American Dream in Interpretation authored by David Kamp - Book Report/Review Example

Introduction The Vanity Fair issue of the month of April in the year 2009 featured some writings by D. Kamp with the heading "Rethinking the American Dream” (2009). Written at an opportune time, the writings came about when the American people were struggling with personal finances and increasing national debt. The article questioned the direction the American society was headed, noting that the great depression had left a bad taste in the American people's mouth. The 1950's snaps taken by Amid Norman prompt David Kamp to question whether the widely shared ideal of the great American Dream is in fact dying or if the individuals are chasing a lost course (Vanity Fair 120). Analysis David Kamp presents many cultural scenarios and statistical information in his account of the American dream in the early and mid-twentieth century. He demonstrates how the American dream has been achieved in the past, at least on the surface. The living standards have improved; prosperity in life having solidified the widely accepted perceptions of the abundance in the American dream. Kamp additionally notes, on the other hand, that the American Dream has transformed from a national model for an improved, satisfying and joyous life to a debt-burdened truth motivated by excessive spending and the celebrity euphoria. Putting into perspective on a huge dissatisfaction among American and non-American dreamers, Kamp explains that the society’s expectation of the American Dream and what the dream promises is what needs to be altered, and our comprehension of what the fuzzy and loosely used phrase the American Dream is in fact meant to be. In almost all of the American cultural sequence of events, the Dream has been regular. The American dream euphoria has continuously been generated from the Four Freedoms as described by one of America's former presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt's to modern televised shows such as America's Next Top Model and America's Got Talent. All aspects of the American perceived society - social, cultural, economic and political - can be dealt with through the dream's rubric (Reid & Anderson 17). Even though the phrase was not created until late 1933, its sense, principles and models have been around for the time when Jefferson declared the unalienable rights of freedom, life and the quest for happiness. Researchers have repeatedly positioned the American Dream origin inside the Puritan enterprise and marked it all the way in the American history. These cultural writings dwell on the various methods that the American Dream has been formulated and applied, highlighting on the various elements that come attached to it, such as hope, confidence, misery and hopelessness (Gustafson 1780). Viewed as a structure for comprehending the American way of life and more particularly American journalism, the American Dream is an important theoretical framework for examining the literary works of such canonical writers as Zora Neal Hurston. This structure develops and makes clear subjects related to race, sexuality and class in the function of the American Dream. Writers such as Zora Neal Hurston appeal to the American Dream as a societal model and challenge assumptions related with the traditional American Dream storylines. Writers such as Neal Hurston analyze the multiple failures associated with the American Dream, key among them the inability to restructure the huge difference between freedom and social equality for both the individual and the society. In particular, the most notable aspects are factors affecting the family structure and domestic space. The inability of the dream to produce good results in the family set up points to a symbolic frustration and segregation in the bigger perceived family, the domestic society and the country at large. Operating as a cultural ultimate model, the American Dream encompasses an assortment of mental images, perceptions and views that begs specific explanation or definition. As noted by Jim Cullen in his narration of the American Dream, "It is as if no one individual feels the need to secure the explanation and meaning and the use of a phrase all individuals seem to understand” (26). Even though the phrase was first highlighted in the book Drift and Mastery (1914), a lot of history writers and critics for culture have the same opinion that the phrase was brought to light as an ideal by James Truslow, the poet, essayist and social critic in narrative in the Epic of America (1933). The American Dream Truslow’s understanding of the American Dream was based on historical events where individuals migrated from their respective birthplaces to America in search of better opportunities to improve their lives. What he regarded as the American Dream was a vision of a place in which life should be improved and more affluent and comfortable for every individual, and where chances are up for grabs to every individual as per the individual's ability or accomplishment. Not considering the idea of material gain - the purchase and ownership of huge SUV's, good salaries, beautiful girlfriends and keeping up with the Kardashians to a desired progressive faith in personal accomplishment, the writer establishes the American Dream in a societal order whose inherent capabilities of the individuals conquers birth or position. Even though found within the context of the American