on his friends' word and it was important to be "liked" by your neighbours. At the point of time when the action takes place the Lomans' house is surrounded by high-rising apartment houses which block out the sunlight, so that nothing grows anymore in the Lomans' garden. This description also indicates that the spirit of life has gone out of Willy Loman's life.

Willy Loman lives a life of pretence. He pretends to be a successful salesman who is appreciated by everybody. In reality he has debts he cannot pay back and he has lost his costumers. As a young man also he focused all his expectations and hopes on his sons, in particular on Biff and brings them up in a way that is harmful to them. Biff, too, learns to live in a dream-world.

From that time onward there is hatred between these two. Biff cannot get the grip of his life anymore, he wanders around the States without a proper job. Willy Loman is in deep depression. He secretly thinks about killing himself. His wife Linda understands her husband and urges him to get a job in the office of his company. But times have changed and Willy loses his job because he is no longer valuable for the business.

Friendship and respect no longer count. His sons try to boost him up by saying that they are going to start a successful business, which in fact is a false assumption. They, too, abandon their father and leave him in complete desperation. In the end Willy Loman commits suicide.

Author:

Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller was born in New York City in 1915 and studied at the University of Michigan. His plays include "All my Sons" (1947), "Death of Salesman" (1949), "The Crucible" (1953), "A Memory of Two Mondays" (1955), "A View from the Bridge" (1955), "After the Fall" (1963), "Incident at Vichy" (1964), "The Price" (1968) and "The Creation of the World and Other Business" (1972).

2.3. The American Dream (play)

The American Dream is an early, one-act play by American playwright Edward Albee. It was first staged 24 January 1961 at the York Playhouse in New York City. The play, a satire on American family life, concerns a married couple and their elderly mother. They are visited by two who turn their world upside down.

The family in this play consist of a dominating Mommy, a hen-pecked Daddy and a clever and witty Grandma. She very much gets on her family's nerves and is expecting to be put into a senior's home any moment. So she is waiting for a "van man" to turn up. An honorary member of the community and idol to Mommy, Mrs.

Barker, joins them but none of the persons present except Grandma knows why she has really come. However Mommy and Daddy seem to be waiting for someone. Mommy and Daddy exit leaving Mrs. Barker and Grandma alone. Grandma apparently knows why Mrs. Barker has been asked to come by and explains to her that Mommy and Daddy had adopted a son from her organisation many years before.

After seeing this Young Man as a way out, she moves her things and leaves. The Young Man is introduced to the family as a suitable replacement for the original child.

Albee criticises not only the falsity of the American Dream but also the American values of middle-class. In the play the persons talk to each other in a very childish way in absurd dialogs. They call each other Mommy and Daddy to stress the "perfect" family life. What they talk about is superficial and rather neurotic.

Sex is often an underlying theme. In this way Albee also points out the tendency towards neuroses and overrating of sexuality in the American society. Only Grandma is different in a way. Due to her age and experiences she is the one person in the family who is able to express ideas nobody wants to listen to. As he states in the preface to the play, "[It is] an examination of the American Scene, an attack on the substitution of artificial for real values in our society, a condemnation of complacency, cruelty, emasculation, and vacuity; it is a stand against the fiction that everything in this slipping land of ours is peachy-keen."

Besides he represents Daddy's and Mommy's dream of having a child. They are however not capable of giving the proper word to a baby. They called it "bumble" and consider it as something you can buy and get rid of when you don't want it anymore, which is an allusion to the materialistic aspect of the "American Dream".

The play "The American Dram" is a brilliant comedy, a definition Grandma uses in the last paragraph in the play. She says that we should not get deeper in to the problems and we should rather leave it the way it is because everybody has got what he thinks he wants. The play is full of imagination and humour, which makes it fascinating to read. On the one hand it is realistic, but on the other hand it is a neurotic fantasy.

Author:

Edward Albee

Edward Albee was born in Washington, DC on March 12, 1928. When he was two weeks old, baby Edward was adopted by millionaire couple Reed and Frances Albee. The Albees named their son after his paternal grandfather, Edward Franklin Albee, a powerful Vaudeville producer who had made the family fortune as a partner in the Keith-Albee Theater Circuit.

The two main characters of the book are the narrator, Salvatore "Sal" Paradise, and his new friend Dean Moriarty, much admired for his carefree attitude and sense for adventure, a free-spirited individualist eager to explore all kicks and he is an inspiration for Sal's travels. The novel contains five parts, three of them describing road trips.

The narrative takes place in the years 1947 to 1950, is full of American spirit, and marks a specific era in jazz history. The novel is largely autobiographical, Sal being the alter ego of the author. The epic nature of the adventures and the text itself creates a tremendous sense of meaning and purpose for the themes and lessons the two men undergo.

Author

The thriving mill town in the mid-19th century Lowell had become, by the time of Jack Kerouac's birth, a rundown place with high unemployment and alcoholism. Kerouac's parents, Leo and Gabrielle, were immigrants from Quebec, Canada; Kerouac learned to speak French at home before he learned English at school.

He always dreamed of writing "the great American Novel". With the onset of the Great Depression, the Kerouac family suffered from financial difficulties, and Kerouac's father turned to alcohol and gambling to cope. His mother took a job at a local shoe factory to boost the family income, but in 1936 the Merrimack River flooded its banks and destroyed Leo Kerouac's print shop condemning the family to poverty.

Kerouac, who was by that time a star running back on the Lowell High School football team, saw football as his ticket to a college scholarship. Before actually attending the Columbia University his spend some time in New York where he got in to contact with jazz music which greatly influenced his future life. After an accident as a football player, Kerouac left College and took up different jobs.

He also joined the Army for a while. It was after this period that he seriously decided to become a writer. Together with a friend Neal Cassady, he took to the road. The experiences made there were the basis of the novel "On the Road". During that time Kerouac took interest in Buddhism and also experimented with spiritual enlightenment. He wrote several novels and poetry, but "On the Road" became the landmark of the beat generation.

The main themes of the novel are:

Beat generation:

Throughout this novel, Kerouac defines the 'beat generation' in terms of its activities and value system. This relates to bars, jazz clubs as well as drugs. Kerouac also idolizes the black subculture for its lifestyle and music. There is also the idea of the Beat intellectual, a writer who experiments with drugs and mind-opening experiences.

All these ideas are opposed to the mainstream ideology of his days.  Jazz was a fundamental part of the Beat subculture and Jazz musicians were heroes and sages to them. The characters of the novel are at the very height of the Beat ideal, crossing the country and stopping to meet fascinating people with whom they may do drugs. They are completely immersed in drugs and music.

Beat philosophy also comprises promiscuous sexual behaviour which however does not work successfully within the group of characters in the novel. The author reflects on the popular ideas about marijuana and intoxication in general: that it allows people to get closer by helping them drop facades and social conventions. Besides Buddhism plays an important role in the beat generation.