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The Great Gatsby is a tragic love story on the surface, but it's most commonly understood as a pessimistic critique of the American Dream. In the novel, Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to gain an incredible amount of money and a limited amount of social cache in 1920s NYC, only to be rejected by the "old money" crowd. He then gets killed after being tangled up with them.

Through Gatsby's life, as well as that of the Wilsons', Fitzgerald critiques the idea that America is a meritocracy where anyone can rise to the top with enough hard work. We will explore how this theme plays out in the plot, briefly analyze some key quotes about it, as well as do some character analysis and broader analysis of topics surrounding the American Dream in The Great Gatsby .

What is the American Dream? The American Dream in the Great Gatsby plot Key American Dream quotes Analyzing characters via the American Dream Common discussion and essay topics

Quick Note on Our Citations

Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book.

To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text.

What Exactly Is "The American Dream"?

The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America (read: rich) if they just work hard enough. The American Dream thus presents a pretty rosy view of American society that ignores problems like systemic racism and misogyny, xenophobia, tax evasion or state tax avoidance, and income inequality. It also presumes a myth of class equality, when the reality is America has a pretty well-developed class hierarchy.

The 1920s in particular was a pretty tumultuous time due to increased immigration (and the accompanying xenophobia), changing women's roles (spurred by the right to vote, which was won in 1919), and extraordinary income inequality.

The country was also in the midst of an economic boom, which fueled the belief that anyone could "strike it rich" on Wall Street. However, this rapid economic growth was built on a bubble which popped in 1929. The Great Gatsby was published in 1925, well before the crash, but through its wry descriptions of the ultra-wealthy, it seems to somehow predict that the fantastic wealth on display in 1920s New York was just as ephemeral as one of Gatsby's parties.

In any case, the novel, just by being set in the 1920s, is unlikely to present an optimistic view of the American Dream, or at least a version of the dream that's inclusive to all genders, ethnicities, and incomes. With that background in mind, let's jump into the plot!

The American Dream in The Great Gatsby

Chapter 1 places us in a particular year—1922—and gives us some background about WWI.  This is relevant, since the 1920s is presented as a time of hollow decadence among the wealthy, as evidenced especially by the parties in Chapters 2 and 3. And as we mentioned above, the 1920s were a particularly tense time in America.

We also meet George and Myrtle Wilson in Chapter 2 , both working class people who are working to improve their lot in life, George through his work, and Myrtle through her affair with Tom Buchanan.

We learn about Gatsby's goal in Chapter 4 : to win Daisy back. Despite everything he owns, including fantastic amounts of money and an over-the-top mansion, for Gatsby, Daisy is the ultimate status symbol. So in Chapter 5 , when Daisy and Gatsby reunite and begin an affair, it seems like Gatsby could, in fact, achieve his goal.

In Chapter 6 , we learn about Gatsby's less-than-wealthy past, which not only makes him look like the star of a rags-to-riches story, it makes Gatsby himself seem like someone in pursuit of the American Dream, and for him the personification of that dream is Daisy.

However, in Chapters 7 and 8 , everything comes crashing down: Daisy refuses to leave Tom, Myrtle is killed, and George breaks down and kills Gatsby and then himself, leaving all of the "strivers" dead and the old money crowd safe. Furthermore, we learn in those last chapters that Gatsby didn't even achieve all his wealth through hard work, like the American Dream would stipulate—instead, he earned his money through crime. (He did work hard and honestly under Dan Cody, but lost Dan Cody's inheritance to his ex-wife.)

In short, things do not turn out well for our dreamers in the novel! Thus, the novel ends with Nick's sad meditation on the lost promise of the American Dream. You can read a detailed analysis of these last lines in our summary of the novel's ending .

Key American Dream Quotes

In this section we analyze some of the most important quotes that relate to the American Dream in the book.

But I didn't call to him for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone--he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. (1.152)

In our first glimpse of Jay Gatsby, we see him reaching towards something far off, something in sight but definitely out of reach. This famous image of the green light is often understood as part of The Great Gatsby 's meditation on The American Dream—the idea that people are always reaching towards something greater than themselves that is just out of reach . You can read more about this in our post all about the green light .

The fact that this yearning image is our introduction to Gatsby foreshadows his unhappy end and also marks him as a dreamer, rather than people like Tom or Daisy who were born with money and don't need to strive for anything so far off.

Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.

A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of south-eastern Europe, and I was glad that the sight of Gatsby's splendid car was included in their somber holiday. As we crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry.

"Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge," I thought; "anything at all. . . ."

Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder. (4.55-8)

Early in the novel, we get this mostly optimistic illustration of the American Dream—we see people of different races and nationalities racing towards NYC, a city of unfathomable possibility. This moment has all the classic elements of the American Dream—economic possibility, racial and religious diversity, a carefree attitude. At this moment, it does feel like "anything can happen," even a happy ending.

However, this rosy view eventually gets undermined by the tragic events later in the novel. And even at this point, Nick's condescension towards the people in the other cars reinforces America's racial hierarchy that disrupts the idea of the American Dream. There is even a little competition at play, a "haughty rivalry" at play between Gatsby's car and the one bearing the "modish Negroes."

Nick "laughs aloud" at this moment, suggesting he thinks it's amusing that the passengers in this other car see them as equals, or even rivals to be bested. In other words, he seems to firmly believe in the racial hierarchy Tom defends in Chapter 1, even if it doesn't admit it honestly.

His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete. (6.134)

This moment explicitly ties Daisy to all of Gatsby's larger dreams for a better life —to his American Dream. This sets the stage for the novel's tragic ending, since Daisy cannot hold up under the weight of the dream Gatsby projects onto her. Instead, she stays with Tom Buchanan, despite her feelings for Gatsby. Thus when Gatsby fails to win over Daisy, he also fails to achieve his version of the American Dream. This is why so many people read the novel as a somber or pessimistic take on the American Dream, rather than an optimistic one.  

...as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes--a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night." (9.151-152)

The closing pages of the novel reflect at length on the American Dream, in an attitude that seems simultaneously mournful, appreciative, and pessimistic. It also ties back to our first glimpse of Gatsby, reaching out over the water towards the Buchanan's green light. Nick notes that Gatsby's dream was "already behind him" then (or in other words, it was impossible to attain). But still, he finds something to admire in how Gatsby still hoped for a better life, and constantly reached out toward that brighter future.

For a full consideration of these last lines and what they could mean, see our analysis of the novel's ending .

Analyzing Characters Through the American Dream

An analysis of the characters in terms of the American Dream usually leads to a pretty cynical take on the American Dream.

Most character analysis centered on the American Dream will necessarily focus on Gatsby, George, or Myrtle (the true strivers in the novel), though as we'll discuss below, the Buchanans can also provide some interesting layers of discussion. For character analysis that incorporates the American Dream, carefully consider your chosen character's motivations and desires, and how the novel does (or doesn't!) provide glimpses of the dream's fulfillment for them.

Gatsby himself is obviously the best candidate for writing about the American Dream—he comes from humble roots (he's the son of poor farmers from North Dakota) and rises to be notoriously wealthy, only for everything to slip away from him in the end. Many people also incorporate Daisy into their analyses as the physical representation of Gatsby's dream.