Dream, attaining material possessions is resultant of an individual's capabilities of growing exponentially to the highest possible development level, unhindered by obstacles which had been constructed by former generations; obstacles historically entrenched in social class. Development and growth are being realized from stability within the economic structures through the gains of increased vacation, influencing pleasure in the capability of enjoying the plenty, not in the never-ending pursuit of material possession. An individual works to live and survive, and it is not the other way round. The writer is of a strong opinion that all through the American history, occupation and misuse have been the outcome of politics, business and entrepreneurship ends unto them and not as a means to attain the American Dream. Additionally, particular personal conceptions of the American Dream entrenched in personal freedom may go against the wider societal values, particularly when hegemonic understanding of the norm seem to favor or deny a certain community through historical marginalization (Jillson 312). Despite the fact that unquestionably significant, the writer asserts that higher salaries and wealth should never be an end in itself and would in reality mislead from the freedom adopted by the belief that they result to a bigger level of liberty or chances for added leisure, resulting in a dream of a comfortable and a richer life. The writer warns that an American dream fixed primarily on higher salaries will not construct a better-characterized man but will rather have one possible end; the single declared aim of increasing his abilities as an end user. For the writer, pure consumerism turns out to be the peak of enslavement, not a way of attaining a better-fulfilled life. The affected person feels the dire need to spend his earnings on goods and services to give a good reason for having the added income, a mentality of use it or lose it. The individual under heavy influence of consumerism believes that failure to consume to the limit may result in his deprivation of his earnings. Therefore, by this means, the individual delivers himself into a continuous sequence of earnings, not for the satisfaction, but for consumerism or spending to facilitate the process of making other individuals richer. The mentioned perspective may improve the general economic welfare of a society through added spending but may fail to make life fuller and richer for people. The writer addresses the notion of the wider values and the people through an underlying feature of the American Dream. In his perspective, the advancement of the individual towards a collective communal destination is the best avenue to ensure the longevity and vitality of the American Dream. Their Eyes were Watching God In Hurston's book, "Their Eyes were Watching God," the American Dream model is depicted in the presentation of Janie's life throughout the narration of the book. Her only guardian and main friend, Nanny, desires for her to get married. After long periods of looking for an appropriate candidate who would marry Janie, she stumbles on Logan Killicks, and together they get married. Soon after, Janie would come under immense pressure to fall in love with Logan, even though he was not her choice. The writer says that after marriage, Janie would love Logan because the old folks and Nanny had predicted that after marriage, husbands and wives fell in love with each other because that was what marriage stood for. This marriage's point of view depicts the notion that the typical marriage automatically changes an individual's life into accomplishment and perfection (Hurston 171). Nonetheless, Janie becomes conscious of the fact that it takes a lot of work to make a marriage work, and she is more than willing to make it work, striving for love while building up other areas of her life that are typified by the American Dream. By way of progress and the Americans' life's progressions, towards achieving the American Dream, many individuals in Hurston's narration unearthed realities about themselves that were not known to them in the past, truths such as belief and ambitions and love. The main character Janie is going after the dream projected to her by Nannie. In her narration, Nannie is telling Janie how much they (she and other friends) long for a husband, a good house and a big land. Nannie narrates to Janie that they are ready to do anything to attain the kind of life she has, for them, this is the ultimate American Dream. Nannies’ wish for Janie was for her to enjoy a fulfilled life through the institution of marriage. Her wishes would ultimately be fulfilled when Janie got married to Killicks. However, after the sudden demise of Nannie, Janie decides to pursue her own dreams. Without her usual support, Janie turns to nature and instincts to think about her duties and responsibilities in life and stands outside, paying attention to sources of purpose and direction. Standing there, Hurston narrates that Janie realized that marriage could never make love. Janie's initial dream was gone and gone for good. Therefore, Janie became a woman. Hurston intellectually uses Janie's journey as a framework of showing that individuals sometimes plan into the future, about how their life will turn out to be, only for the dynamics to change along the way. The desired American Dream is not attained by wishful thinking, rather through continuous development