American Dream Concept in Literature - Essay Example

Section 1 Essay 2 Hunter S. Thompson searches for the American Dream through his novel “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the heart of the American Dream”. The characters in his novel do this in a chaotic manner, in a drug induced haze. American idealism of the 1960s was innocent in its belief that drugs would be a source of enhancing consciousness, and that everything would work out fine. However, by 1971, and in the aftermath of his journey, it becomes apparent to him that these dreams are not going to materialize. “Old elephants limp off to the hills to die; old Americans go out to the highway and drive themselves to death with huge cars (page 18).” The ideals lay shattered, and values became irrelevant or became impotent, exposing the hollowness of the American Dream. Thirty years later, Barbara Ehrenreich embarked on a similar journey of discovery, but did it herself, actually living out the life of the working poor to discover how it actually felt. Her book, “Nickel and Dimed” published in 1971 is almost a piece of invetigative reporting. For three months, she actually waited on tables, cleaned hotels and homes, and worked at Wal-Mart in Florida, Maine and Minnesota because they were the highest paying un-skilled jobs she could find as a mother in her late 50s working for the first time, at "mother's hours." Affordable housing was a myth that forced her to live in cabins, trailer parks or weekly motels. The people behind America's dressed up service economy had no place to go back to at night. The degradation was apalling, with numerous drug tests and surprise purse searches. So-called personality tests were actually designed to reject assertive candidates who could be potential misfits in the organization.Organizing a union was ruled out when even talking to co-workers was a crime labelled “time theft”. “Associates”, not workers, waited on “guests”, not customers, surviving on a bag of chips divided between lunch and dinner, or cold cuts out of a grocery bag in a motel room. Social welfare agencies were of no help either, manned by compassionate but exhausted people who really had nothing material to offer. Ehrenreich discovers that America in the 21st century has forgotten the working poor. Even the media had forgotten about these remnants of the American Dream, rarely discussing them. Later, in 2006, through her book “Bait and Switch”, she explores the world of the white-collared unemployed, with college degrees, marketable skills, and impressive resumes, but equally vulnerable to financial disaster. Barbara Ehrenreich discovers that there are few social supports for these new “disposable workers” and hardly any security even for those who have jobs. The American dream that education and credentials could bring a secure middle class life lay shattered for these unfortunate people, due to forces beyond their control. Thirty years apart, the two authors make similar discoveries, prompting the question whether it is a matter of stagnation, or mutations of the same situation, or a manifestation of the futile obsession with the elusive American Dream. Section II Essay 4 John Winthrop’s famous "City on a Hill" sermon was actually called “A Model of Christian Charity”, in which he declared that the Puritan colonists immigrating to the New World were fulfilling a special pact with God to create a holy community. He also argued that the wealthy had a holy duty to look after the poor. Winthrop was repeating widely held Puritan beliefs in his day, and not actually coining any new ones. Contemporary American politicians cited John Winthrop as a source of inspiration, often forgetting that he was stridently anti-democratic. Winthrop was quoted as saying, "If we should change from a mixed aristocracy to mere democracy, first we should have no warrant in scripture for it: for there was no such government in Israel... A democracy is, amongst civil nations, accounted the meanest and worst of all forms of government. [To allow it would be] a manifest breach of the 5th Commandment." The late 1940s and the early 1950s kindled a kind of simplistic idealism, and a dream of peace, stability and hope. The evil were vanquished in the war, judgment was awaiting the wrong doers and the good were free to pursue their path to happiness. War weary millions, exposed to the horrors of war, desperately wanted to believe in something else as close to the ideal as possible. Americans were good and right and America had the moral responsibility to teach the world what was right. America looked like being the “City on a Hill” that Winthrop’s visualized. Community living, charity, religion and order were cherished, and hope of a resurgence of prosperity spurred people to greater efforts. Even in the 1960s, America hadn’t yet lost its innocence, and idealism persisted. An emerging drug culture promised extended consciousness, a Utopia of dreams, which Winthrop hadn’t unfortunately visualized. The American Dream developed, in which education and credentials were the way to a secure middle class life. American charity abroad quenched the collective conscience, almost exactly as Winthrop suggested. By the 1970s, the American Dream had begun to crumble, and Hunter S. Thompson exposed the decay compellingly in his novel “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the heart of the American Dream”. Something had gone wrong with the “City on a Hill”. America was cited as an example of much that went wrong in values among people, but the drug culture appeared to lose its image of an innocent diversion. Winthrop’s ideals were losing ground and a new mindset started appearing. Charity was increasingly tied to strings; there could be no such thing as a “free lunch”, even for Americans. Every person had to earn his or her living the hard way and America had no obligation to be charitable abroad, unless it served some American purpose. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the American Dream was made irrelevant, and what mattered was calculated cost efficiency wherein there was no place for God, holiness or duty, as Winthrop advocated. The heartless soul of America in the twenty-first century was revealed by Barbara Ehrenreich in her book “Bait and Switch”. America had become the “City on a Hill” for the whole world, but for reasons contrary to that John Winthrop envisioned in 1620. Photo Identifying: 1. The image is an advertisement by Levitt & Sons for the “Levittowner” community of homes. Starting in 1947 in New York, the firm built over 17000 community homes in places as far away as Pennsylvania, in 1952. They were marketed as modestly priced, planned communities with churches, ball fields, schools, and shopping. The concept was aimed at post-war middle class single families who aspired to a life-style idealized in the American Dream. Levitt & Sons offered liberal payment options to a large numbers of war veterans, who were anxious to set up home and build a new life. 2. The image captures the occasion when US Vice President Richard Nixon visited Moscow on July 24, 1959, where he met with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The public discussions between the two, held in a kitchen of the American National Exhibit, came to be known as the “Kitchen Debate”. Nixon, anxious to steer the discussion away from military issues, talked about the power of technology to improve standards of living, particularly in the home. Khrushchev emphasized the role of better wages in improving the quality of life of the working class, a telling pointer to the differing perceptions of the two countries. 3. The photograph shows a scene from one of the many non-violent direct-action demonstrations of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The agitators, mostly young men and women, staged sit-ins at popular lunch counters, where they were harassed by white racists who heckled them and poured mustard and ketchup on them. The Nashville Student Movement is one such famous sit-in that resulted in Nashville becoming the first Southern city to start desegregating its public facilities. Read More