However, definitely consider the fact that in the traditional American Dream, people achieve their goals through honest hard work, but in Gatsby's case, he very quickly acquires a large amount of money through crime . Gatsby does attempt the hard work approach, through his years of service to Dan Cody, but that doesn't work out since Cody's ex-wife ends up with the entire inheritance. So instead he turns to crime, and only then does he manage to achieve his desired wealth.

So while Gatsby's story arc resembles a traditional rags-to-riches tale, the fact that he gained his money immorally complicates the idea that he is a perfect avatar for the American Dream . Furthermore, his success obviously doesn't last—he still pines for Daisy and loses everything in his attempt to get her back. In other words, Gatsby's huge dreams, all precariously wedded to Daisy  ("He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God" (6.134)) are as flimsy and flight as Daisy herself.

George and Myrtle Wilson

This couple also represents people aiming at the dream— George owns his own shop and is doing his best to get business, though is increasingly worn down by the harsh demands of his life, while Myrtle chases after wealth and status through an affair with Tom.

Both are disempowered due to the lack of money at their own disposal —Myrtle certainly has access to some of the "finer things" through Tom but has to deal with his abuse, while George is unable to leave his current life and move West since he doesn't have the funds available. He even has to make himself servile to Tom in an attempt to get Tom to sell his car, a fact that could even cause him to overlook the evidence of his wife's affair. So neither character is on the upward trajectory that the American Dream promises, at least during the novel.

In the end, everything goes horribly wrong for both George and Myrtle, suggesting that in this world, it's dangerous to strive for more than you're given.

George and Myrtle's deadly fates, along with Gatsby's, help illustrate the novel's pessimistic attitude toward the American Dream. After all, how unfair is it that the couple working to improve their position in society (George and Myrtle) both end up dead, while Tom, who dragged Myrtle into an increasingly dangerous situation, and Daisy, who killed her, don't face any consequences? And on top of that they are fabulously wealthy? The American Dream certainly is not alive and well for the poor Wilsons.

Tom and Daisy as Antagonists to the American Dream

We've talked quite a bit already about Gatsby, George, and Myrtle—the three characters who come from humble roots and try to climb the ranks in 1920s New York. But what about the other major characters, especially the ones born with money? What is their relationship to the American Dream?

Specifically, Tom and Daisy have old money, and thus they don't need the American Dream, since they were born with America already at their feet.

Perhaps because of this, they seem to directly antagonize the dream—Daisy by refusing Gatsby, and Tom by helping to drag the Wilsons into tragedy .

This is especially interesting because unlike Gatsby, Myrtle, and George, who actively hope and dream of a better life, Daisy and Tom are described as bored and "careless," and end up instigating a large amount of tragedy through their own recklessness.

In other words, income inequality and the vastly different starts in life the characters have strongly affected their outcomes. The way they choose to live their lives, their morality (or lack thereof), and how much they dream doesn't seem to matter. This, of course, is tragic and antithetical to the idea of the American Dream, which claims that class should be irrelevant and anyone can rise to the top.

Daisy as a Personification of the American Dream

As we discuss in our post on money and materialism in The Great Gatsby , Daisy's voice is explicitly tied to money by Gatsby:

"Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly.

That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money--that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. . . . High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. . . . (7.105-6)

If Daisy's voice promises money, and the American Dream is explicitly linked to wealth, it's not hard to argue that Daisy herself—along with the green light at the end of her dock —stands in for the American Dream. In fact, as Nick goes on to describe Daisy as "High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl," he also seems to literally describe Daisy as a prize, much like the princess at the end of a fairy tale (or even Princess Peach at the end of a Mario game!).

But Daisy, of course, is only human—flawed, flighty, and ultimately unable to embody the huge fantasy Gatsby projects onto her. So this, in turn, means that the American Dream itself is just a fantasy, a concept too flimsy to actually hold weight, especially in the fast-paced, dog-eat-dog world of 1920s America.

Furthermore, you should definitely consider the tension between the fact that Daisy represents Gatsby's ultimate goal, but at the same time (as we discussed above), her actual life is the opposite of the American Dream : she is born with money and privilege, likely dies with it all intact, and there are no consequences to how she chooses to live her life in between.

Can Female Characters Achieve the American Dream?

Finally, it's interesting to compare and contrast some of the female characters using the lens of the American Dream.

Let's start with Daisy, who is unhappy in her marriage and, despite a brief attempt to leave it, remains with Tom, unwilling to give up the status and security their marriage provides. At first, it may seem like Daisy doesn't dream at all, so of course she ends up unhappy. But consider the fact that Daisy was already born into the highest level of American society. The expectation placed on her, as a wealthy woman, was never to pursue something greater, but simply to maintain her status. She did that by marrying Tom, and it's understandable why she wouldn't risk the uncertainty and loss of status that would come through divorce and marriage to a bootlegger. Again, Daisy seems to typify the "anti-American" dream, in that she was born into a kind of aristocracy and simply has to maintain her position, not fight for something better.

In contrast, Myrtle, aside from Gatsby, seems to be the most ambitiously in pursuit of getting more than she was given in life. She parlays her affair with Tom into an apartment, nice clothes, and parties, and seems to revel in her newfound status. But of course, she is knocked down the hardest, killed for her involvement with the Buchanans, and specifically for wrongfully assuming she had value to them. Considering that Gatsby did have a chance to leave New York and distance himself from the unfolding tragedy, but Myrtle was the first to be killed, you could argue the novel presents an even bleaker view of the American Dream where women are concerned.

Even Jordan Baker , who seems to be living out a kind of dream by playing golf and being relatively independent, is tied to her family's money and insulated from consequences by it , making her a pretty poor representation of the dream. And of course, since her end game also seems to be marriage, she doesn't push the boundaries of women's roles as far as she might wish.

So while the women all push the boundaries of society's expectations of them in certain ways, they either fall in line or are killed, which definitely undermines the rosy of idea that anyone, regardless of gender, can make it in America. The American Dream as shown in Gatsby becomes even more pessimistic through the lens of the female characters.  

Common Essay Questions/Discussion Topics

Now let's work through some of the more frequently brought up subjects for discussion.

#1: Was Gatsby's dream worth it? Was all the work, time, and patience worth it for him?

Like me, you might immediately think "of course it wasn't worth it! Gatsby lost everything, not to mention the Wilsons got caught up in the tragedy and ended up dead!" So if you want to make the more obvious "the dream wasn't worth it" argument, you could point to the unraveling that happens at the end of the novel (including the deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby and George) and how all Gatsby's achievements are for nothing, as evidenced by the sparse attendance of his funeral.

However, you could definitely take the less obvious route and argue that Gatsby's dream was worth it, despite the tragic end . First of all, consider Jay's unique characterization in the story: "He was a son of God--a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that--and he must be about His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty" (6.7). In other words, Gatsby has a larger-than-life persona and he never would have been content to remain in North Dakota to be poor farmers like his parents.

Even if he ends up living a shorter life, he certainly lived a full one full of adventure. His dreams of wealth and status took him all over the world on Dan Cody's yacht, to Louisville where he met and fell in love with Daisy, to the battlefields of WWI, to the halls of Oxford University, and then to the fast-paced world of Manhattan in the early 1920s, when he earned a fortune as a bootlegger. In fact, it seems Jay lived several lives in the space of just half a normal lifespan. In short, to argue that Gatsby's dream was worth it, you should point to his larger-than-life conception of himself and the fact that he could have only sought happiness through striving for something greater than himself, even if that ended up being deadly in the end.

