THE AMERICAN DREAM

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THE AMERICAN DREAM

• An Introduction to the Idea and its Development

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What is the American Dream?

• Phrase first coined in 1931, by James Truslow
  Adams citizens of every rank feel that they can
  achieve a "better, richer, and happier life.
• Democratic ideas mean that the American people
  can achieve prosperity through hard work.
• An idea that has made the United States an
  attractive destination for many immigrants.

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What Makes America (Theoretically) Different?

• Many European caste systems do not allow much
  movement up through the social classes if
  youre born poor, chances are that you will
  remain poor.
• Westward expansion started from Europe to the
  U.S., then from the East Coast to the Midwest to
  the West Coast. The frontier seemed endless.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald

• The wave of wealth and prosperity in the American
  1920s led to a widespread criticism of
  materialism and consumption by many Modern
  authors, notably by Fitzgerald in his novel The
  Great Gatsby.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald

• The Great Gatsby questions the American obsession
  with wealth, pointing out many of the flaws
  inherent in an idea of success built around
  wealth.
• Implies that the American Dream might be dying
  the positive aspects of the Dream might be being
  forgotten in favor of material wealth.

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John Steinbeck

• The U.S. economy fell into a deep depression in
  1929, which changed many peoples thoughts about
  the American Dream.
• 10 years or so after Gatsby, Steinbeck critiqued
  the idea of westward expansion, and the idea that
  a man could be a success through hard work alone,
  in his novels Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of
  Wrath.

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Hunter S. Thompson

• Inspired largely by Fitzgerald, journalist and
  novelist Hunter S. Thompson felt that Las Vegas
  represented how the American Dream had failed.
• His Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1973)
  discusses how the idea of the American Dream has
  been replaced by people seeking easy and instant
  gratification.

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The American Dream in the 1950s

• Between the 1920s/30s point of view of
  Fitzgerald/Steinbeck and the 1970s point of view
  of H.S.T., plays like Death of a Salesman
  (written in 1948) and Fences (written in 1983,
  but set in the 1950s) explored the topic of the
  American Dream in different ways

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The American Dream TODAY

• I am not anti-Bush. I am not pro-Iraq. I am
  pro-peace. I have written a song and created a
  video which expresses my feelings about our
  culture and values and illusions of what many
  people believe is the American dream - the
  perfect life. Madonna.
• I ask you to join in a re-United States. We need
  to empower our people so they can take more
  responsibility for their own lives in a world
  that is ever smaller, where everyone counts. We
  need a new spirit of community, a sense that we
  are all in this together, or the American Dream
  will continue to wither. Our destiny is bound up
  with the destiny of every other American. Bill
  Clinton.
• My fellow Americans, this is an amazing moment
  for me. To think that a once scrawny boy from
  Austria could grow up to become Governor of
  California and stand in Madison Square Garden to
  speak on behalf of the President of the United
  States that is an immigrant's dream. It is the
  American dream. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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The Movie, Scarface
In the spring of 1980, the port at Mariel Harbor
was opened, and thousands set sail for the United
States. They came in search of the American
Dream. One of them found it on the other
sun-washed avenues of Miamiwealth, power and
passion beyond his wildest dreams.
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The American Dream in the 1920s and Today
Questions for Reflection

• 1) In The Great Gatsby, what is each characters
  American Dream? (Nick, Daisy, Tom, Gatsby,
  Jordan, Myrtle, and George)
• 2) What does the American Dream mean to you
  today?
• 3) What is your American Dream?
• 4) Is it possible to achieve the American Dream?