of an individual's morals, attitude and longing for success (Jones 245). The death of Tea Cake marks another turning point in Janie's life, one that sees her taken to court and acquitted of the alleged crime. Tea Cake's eluded justice can be regarded as a direct insult to the personality of the black manliness that he stands for. All through the duration of their settlement at the Muck, Tea Cake represents a central authority within the community. The writer narrates that Tea Cake's residence was a magnet, the illegal heart of the job. His being there elucidates joy and mirth, and his ownership of Janie, respect and esteem. Hurston narrates that Tea Cake exerts a pull on them with his music, his competency at sports and his declaration, both verbal and non-verbal that he commands Janie to be where he wants her to be, that is, the kind of wife Janie is and he loves her for that. Tea Cake's American Dream becomes supreme. Hurston's narrative is solidified by the Muck's reaction especially after Janie's acquittal of Tea Cakes murder. All through the whole story, Janie is not presented with much of a choice and she has to navigate through different communities such as Eatonville, the Muck and North Florida, with each region having its feeling of normalcy and prospects for the young Janie. Hurston's narration attempts to elucidate the complexities of these individual societies as independent units, and in many ways, these different societal segments stand for an American Dream attained. At the heart of the American Dream narrative, the different communities highlighted encompass the innate dualism between individual freedoms and democracy within the community. Janie's hunt for her American Dream - her horizon - takes place in these societies and comes to a conclusion with her having completely understood a feeling of agency regardless of them. The three husbands who represent a male version of the dream eclipse Janie's dream. These men represent a societal desire for domestic romanticism based on the anticipated roles that place Janie as female and, therefore, subservient, and the men that she gets married to masculine and, therefore, dominant. The Nanny's adaptation of the American Dream is entrenched in societal expectations of respectability; she being expressly associated with Logan's declaration of his version of the American Dream. Janie's Independence The first experience of individual independence that Janie has happens when she is still a very young girl, with Nanny, her grandmother. Newly conscious of her developing body and uniqueness, she is accustomed to the physical natural world. Her autonomy from Nanny's control starts to take shape on a sunny afternoon in North Florida. Having lived her past life under the tight scrutiny of her grandmother, Janie awakes to the opportunities and restrictions placed on her by other individuals. Through the symbolic blossoming tree in the back yard, she becomes conscious of life and her personal notions of a natural unification with another individual. Janie becomes aware of her physical, sexual and religious self. Through her observation as the tree transforms from the brown stems to shiny leaf-buds, Janie comprehends marriage better. The tree in her observation, the bloom and the insect (bee) denote natural symbols for the aware Janie. Conscious of herself, similar to the tree, Janie is coming into bloom. Hurston explains of how Janie aches with eagerness when relates her experiences with what she sees out there in the natural world "Oh to be a Pear tree, any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the start of the world!" (Hurston 112). Longing for the union, and having her uniqueness and independence met on her freshly recognized conditions, Janie explores the frontiers of her grandmother's property with minimal success, until in the end, as she arrives at the front gate to find Taylor. Janie's kissing of Taylor is her initial step to an independent individual who behaves with a sense of agency. According to Janie, Taylor is the answer to her search for the natural unification that she observed between the bee and the flower (Jones 231). Janie's relationships signify her stages in the process of growth as an individual, and they are in tandem with what she refers to as a desired being – the desired way of life. This conflates her individual feelings of personal desires with the unification of two natural units. Janie's intricacies derive from the prospects and expectations placed on her by other men and the societies within which they reside; both evidently defined by their perception of the American Dream and her place in it. Soon after awakening her natural desires, she is instantly thrown back into Nanny's world. The grandmother, partially hearing about Janie speaking softly with a male counterpart peeps outside only to see Johnny Taylor "tearing" Janie with a passionate kiss (Hurston 114). Nanny ends Janie's dream right there, when she calls young Janie into her house, declaring to her that she is a woman now and, therefore, ought to get married right away. Janie's childhood journey ends, and immediately sees the commencement of a societal forced expectation of normalcy on her young shoulders. Her grandmothers nagging desire to see Janie married marks the beginning of a number of American Dreams threatening to limit her life. Unable to offer protection to the young Janie from self-destruction and the looming natural