#2: In the Langston Hughes poem "A Dream Deferred," Hughes asks questions about what happens to postponed dreams. How does Fitzgerald examine this issue of deferred dreams? What do you think are the effects of postponing our dreams? How can you apply this lesson to your own life?

If you're thinking about "deferred dreams" in The Great Gatsby , the big one is obviously Gatsby's deferred dream for Daisy—nearly five years pass between his initial infatuation and his attempt in the novel to win her back, an attempt that obviously backfires. You can examine various aspects of Gatsby's dream—the flashbacks to his first memories of Daisy in Chapter 8 , the moment when they reunite in Chapter 5 , or the disastrous consequences of the confrontation of Chapter 7 —to illustrate Gatsby's deferred dream.

You could also look at George Wilson's postponed dream of going West, or Myrtle's dream of marrying a wealthy man of "breeding"—George never gets the funds to go West, and is instead mired in the Valley of Ashes, while Myrtle's attempt to achieve her dream after 12 years of marriage through an affair ends in tragedy. Apparently, dreams deferred are dreams doomed to fail.

As Nick Carraway says, "you can't repeat the past"—the novel seems to imply there is a small window for certain dreams, and when the window closes, they can no longer be attained. This is pretty pessimistic, and for the prompt's personal reflection aspect, I wouldn't say you should necessarily "apply this lesson to your own life" straightforwardly. But it is worth noting that certain opportunities are fleeting, and perhaps it's wiser to seek out newer and/or more attainable ones, rather than pining over a lost chance.

Any prompt like this one which has a section of more personal reflection gives you freedom to tie in your own experiences and point of view, so be thoughtful and think of good examples from your own life!

#3: Explain how the novel does or does not demonstrate the death of the American Dream. Is the main theme of Gatsby indeed "the withering American Dream"? What does the novel offer about American identity?

In this prompt, another one that zeroes in on the dead or dying American Dream, you could discuss how the destruction of three lives (Gatsby, George, Myrtle) and the cynical portrayal of the old money crowd illustrates a dead, or dying American Dream . After all, if the characters who dream end up dead, and the ones who were born into life with money and privilege get to keep it without consequence, is there any room at all for the idea that less-privileged people can work their way up?

In terms of what the novel says about American identity, there are a few threads you could pick up—one is Nick's comment in Chapter 9 about the novel really being a story about (mid)westerners trying (and failing) to go East : "I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all--Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life" (9.125). This observation suggests an American identity that is determined by birthplace, and that within the American identity there are smaller, inescapable points of identification.

Furthermore, for those in the novel not born into money, the American identity seems to be about striving to end up with more wealth and status. But in terms of the portrayal of the old money set, particularly Daisy, Tom, and Jordan, the novel presents a segment of American society that is essentially aristocratic—you have to be born into it. In that regard, too, the novel presents a fractured American identity, with different lives possible based on how much money you are born with.

In short, I think the novel disrupts the idea of a unified American identity or American dream, by instead presenting a tragic, fractured, and rigid American society, one that is divided based on both geographic location and social class.

#4: Most would consider dreams to be positive motivators to achieve success, but the characters in the novel often take their dreams of ideal lives too far. Explain how characters' American Dreams cause them to have pain when they could have been content with more modest ambitions.

Gatsby is an obvious choice here—his pursuit of money and status, particularly through Daisy, leads him to ruin. There were many points when perhaps Gatsby ;could have been happy with what he achieved (especially after his apparently successful endeavors in the war, if he had remained at Oxford, or even after amassing a great amount of wealth as a bootlegger) but instead he kept striving upward, which ultimately lead to his downfall. You can flesh this argument out with the quotations in Chapters 6 and 8 about Gatsby's past, along with his tragic death.

Myrtle would be another good choice for this type of prompt. In a sense, she seems to be living her ideal life in her affair with Tom—she has a fancy NYC apartment, hosts parties, and gets to act sophisticated—but these pleasures end up gravely hurting George, and of course her association with Tom Buchanan gets her killed.

Nick, too, if he had been happy with his family's respectable fortune and his girlfriend out west, might have avoided the pain of knowing Gatsby and the general sense of despair he was left with.

You might be wondering about George—after all, isn't he someone also dreaming of a better life? However, there aren't many instances of George taking his dreams of an ideal life "too far." In fact, he struggles just to make one car sale so that he can finally move out West with Myrtle. Also, given that his current situation in the Valley of Ashes is quite bleak, it's hard to say that striving upward gave him pain.

#5: The Great Gatsby is, among other things, a sobering and even ominous commentary on the dark side of the American dream. Discuss this theme, incorporating the conflicts of East Egg vs. West Egg and old money vs. new money. What does the American dream mean to Gatsby? What did the American Dream mean to Fitzgerald? How does morality fit into achieving the American dream?

This prompt allows you to consider pretty broadly the novel's attitude toward the American Dream, with emphasis on "sobering and even ominous" commentary. Note that Fitzgerald seems to be specifically mocking the stereotypical rags to riches story here—;especially since he draws the Dan Cody narrative almost note for note from the work of someone like Horatio Alger, whose books were almost universally about rich men schooling young, entrepreneurial boys in the ways of the world. In other words, you should discuss how the Great Gatsby seems to turn the idea of the American Dream as described in the quote on its head: Gatsby does achieve a rags-to-riches rise, but it doesn't last.

All of Gatsby's hard work for Dan Cody, after all, didn't pay off since he lost the inheritance. So instead, Gatsby turned to crime after the war to quickly gain a ton of money. Especially since Gatsby finally achieves his great wealth through dubious means, the novel further undermines the classic image of someone working hard and honestly to go from rags to riches.

If you're addressing this prompt or a similar one, make sure to focus on the darker aspects of the American Dream, including the dark conclusion to the novel and Daisy and Tom's protection from any real consequences . (This would also allow you to considering morality, and how morally bankrupt the characters are.)

#6: What is the current state of the American Dream?

This is a more outward-looking prompt, that allows you to consider current events today to either be generally optimistic (the American dream is alive and well) or pessimistic (it's as dead as it is in The Great Gatsby).

You have dozens of potential current events to use as evidence for either argument, but consider especially immigration and immigration reform, mass incarceration, income inequality, education, and health care in America as good potential examples to use as you argue about the current state of the American Dream. Your writing will be especially powerful if you can point to some specific current events to support your argument.

What's Next?

In this post, we discussed how important money is to the novel's version of the American Dream. You can read even more about money and materialism in The Great Gatsby right here .

Want to indulge in a little materialism of your own? Take a look through these 15 must-have items for any Great Gatsby fan .

Get complete guides to Jay Gatsby , George Wilson and Myrtle Wilson to get even more background on the "dreamers" in the novel.

Like we discussed above, the green light is often seen as a stand-in for the idea of the American Dream. Read more about this crucial symbol here .

Need help getting to grips with other literary works? Take a spin through our analyses of The Crucible , The Cask of Amontillado , and " Do not go gentle into this good night " to see analysis in action. You might also find our explanations of point of view , rhetorical devices , imagery , and literary elements and devices helpful.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Home Issues 7 Varia Langston Hughes’s Poetic Vision o...

Langston Hughes’s Poetic Vision of the American Dream: A Complex and Creative Encoded Language

In his collection of poems entitled Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951) Langston Hughes observed and gave an original restitution of the historic evolution of African-American culture, a theme he reverted to again in 1961 with Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz . Both collections were, indeed, largely shaped by the impact of the transformation of black music as well as the hopes and dreams of African Americans. The theme of the American Dream and the possibilities for the black man to reach and accomplish this dream were recurrent in Hughes’s poetry, while the tension between the realities of the black experience and the unrealized dream provided the dynamic of his writing. By considering the poetic description of the living conditions of African Americans, my intent is to offer an analysis of the poet’s social lens to understand his vision of the American Dream for his people and how he addressed some of the most pressing social issues of his time. By analyzing Hughes’s poetic technique, I will also show how the poet rebuilt African-American history and led the reader to a process of “collective fiction”, typical of “minority writing”, as defined by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in Mille Plateaux (1980). Through his specific technique, we will see Hughes’s writing is constantly on the edge of musical and written forms; an hypotext which bonds his poems to minority writing and minor literature.

Dans les recueils de poèmes Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951) et Ask your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz (1960), Langston Hughes livre une restitution particulièrement originale de la communauté noire et de son histoire entre les années 1940 et 1960. Les deux recueils suivent effectivement l’évolution de la musique noire en même temps que les rêves et les attentes de la communauté noire américaine. Le thème du rêve américain et la possibilité d’avoir sa part du rêve pour la communauté noire est récurrent dans l’écriture de Hughes. Les tensions entre les attentes et la réalité fournissent aussi une dynamique d’écriture propre au poète. A travers notre analyse, nous montrerons en quoi la description « socio-poétique » de Hughes traduit sa vision du rêve américain et comment il aborde la question sociale la plus brûlante de son temps à travers une écriture poétique qui se veut à la fois stimulante et accessible à tous. En analysant le style et la technique de Hughes, nous verrons aussi comment le poète a réinterprété l’histoire et réinvesti la langue. En substituant à la langue des expressions langagières et des modulations écrites depuis la marge, une caractéristique propre à la « littérature mineure » définie par Gilles Deleuze et Félix Guattari dans Mille Plateaux (1980), Hughes parvient ainsi à mettre le familier à distance, à s’affranchir de la norme, et à imposer une forme de représentation du mineur et de la marge au sens deleuzien.

Index terms

Mots-clés : , keywords: .

• 1 In the remainder of the paper, I will refer to Hughes’s poems in Montage of a Dream Deferred as Mon (...)

1 In his collection of poems entitled Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951), Langston Hughes observed and gave a particularly original restitution of the historic evolution of African-American culture. 1 Montage was, indeed, largely shaped by the impact of the transformation of Black music as well as the hopes and dreams of African Americans. The poems, like be-bop and jazz, are marked by conflicting changes, sudden interjections, broken rhythms and are “punctuated by the riffs, runs, breaks and distortions of the music of a community in transition.” (Rampersad 387) Hughes’s musical poetry was revolutionary both in its form and ideology. He repeated his experiment with Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz in 1961, inspired by free-jazz and where Black music constitutes the thematic unity that holds the poems together.

• 2 The Harlem Renaissance was a period of interest in African-American art and culture; racial pride a (...)
• 3 Leroi Jones considers blues as old as the presence of Black people in the United States (see Jones (...)

2 Hughes gained his reputation as a “jazz poet” during the jazz era or Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. 2 By applying the jazz and blues techniques to his writing, Hughes originally portrayed ordinary Black life; it also allowed him to revive this type of music which he considered the very expression of Black soul. 3 Though Hughes was not the first one to use Black music in his writing, he was the first and only to make jazz the principle of his writing and to apply the blues technique to translate the same emotion and sensitivity of ordinary Black people. After his musical and experimental phase in the 1920s and 1930s, Hughes turned to other forms of experimentations in his poetry like manifestos or letters. His poetic evolution followed the evolution of history, of Black-American history, but also the evolution of all forms of art, and of music in particular. Montage , which was published in 1951, is the description of the life of the African-American community of Harlem through 87 poems all inspired by be-bop. Hughes experimented free-jazz in his writing and radically changed the way his work was perceived. His resistance to a form of polished art implied an ideology and culture different from his fellow writers and poets. “White self-interest under the guise of patronage often detours Black people from self-knowledge and self-awareness. Black voices of the 1920s [like Langston Hughes] demonstrate the complexities that result from that displacement.” (Archer-Straw 177) As Petrine Archer-Straw also states in her study of avant-garde Paris and Black culture in the 1920s:

Many black intellects were disquieted by the white vogue for blackness. They recognized how frivolous and temporal it was, and the extent to which their culture was being admired for all the ‘primitive’ qualities from which they wished to be distanced. A troubled Langston Hughes expressed his concern in The Big Sea , and noted how distortions in black artistic practice were developing because of blacks’ interaction with whites. […] The problem for artists like McKay, Langston Hughes and Paul Robeson was how to cross over into mainstream artistic circles while maintaining their integrity and commitment to the black cause. (Archer-Straw 175)

3 As a matter of fact, Hughes maintained his commitment to the Black cause all along his career and succeeded in navigating the two worlds of Black and White intelligentsia and in maintaining his cultural posturing at a time when Black positive cultural images were promoted and when his representation of humble Black people was resented.

4 The theme of the American Dream and the possibilities for the Black man to reach and to accomplish this dream are recurrent in Hughes’s poetry. Montage was largely shaped by the impact of the transformation of Black music as well as the hope and dreams of African Americans. The tension between the realities of the Black experience and the unrealized dream provided the dynamic of Hughes’s writing. W. Jason Miller (2015) argues Martin Luther King’s dream owes to Hughes’s poetry and vision as both men articulated the dream of better lives for the oppressed and marginalized. Throughout his career, Hughes observed and gave an original restitution of the historic evolution of the African-American dream and culture. With his musical aesthetics, his rhetorical innovation uncovered the various interpretations and assessment of the dreams of African Americans. His poetic technique also served important cultural and narrative functions. Through his poems, the reader is asked to be permanently active and is urged to decipher the different layers of meanings to be able to rebuild African-American history and to listen to the different forms of Black music. As we shall see, the reader is caught in a process of “collective fiction” typical of “minority writing”, as argued by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in Mille Plateaux (1980). Such process participates in the construction or the definition of a people being at the margin (or “minoritarians” in Deleuzian philosophy), and in the creative process of a poet writing from the margin:

A minority is not defined by the paucity of its numbers but by its capacity to become or, in its subjective geography, to draw for itself lines of fluctuation that open up a gap and separate it from the axiom constituting a redundant majority. (Parr 167)

5 It is important, here, to clarify Deleuze's “ minority ” concept since it is an English translation of the French mistranslation of Kafka’s German “ kleine Literatur ” . To understand the writings of Kafka, Deleuze and Guattari wondered how best to approach his work. They used the concept of “rhizome” to show the many entrances and interpretations of Kafka’s work, which led to discuss the notion of “minor literature”: “ Kafka does not consider the problem of expression in an abstract or universal manner. He considers it in connection with minor literatures — the Jewish literature of Warsaw or Prague, for example ” . (Deleuze 1996:16) Therefore, the American-English word “ minority ” designates something very different from what Deleuze and Kafka meant when they wrote on “ minorité ” and “ kleine ” .