forces, the grandmother can only locate refuge and protection in the transfer of the little girl from the boundaries of her home to that of a genuine marriage. Under the pretext of protection, Nanny remains adamant that Janie marries Killicks. Anticipating her impending demise, Nanny laments, "One morning, soon, now, the angel with the sword is going to stop by here." (Hurston 243). The granny forces Janie's hand in accepting the marriage proposal. In the face of judging that Logan Killicks seems like some old school head in the graveyard, she unwillingly goes ahead to marry him to mollify her grandmother. Nanny's American Dream for Janie is for her to get protection from being used like a mule in the world, and to give legality to the large tracks of land owned by Killicks. The grandmother attempts to shatter the sequence of squalor that saw her daughter being raped, subsequent to her also being raped by the white schoolmaster. The grandmother observes marriage as the sole channel through which her granddaughter will avoid their misfortune (Kalfopours 143). The grandmother's conventional perceptions of gendered household chores and roles surpass Janie's longing for a natural unification with another individual and the symbolic Pear tree. A Conventional American Dream Gone Bad A conventional American Dream, assets and material possession, to her grandmother, are the sole avenues for legality and accomplishment. Killicks symbolize the essence of the Jeffersonian jagged idiosyncratic Agrarian dream. Logan, trusting in himself to be too sincere and industrious, he anticipates Janie to accomplish and fit into his perceptions of what she ought to do and should be. Infuriated that Janie does not take any interest in that place, Killicks tells Janie "You are not going anywhere. It is where I need you to be ill move you, and that quick." (Hurston 134) The point where Killicks needs Janie is in the kitchen and around the ranch. Killick expects Janie to be in her rightful place where she should be cutting potatoes and take up the plough. The grandmother explains the rightful survival for young Janie, similar to Logan. He purposes Janie to be beside him working on the farm and not out there in the woods looking for her sense of self. After coming to terms with the fact that her initial dream had ended, Janie remains calm. One day she finds a man called Joe Stark on foot, a person exemplifying all that Logan and her grandmother had cautioned her against. Janie's association and union to Joe Starks contain much of her life. For many years, Janie tolerates being grouped into a social stratum. Through commercial successes and social influences in harmony with the prospects of the people of Eatonville, Janie is forced into a static trophy wife category. Her chances of being heard denied, and her individualism defined by others, Janie, like the stalks in her husband stores parks herself in a shelf. When Joe initially entered Janie's life, he lamented about a far off horizon. When she was sitting in one of the barns preparing Killicks seed taters, she looks up and sees a citified and elegantly dressed man. Joe's wish had always been being in a high social position, where people could look up to him, where he would be regarded as a big voice. His hometown would eventually give him the opportunity to do just that. In Joe's analysis, Janie was not having “any more business with a plough than a hog would have a holiday” (Hattenhauer 112). Joe believed that a pretty looking woman like Janie was made to sit on the front porch and rock the chair while fanning herself, eating potatoes that were specially prepared for her by other people (Hurston 28). In addition, to this conviction, he became truthful and faithful to it until his demise; nonetheless, his belief and conviction obligated Janie to accept his American Dream, the perfect life he desired, and segregation and loneliness from society for Janie. During a period of twenty years and beyond, other people non-partisan to herself defined her role. The Individuals of Eatonville, Joe and Northern Florida double up as a dynamic geographical locale for the Exposition of the American Dream narration. Even despite the growth of the real estate business in the late 1920's, the land of sunshine as it was referred to remain a region of huge opportunities, given that it was a warm place and largely undeveloped. Many individuals migrated into this lands searching for a new beginning, a place that was at least warm. In spite of Florida State paving the way for the nation in organizing wars and its structures of peonage, the region had a fair share of moving African Americans. The writer had a good knowledge of the area, for that is where she originated. Hurston had visited many parts of the state, collecting folktales and operating in various capacities (Hemenway 97). Hurston's hometown was the centre of all her travels, a place known as Eatonville. In the midst of all racially mixed municipalities', Eatonville was at the centre of Hurston's works. The Gilded Age and Hurston's Work Hurston's work is heavily linked to the gilded age in the United States, as it was regarded as a period of great opportunity. The Gilded Age is widely regarded as a period that offered much prosperity and affluence to local individuals and immigrants as well (Buenker & Buenker 233). For the very first time, the white reformists achieved great results in their efforts to push for social equality