A minor literature is not the literature of a minor language but the literature a minority makes in a major language. But the primary characteristic of a minor literature involves all the ways in which the language is affected by a strong coefficient of deterritorialization. […] The second characteristic of minor literatures is that everything in them is political. In “great” literatures, on the contrary, the question of the individual (familial, conjugal, etc.) tends to be connected to other, no less individual questions, and the social milieu serves as environment and background. (Deleuze 1996:16)

6 By considering the poetic description of the living conditions of African Americans, my intent is to offer an analysis of some of Montage ’s powerful poems through the poet’s social lens. Thus, I will analyze Hughes’s vision of the American Dream for his people and how he addressed some of the most pressing social issues of his time which reverberate in contemporary America. My essay also asserts that through this particular technique, Hughes’s writing is constantly on the edge of musical and written forms; an hypotext which bonds his poems to minority writing and minor literature as defined by Deleuze and Guattari. The subterranean, encoded language Hughes displays in his poetry is typical of “minor literature”. I will therefore argue that Hughes “encoded” the mainstream language to adapt it to his specific needs and to express differently what the mainstream language could not translate.

Hughes’s rhetoric of the dream

7 The theme of the dream is a central motif of Langston Hughes’s poetry that established the continuity between the depictions of simple African Americans and their “deferred” expectations. Hughes made poetic use of the African-American folklore to bond individuals into a community sharing the same oral tradition. He thus created an art form vested in the African-American experience:

Dreams have always figured prominently in the works of Langston Hughes. Hughes’s work is devoted to outlining, celebrating, and agitating on behalf of the dreams of oppressed and marginalized peoples worldwide, with particular focus on the dreams of African Americans. (Tracy 223)

8 As early as 1932, in The Dream Keeper and Other Poems , Hughes wrote poems about his people and for his people on hopes, dreams, aspirations, life and love. In this first collection of poems, Hughes’s message was universal and he wrote about the expectations of Black people. Hughes’s poems in The Dream Keeper did not translate the bitterness and disillusions of the 1940s and 1950s as it appeared in Montage . The poems were optimistic and full of hope for the future of African Americans, as in “I, Too”:

I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes […].

Tomorrow, I’ll sit at the table When company comes. […]

Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed — I, too, sing America.

9 Written at a time when Black beauty was celebrated by Black artists and writers to gain acceptance and respectability, this poem also revealed the Black self differently, in all its beauty and strength. Within a mostly hostile Black middle-class context, Hughes was one of the first poets of the 1920s (along with Jean Toomer) to show the beauty and grace of ordinary people — people who were paradigms of courage and bravery and who were not perceived as the embodiment of beauty. Hughes’s first poems also offered the utopia of the American Dream to the imagination of Black people. Yet, the victory of the Second World War brought new promises and perspectives to a people who had already been forgotten after the First World War and who would be forgotten once again.

10 Twenty years later, the tone was different and “Dream Boogie” (388) or “Deferred” (413) came as the answer to the poems written in 1932. In Montage , Hughes wrote on the outcomes of years of segregation. Montage is, indeed, about the expected changes that did not come and the disillusions of Black people after the war. While the government of the United States ignored the rights promised to every citizen of the United States regardless of race or color, in Montage Hughes promoted the truth of the American Dream and the reality of Black Americans, including those who migrated to Harlem in New York. The following extract from “Not a Movie” (396) speaks for itself:

Well, they rocked him with road-apples Because he tried to vote and whipped his head with clubs and he crawled on his knees to his house and he got the midnight train and he crossed that Dixie line now he’s livin’ on a 133 rd .

[…] And there ain’t no Ku Klux On a 133 rd .

11 In the first half of the 20 th century, New York became an important center for the expanding Black middle-class. “Harlem, like many other urban Negro communities, underwent its most radical years of transformation and Negro settlement in the 1920’s” (Osofsky 153). Hints at these changes, which accelerated as a consequence of World War I, are made clear in the poem. With the Great Migration, Harlem saw dramatic demographic changes at the beginning of the 1920s which transformed the area into a mostly Black and Latino part of the city.

If greatness is measured by size, the Great Migration was great indeed. Between America’s entry into the European war and the stock market crash in 1929, black men and women left the South at an average rate of 500 per day, or more than 15,000 per month. The evacuation of the black belt was particularly striking. […] By 1930, more than 1.3 million resided outside the South, nearly triple the number at the turn of the century (Berlin 154).

12 Harlem attracted black Southerners like a magnet and for those who settled there, Harlem embodied a dream come true: “Harlem was a magical, transforming place then, and this was especially true for the disenfranchised who came to New York in search of greater opportunity” (Bascom 4). Harlem was made a national symbol of the New Negro, and of the Jazz Age. In “Not a Movie,” the poet makes us understand the reality and the violence of the South in the first half of the 20 th century: “Because he tried to vote / and whipped his head with clubs.” The description of Southern violence helps the reader understand why and how Harlem became a magnet for black Southerners. Yet, as Gilbert Osofsky’s study on Harlem between 1890 and 1930 reveals, New York had become a hostile place by the beginning of the 20 th century for Black people who did not escape racial antagonism despite settling there:

When the new century began the prevailing attitude toward the Negro in New York City had been one of hostility and increasing alienation. And as far as the majority of the population was concerned, there was no change in this dominant reaction of the city to the Negro people. The racial antagonism of the majority made necessary the creation of segregated communities like Harlem. (Osofsky 67)

13 The poem “Good Morning” (426), conceived like a testimony of Black migration to New York, also describes the consequences of this migration to the city (and other Northern cities). As suggested in the poem, the different migratory fluxes transformed Harlem, but the racial antagonism mentioned by Osofsky did not prevent Black people from continuing to migrate to Northern cities, particularly to New York:

Good morning, daddy! I was born here, he said, watched Harlem grow until colored folks spread from river to river across the middle of Manhattan out of Penn Station dark tenth of a nation, planes from Puerto Rico, and holds of boats, chico, up from Cuba Haiti Jamaica, in buses marked New York from Georgia Florida Louisiana to Harlem Brooklyn the Bronx but most of all to Harlem dusky sash across Manhattan I’ve seen them come dark wondering wide-eyed dreaming out of Penn Station […]

                                 What happens                                  to a dream deferred?

Daddy, ain’t you heard?

14 Here, the numerous names and nationalities suggest the diversity of the Black migrants and the power of attraction of the neighborhood. Nevertheless, the end of the poem suggests disappointment at unachieved expectations. The symbolism there suggests Black people were trapped in their own dreams and visions of Harlem, that they remained the prisoners of their dreams (“The gates open/ Yet there’re bars/ at each gate”). By tackling the personal and social themes, Hughes made the dream and the “deferred dream” accessible to all, to connect to all African Americans and mostly to common people.

15 The poem “Deferred” (413), based on the topic of the deferred dream and placed just before “Good Morning” in the collection, already functioned as a warning and provided the irremediable conclusion. In “Deferred,” Hughes confronts the dreams of different personas thanks to the use of italics which also suggest the changes and musicality of the different voices. The permanence of the oral voice is enhanced through a series of questions and comparisons, so that the poem can be read like a dialogue between two persons who answer each other. The italics translate what the character has (to have); the roman letters translate what the character is (to be). The dreams are about the desire to access culture, to work and also to consume, to have one’s share of the American Dream. Here, the dreams are reduced to material possessions and consumption (“Maybe now I can have that white enamel stove/ I dreamed about when we first fell in love / […] Maybe now I can buy that white enamel stove / […] All I want is/ One more bottle of gin ; / All I want is to see/ My furniture paid for./ […] I want a television set.”). This poem shows how dreams can be very common and ordinary and how the persona is impatient to get its part of the dream. By offering a voice to simple persons whose dreams are far from extraordinary, Hughes revealed his interest in common Black people.

The musical aesthetics of the American Dream or Hughes’s process of ‘becoming’

16 Early in his career, Hughes started to work on a fundamentally new kind of expression through poems that spoke of the joys and sorrows of ordinary Black folk, in the language of their typical speech. As Arnold Rampersad puts it in the introduction to The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes , “To respect Hughes’s work, above all one must respect the African American people and their culture as well as the American people in general and their national culture.” (Rampersad 5) African-American culture was indeed important to Hughes and part of his creativity process, and to the question “What is poetry?” he answered: “it is the human soul entire, squeezed like a lemon or a lime, drop by drop, into atomic words. A poet is a human being; each human being must live within his time, with and for his people, and within the boundaries of his country.” (Rampersad 5)

17 Ordinary people were Hughes’s permanent source of inspiration while Black music constituted a permanent source of experiments. Music is omnipresent in Montage . Blues is a recurrent form, and boogie-woogie is also exploited in several poems which are close to the same musical structure with syncopations, variations, and repetitions. To Hughes, the use of Black music was a fundamental way of establishing the continuity between African-American creativity and his own creativity which he inscribed in the African-American experience, the basis of racial pride. By intertwining the rhythm of Black music (blues, jazz or be-bop) to his writing, Hughes not only required readers to reconsider all assumptions on the literary use of folklore, he also created his own oral aesthetics to produce a new form of folk poetry. In so doing, Hughes exemplified the Harlem Renaissance’s concern with creating an art form vested in the African-American experience and showed his influence in the oral tradition. Hughes’s specific style also expressed his rebellion against the Black middle-class ideals, his rejection of its orientation, and later in his career, his social criticism:

Hughes merged the African American oral and written traditions, exploiting conventions, techniques, and the goals of both to achieve a poetry that is intellectually stimulating, socio-politically responsible, and aesthetically pleasing, both as folk poetry and literature. (Tracy 2)

18 In the poems “Dream Boogie” (388), “Easy Boogie” (395), “Boogie 1 a.m.” (411), “Lady’s Boogie” (412), “Nightmare Boogie” (418) and “Dream Boogie: Variation” (425), which, as its title shows, is a variation on the poem which opens the collection, boogie-woogie is a key theme and also the principle of writing which unites the poems. By so doing, Hughes’s rhetoric allowed him to disclose the various interpretations of the dreams of African Americans. It also inscribed him in a process of “becoming”, or what Deleuze called “ un devenir” , namely “a becoming-poet” (“ devenir-poète” ). Hughes’s technique puts music and writing in proximity so that the changes that are produced question the poet himself and his writing:

Becoming is the pure movement evident in changes between particular events. This is not to say that becoming represents a phase between two states, or a range of terms or states through which something might pass on its journey to another state. Rather than a product, final or interim, becoming is the very dynamism of change, situated between heterogeneous terms and tending towards no particular goal or end-state. […] The human subject, for example, ought not to be conceived as a stable, rational individual, experiencing changes but remaining, principally, the same person. Rather, for Deleuze, one’s self must be conceived as a constantly changing assemblage of forces, an epiphenomenon arising from chance confluences of languages, organisms, societies, expectations, laws and so on. (Parr 26-7)

19 These characteristics are typical of minor literature and show how the poet appropriated the language of the norm to write from the margin and for the people of the margin. Hughes’s orality and musicality provide an aesthetics leading the reader to reconsider all assumptions which push him to create his own reading and interpretive grid, another characteristic of minor literature. The reader becomes a “nomad,” to quote Lyotard’s reflections on language, and is led to experience multiple intensities. The reader is also asked to assert his own understanding and interpretation. Hughes’s expression evades the dominant linguistic model where reading becomes the expression of different and multiple interpretations. These multiple entries typify minor literature as defined by Deleuze:

[The] characteristics of minor literature [is] the deterritorialization of the language, the connection of the individual and the political, the collective arrangement of utterance. Which amounts to this: that “minor” no longer characterizes certain literatures, but describes the revolutionary conditions of any literature within what we call the great. (Deleuze 1996:18)

20 Such concepts may seem odd and ill-adapted when dealing with Hughes’s poetry and technique. Yet, they apply to Hughes’s writing and show how the poet built his own voice and expressed his personal orientation in a literary world dominated by the White Anglo-European tradition and by Black elitist ideals at odds with his own ideals. In an article on orality in the work of Zora Neale Hurston (“orality” being a term which we could replace by “musicality” to describe Hughes’s writing), Trinna S. Frever notes:

Orality becomes an overarching aesthetic that shapes her [Zora Neale Husrton’s] narrative along vocal and communal lines, as a sung melody rather than a linear typescript. In turn, this synthesized oral print text requires a reader to reconsider all assumptions brought to reading as an individual act, and a print form. (Frever 2)

21 In “Dream Boogie”, two voices answer and echo each other and give their own version of the American Dream. They also offer a space of expression and of listening to common Black people:

Good morning, daddy! Ain’t you heard The boogie-woogie rumble Of a dream deferred?

Listen closely: You’ll hear their feet Beating out and beating out a—            You think            It’s a happy beat? […]

Sure, I’m happy! Take it away!            Hey, pop!            Re-bop!            Mop!            Y-e-a-h!

22 The oral communication is materialized with the italics which allow a change of tone. The main preoccupation of the persona is to be heard. The question: “ain’t you heard?” is repeated twice, just like the verb to listen (“Listen closely / […] Listen to it closely”). The semantic field of sound implies the persona wants the reader to be the witness of the evolution of the dreams which have become deferred (“Ain’t you heard/ The boogie-woogie rumble/ Of a dream deferred?”). Questions and exclamations appear alternately to demand full participation from the listening partner and, implicitly, from the reader. The reader must be an active one, fully engaged in the reading and interpretation of the poem, thus leading to the double-voice technique which Henry Louis Gates Jr. considers inherent to African-American texts and poems. By reinterpreting contemporary critical theory in 1988, Gates proposed to reconcile history and form through “the language of signifying”. He examined myths and poetry found in African traditions to articulate the Black tradition’s theory of its literature. He uncovered a system of interpretation that slaves of African ancestry brought with them to the New World. He thus grasped the meaning of the double-voice inherent to all African-American texts. With his theory of the “signifying monkey”, Gates offered a new framework to examine major works of African-American literature (Gates 22).

23 In the poem, and as in boogie-woogie, the voice stops (“ What did I say?” ) to be heard again more rapidly (“Sure, / I’m happy!/ Take it away!”). We can hear syncopations or scat with: “ Hey, pop! / Re-bop!/ Mop! / Y-e-a-h! ”. The sadness and seriousness of the opening lines (“Ain’t you heard / The boogie-woogie rumble / Of a dream deferred?”) are then replaced by happiness while the tempo is gathering speed: “Sure, I’m happy! / Take it away! / Hey, pop! / Re-bop!/ Mop! / Y-e-a-h! ”.