and improvement. When all these events were taking place, some Americans totally missed the various promises of America, deemed as the "Land of Opportunity" (Nightingale 23). To begin with, the American natives were constantly harassed and betrayed by the white settlers, many times finding themselves thrown out of their ancestral homes. Many African Americans living in the South were most affected by white’s oppressive rule. At that time, any attempts to mobilize people for mass action was stopped; the labor unions crushed by the factories owners in union with the government of the day (Hall 77-78). Much of Hurston's work was done at a time when a new movement had begun sweeping the nation. In the early 1920's, the African American Jazz euphoria had started going round, marking a powerful Harlem resurgence. The new black movement that featured content of the African American culture included art, music and literature (Wolff 29). Jazz music that was born in this era challenged conformists and traditional white music by putting more emphasis on the need to have more culturally innate music. Jazz affirmed the surfacing of the "New Negro" (Harriss 268). Jazz music attempted to revitalize the African American culture, giving it its identity at a period when the gilded age had taken center stage of the American way of life. Jazz music tried to challenge the economic segregation created by the Victorian period (Gilded Age), a period that saw the existence of structures that would subdue the African American culture to more oppression. Class Privilege and Color among Blacks In the midst of the African Americans, the subject of color and its connection to the light-skinned upper class was passionately discussed all through the turn of the century. Gatson and Gatewood (151) argue that not many issues were more emotionally loaded in the African American community than those that related to preferences and color prejudices of African American themselves. The evidence as highlighted by Gatson and Gatewood is found in Hurston's book. With her thick and long hair and light skin, Janie is regarded very attractive. Many people in the book refer to Janie's good looks. Her beauty instigates envy in some women and yearning in some of the men. One particular character in Hurston's book decides to stop pursuing Janie because he notes, "A man requires to be wealthy to get a woman like that" (Hurston 209). The first two marriages that Janie engages are to wealthy individuals, and, for the most part, she associates herself with the rich class segment of the society. Logan, her initial husband, has huge tracks of land. He is also the only individual in town to own an organ. In her second marriage, Jodie, her second husband gradually becomes an esteemed local of Eatonville. By way of marriage, Janie gets to enjoy a supercilious status in the Eatonville society. However, Janie becomes miserable in this position and continuously yearns to correlate with the ordinary individuals, just like the individuals who narrate stories on the general store's front porch. African American society classification and stratification became complex immediately after the civil war had ended. It differentiated from one region to the other and varied from the mid-1800's to late 1920's, when an upward surging African American class started to come out. Nonetheless, history analysts draw some widely accepted views about the stratified society. According to Henry (446-447), African American stratification can be traced back to the days of slavery, when social class characteristics were advanced among freemen, house servants and individuals working in the field. After the civil war had ended, the slaves who received preferential treatment alongside the freemen often acquired more political and economic control and influence. They received riches, good schooling and refinement and leadership opportunities. Its affiliates are said to have stressed on familial legacy, stipulating the periods their families received independence, the kind of slaves their forefathers had been classified under and how their individual family units had defended against slavery (Aristocrats Of Color: The Black Elite, 1880-1920). Additionally, according to Gatson and Gatewood (345), an uneven number of the African American elites were light skinned; most had white ancestral roots about whom they articulated pleasure and delight. Some of these light-skinned blacks placed a substantial distance between themselves and those African Americans whom they regarded outside their social class. In the modern American society, the rift between dark-skinned African Americans and the lighter-skinned blacks has reduced significantly. African-American men and, in particular, the successful ones prefer light-skinned and white wives. Hurston's book "Their Eyes were Watching God" was a milestone for all the African Americans, particularly in for the African American women in the gilded period. The book paints a picture of a woman who broke all the societal norms in this period by going for an independent way of life, which involved looking for a life partner and creating her own individuality and identity, just like the Jazz music. Janie's race and sex did not prohibit her from attaining a conventional role in a hostile environment that endeavored to oppress African Americans. While trying to maximize on the numerous opportunities presented in this era, the African American community