24 In the poem “Nightmare Boogie” (418), the conflicting ideals of the American Dream start to appear:

I had a dream And I could see A million faces Black as me! A nightmare dream: Quicker than light All them faces Turned dead white! Boogie-woogie, Rolling bass, Whirling treble Of cat-gut lace.

25 The conflicting ideals are translated right from the start with the title of the poem (“Nightmare”) and the first line: “I had a dream.” The nightmare is opposed to the dream. The persona is aware of the need for political action and change for Black people which could materialize through a great gathering (“I had a dream / And I could see / A million faces/ Black as me!”), and yet this very idea turns into a nightmare (“A nightmare dream: / Quicker than light/ All them faces / Turned dead white!” ). What Hughes is doing here differs from his earlier work, as his poetry works consciously to bolster Black personhood through obscure allusion. His writing followed, in fact, the evolution of his society and was in keeping with his time and denunciations. The simplicity of his style also shows his wish to make his ideas accessible to all. With this poem, the reader cannot help thinking of Martin Luther King’s “I had a dream” speech, which echoes Hughes’s own dream. King’s “desire to connect with the heart of African Americans and his own cultural roots” (Miller 5) is indisputable, and Hughes’s poems and vision of the dream were, undoubtedly, the basis of his thinking. With his famous 1963 speech, King gave new validity to the dreams of the oppressed which the poet had already envisioned a decade earlier.

26 In this poem, adopting and fitting into the American Dream also leads to losing one’s identity and culture (“ All them faces/ Turned dead white!” ); the end of the poem offers a form of optimism, however, since the musical imagery and the rhythm of boogie-woogie reappear: “Boogie-woogie, / Rolling bass, / Whirling treble, / Of cat-gut lace.” Thus, to be receptive to boogie-woogie is a question of racial and social identity; to listen to music and to feel it is also a personal skill that Hughes’s characters may or may not develop. In “Lady’s Boogie” (412), for instance, the woman is unable to feel the music and to understand it:

See that Lady Dressed so fine? She ain’t got boogie-woogie On her mind—

27 As she belongs to the Black bourgeoisie, this lady is not sensitive to this form of music and remains impervious to the dream deferred precisely because she is a lady. Hughes wants us to understand boogie-woogie not only as a musical style, but also a way of living which the lady does not share. This was also the way for the poet to express his rebellion against the African-American middle-class, showing how he wrote for marginalized people.

28 The musical rhetoric of boogie-woogie is central to Montage, but other forms of music such as jazz, blues and spirituals are also present in the poems and help portray Harlem daily life in the 1940s. These different forms of music connect Black people and allowed Hughes to foreground Black culture and identity. Spirituals, blues, and jazz are present in “Mystery” (416) and in “Testimonial” (417), while other poems recall jazz music and be-bop, such as “Flatted Fifths” (404), “Jam Session” (408), and “Be-Bop Boys” (409). Thus, all the poems of the collection function as polyphonic voices and echo each other; they also show music played a central role in Hughes’s life, how it was a way of life for him. He successfully recaptured the American energy and inspiration during and after the war through these poems. He described the life of a community in transition. The victory of the Second World War was, indeed, full of promises for Americans, but for African Americans, the chasm between American social ideals and reality began to emphasize the need for action and changes. African Americans were always the losers of the American Dream. They needed to reinvent themselves to reclaim their part of the Dream. Different personas tell their own stories and propose a post-war inventory of the Black community living in Harlem. The poems also put the American Dream in perspective and offer a reflection on what prevented it from coming true for Black Americans. Beyond that, Hughes also wondered what future was to be expected and whether reclaiming the American Dream was actually a necessity for African Americans.

The dialectics of the ‘margin’

29 The poem “Passing” (417) evokes another aspect of the American Dream and tells the story of some of the Black people who decided to pass as White to have their share of the Dream to not remain in the social margins. Such act was a betrayal to one’s culture and identity, but this was the price to pay to see the Dream come true. Hughes describes the cultural codes of the Black community (“Harlem has its / washed-and-ironed-and-cleaned-best out”). The isolation of those who crossed the color line (“the ones who’ve crossed the line/ to live downtown/ miss you”) is translated on the page through the cuts of the words and lines (“Harlem and the bitter dream, / since their dream has / come true”). The conclusion of such isolation downtown is not given immediately, as if the poet wanted to maintain a form of suspense (“since their dream has come true”). The dream came true for those who crossed the color line, but they suffer as they miss their community and have lost all cultural values. Conversely, those who remain in Harlem, the symbol of the spatial margin, do not have their share of the dream but preserve their soul and cultural references.

30 The poems “Harlem [2]” (426) and “Good Morning” (426) show what the American Dream will become by putting it in perspective. “Harlem [2]” presents a series of questions which lead to an unexpected conclusion:

What happened to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? […] Or does it explode?

31 The poems’ originality lies in the multiple comparisons which all convey negative images and associate the American Dream with rot and decay (“like a sore”, “like rotten meat”). The suddenness of the conclusion makes it even more unexpected (“ Or does it explode?” ). The interrogative voice is omnipresent and forces the reader to be active since he is asked different questions. The opening question “What happened to a dream deferred?” echoes the poem “Deferred” and the repetition of “a dream deferred”, this time in the interrogative mode, comes as a bitter conclusion and assessment. Hughes translates, through an aggressive mode, the tensions between the reality of the Black experience and the unrealized dream. Tensions disappear as the collection of poems ends.

32 Montage ends with “Island [2]” (429), which echoes the opening poem with the repetition of “Good morning daddy”, and comes as an optimistic counterpoint to “Harlem [2]”. While “Harlem [2]” described the neighborhood as a place encapsulating all the frustrations provoked by the inaccessibility of the American Dream, “Island [2]” shows how Harlem became the place of the dream (my emphasis) for many African Americans. The poem is a celebration of Harlem, the ultimate place of the dream (“dream within a dream/ Our dream deferred”), a symbolic place for African Americans, encapsulating their dreams. Harlem is also the picture of the racial diversity of the Black diaspora: “Black and white, / Gold and brown— / Chocolate-custard/ Pie of a town”. The two rivers (“Between two rivers, / North of the park, / Like dark rivers/ The streets are dark”) symbolically unite the Black diaspora. The Mississippi river has now been replaced by the Hudson River and East River which offer renewal and opportunities to the diaspora, although disillusion is never far, as disappointment returns time and again like a lament (“ Dream within a dream, Our dream deferred” ).