was struggling to realize their general identity. Conclusion The writer narrates about Janie's march to the perspective, her American Dream of independence as a progression in the structure of a pursuit. The multiple marriages and the numerous societal efforts to describe Janie are simply the sections of education and growth required for her to comprehend her Dream of agency. In fact, Janie's incessant attempt to apprehend the horizon and never relinquish or give up on it is the fundamental aspect that marks her American Dream (Bloom 179). Essentially, she surely possesses her American Dream. However, there is a need for her to focus and dedicate herself into realizing it. Janie has however seen herself fall short of achieving the American dream in the past; her past failed marriages to the two men, living an undesired life, a broken dream in her perceptions. The earlier gilded age vision of progress and class enlightenment revealed a hopeful confidence and trust in society’s reasonable ability to develop promote and control change. However, as seen today, that assumption was untenable as it represented an arrogant supposition that modern society was at not only the peak of evolution, but also that individuals possessed enough information of the past to support this historical supposition (Buenker & Buenker 132). Progress not only signified a quantitative increase in material things and wealth, but also a movement in the direction of a fundamentally better society. However, currently the American society has embraced a different American Dream. The traditional language of opportunity is still being used, but the modern Dream is significantly different from the real American dream. Rather than focus on the ladder of opportunity, current American Dream focuses on the Escalator of results. The traditional American Dream involved removing artificial barriers to ensure equivalent opportunities while the current American Dream entails promoting social engineering to achieve equality of opportunity. Whether individuals considered a model of salvaging a lost public paradise or developing a wholly modern ideal, the booming industrialized capital in all its historical ills and potential excellence was the crucible of development (Hochschild 154). By the year 1920, an emergent class of financially stable African Americans had started to be noticed. This group followed and practiced Booker T. Washington's declaration that blacks should focus on self-improvement and the acquirement of wealth. The members of this group associated themselves economically with the bigger African American community. This group of financially elite individuals was less apprehensive concerning being assimilated into the wider society (Gatson & Gatewood 334). In the book, Jordy Stark, an individual who belongs to the new class of elites demonstrates his apprehension for social class distinctions. He ties the knot with a light-skinned woman and then prohibits her from mixing with regular individuals. When Jordy initially meets Janie, he directs his thoughts towards Janie saying, "A Pretty doll baby like you is meant to sit on the front porch and rock and fan yourself, and eat potatoes that other folks plant special just for you" (Hurston 28). Jordy's attitude brings to mind the immense diversity in African American society in the course of this period. His attitude represents one among many in a small cluster of successful African American individuals. Janie's desire to associate with common individuals reflects a further modern trend in the modern American society. Without a doubt, the writer is symbolically lamenting about the certainty of a radicalized South, the independence of different African American societies in spite of racism, and the restricted functions of women in these societies. Nevertheless, by allowing Janie the freedom to go after the good life, even in spite of restricting tenets of normalcy, Janie coagulates the significance of individual drive and the need for societal acceptance without circumscribing or prospects when the socio-historical account is just contradictory (Hoschschild 54). When Janie takes the life of Tea Cake in self-defense, the writer unmistakably highlights the significance of the person in the attainment of the American Dream story. Janie has seen it all, gone to the horizon and back. Finally, she settles in her house, peaceful and safe, enjoying her independence as a self-made individual. She ends up enjoying her personal space within the society. Through Janie’s actions of acting within her own rights to defend and fight for herself, the writer condemns the reader in the contesting issues of personal freedoms and societal democratic space that the American Dream bargains, and posits Janie and the community of the African American that she steers as perfect models for this engagement. Works Cited Aristocrats Of Color: The Black Elite, 1880-1920. Choice Reviews Online 28.07 (1991): 28- 4085-28-4085. Web. Barnes, Harry Elmer. 'Book Review: The Epic Of America. James Truslow Adams'. American Journal of Sociology 38.5 (1933): 788. Web. Bloom, Harold. Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Print. Buenker, J., & Buenker, J. (2005). Encyclopedia of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Armonk, NY: Sharpe Reference. Cullen, Jim. The American Dream. Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print. 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