33 The theme of the “dream deferred” reappeared in Hughes’s writing through his phenomenal Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz . In this work, Hughes went further in his creative process and denunciation of the American Dream which was still unattainable for Black people. Through complex writing akin to modernism, which translates Hughes’s evolution between the 1920s and 1960s, the poet settled his difference and anger at the American government, unable to offer a share of the American Dream to African Americans. In an ironic and sarcastic tone, Hughes provoked and demanded answers to concrete social issues. Loyal to Black music, Hughes followed its history and evolution and appropriated free-jazz to express his bitterness and his vision of the times he lived in ( see Sylvanise 13) . Free-jazz was another way to develop the relationship between his writing and music, as well as mirror the evolution of relations between African Americans and White Americans, and to highlight international relations between Africans and African Americans. Hughes’s “free jazz style” was a way to express his political and stylistic evolution as he had become more radical over the years:

In 1960, near the dusk of his career, and the dawn of the civil rights movement, Langston Hughes began an epic poem in a hotel room in Newport, R.I. He had come for the Newport Jazz Festival to hear many of the most compelling musicians of the day: Oscar Peterson, Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker. A riot broke out at the festival that year when many fans — mostly young and white — were barred from entering the sold-out show and became violent. The festival’s roaring rhythms and racial tensions made their way to the page, as Hughes penned what would be his longest poem, “Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz”. (Karpman 2009)

34 Through a disconcerting and improvised style, the reader is asked to become a listener and to understand the cyclic and repetitive aspect of history. In the 1950s, free-jazz musicians such as John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor or Ornette Coleman questioned traditional musical writing and explored new songs and a new tempo. Free-jazz marked a split with binary and ternary rhythms, and evolved with the Black Power movement. It became the expression of Black people’s social discontent. To use this style was also a way to carry on questioning traditional writing and to break with literary habits. Hughes applied the free-jazz technique to his writing to lose the reader in a poetic maze. Like a free-jazz musician, he experimented new forms, a new style and pushed his reader to decode the layers of meanings and to appropriate his writing to find his way in this maze made of words and sounds. As Sylvanise remarks in Langston Hughes, poète jazz, poète blues (2009), the absence of punctuation stresses the effect of improvisation and is even more disconcerting for the reader (Sylvanise 176-7) . Hughes, who had become more radical, wrote on the struggles Black people had to carry on to reach the American Dream. His call was a poetic and revolutionary one, somehow outside mainstream culture, to maintain an alternative to the poetry of the counter-culture and the Beat generation. The following extract from “Cultural Exchange” (479) exemplifies these points:

• 4 Hughes refers in the poem to Leontyne Price (1927) who interpreted Aïda and became internationally (...)

35 The margin is a signal which asks the same recurrent question. “How long must I wait?” echoes the question Hughes asked ten years earlier with “What happens to a dream deferred?” The dream, and longing for the dream, are leitmotivs which suggest Black Americans did not have their share of the dream at the time Hughes wrote his poems. The poet thus became more radical and invoked his community to mobilize itself and fight against American imperialism. By mentioning “Castro, Nasser, Touré,” Hughes suggested to all Black people around the world to unite and fight oppression, be it racial and/or social. The margin also points at the musicality of Hughes’s poetry which was also built like musical pieces:

Ask Your Mama was never meant to be simply read silently to oneself. Alongside the words of the poem, Hughes sketched out detailed instructions for musical accompaniment. He planned to stage an elaborate performance of his piece with the help of jazz musician and composer Charles Mingus, but died before seeing it to fruition. (Karpman 2009)

36 Later in the poem, the motive of the dream reappears and ironically points at the impossibility of the dream for African Americans:

5 See note 4.

37 Thirty years after the Harlem Renaissance, which revealed Hughes as an accomplished poet, his poetic expression was still polymorphous and served his fundamental objective: to write on his people and for his people. Of course, with Ask your Mama and its complex style, Hughes no longer addressed common Black people, but his writing remained at their service and was meant to bring them hope, as well as pride and dignity denied them for so long.

38 Hughes’s poems on the American Dream disclose different strategies of displacement of meaning. Repetition, stuttering, gaps and silences are parts of such strategies. Hughes’s writings probably offers one of the best examples of what Deleuze defines as the “minorization” of language in Différence et répétition (1968) and in Critique et clinique (1993). Hughes’s creative writings also typify the building of a subterranean language against the backdrop of the American Dream. His language, which was judged subversive during the modern period, runs through the main discourse to disclose another truth simple words cannot tell.

39 Hughes’s vision of the American Dream became increasingly radical over the years. Montage was the portrait of a changing neighborhood which believed in dreams that created disillusions. The poems are the depiction of mixed results and outcomes, after years of segregation and injustice for African Americans. As Arnold Rampersad puts it in the introduction to The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes : “[Hughes] is among the most eloquent American poets to have sung about the wounds caused by injustice” (Rampersad 3). The poems in both Montage and Ask Your Mama , denounce the social and economic policies of the American government which systematically forgot Black people excluded from the American Dream. With its polyphonic structure, Montage and Ask Your Mama are also deeply original. The poems, which are built on the same rhythm as boogie-woogie, or free-jazz for the second collection, must be understood in their continuity and show Hughes’s search for musical poetry and poetic innovation which were his life’s leitmotiv. Hughes’s creative and poetic experiments carried on through Ask Your Mama and showed the poet’s strong desire to write on his society and on the place of his community in society. Poetic, provoking and revolutionary, Hughes fought his whole life to provide a work devoted to the humble. His simplicity of style and his original poetic creation participated in the construction of a new African-American literature marked by modernism and the merging of cultures.

These ideas about nationality, ethnicity, authenticity, and cultural integrity are characteristically modern phenomena that have profound implications for cultural criticism and cultural history. They crystallized with the revolutionary transformations of the West at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries and involved novel typologies and modes of identification. (Gilroy 2)

• 6 According to Appiah, a New York University professor, differences and racial hostility are still a (...)

40 The act of representing the American Dream through the lens of the Black American poet is linked with “the circulation of meaning”, to quote Homi Bhabha (287). For Hughes, the subversion of language constituted an act of resistance for the survival of Black culture and memory. This form of writing also testifies to the modernist attempt “to elaborate a historical and literary project.” (Bhabha 248) To paraphrase Gilroy, Hughes’s poetry is inscribed in the political culture of Blacks and symbolizes “the struggle to have blacks perceived as agents, as people with cognitive capacities and even with an intellectual history.” (Gilroy 6) Sure enough, in a context of increasing racial tensions, Hughes’s pending question: “What happens to a dream deferred?” takes even more significance and reverberates all along the reading and the interpretation of the poems. As Kwame Anthony Appiah stated in a recent article: “The dream of a world beyond race, unfortunately, is likely to be long deferred.” (Appiah 21) 6

Bibliography

Appiah, Kwame Anthony. “Race in the Modern World. The Problem of the Color Line” . Foreign Affairs , Vol. 94, 2 (2015): 1-8. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2015-03-01/race-modern-world

Archer-Straw, Petrine. Negrophilia . New York: Thames & Hudson, 2000.

Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture . London: Routledge Classics, 2004.

Bascom, Lionel C. (ed.). A Renaissance in Harlem . New York: Avon Books, 1999.

Berlin, Ira. The Making of African America. The Four Great Migrations . New York: Penguin Books, 2010.

Deleuze, Gilles. Kafka. Pour une littérature mineure . Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1975. Trans. by Robert Brinkley as What Is a Minor Literature? in Mississippi Review , Vol. 11 (3), Essays Literary Criticism (Winter/Spring, 1983), U. of Southern Mississippi , 1996: 13-33. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20133921

Deleuze, Gilles. Mille plateaux . Paris: Minuit, 1980.

Frever, Trinna S., “‘Mah Story Ends,’ or Does It?: Orality in Zora Neale Hurston’s ‘The Eatonville Anthology’.” Journal of the Short Story in English , 47 (Autumn 2006). https://journals.openedition.org/jsse/788

Gates Jr., Henry Louis. The Signifying Monkey. A Theory of African American Literary Criticism . New York, Oxford: Oxford UP, 1988.

Gilroy, Paul. The Black Atlantic, Modernity and double consciousness . New York: Verso, 1995.

Hughes, Langston. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, see Rampersad (1995).

Karpman, Laura. “ Jessye Norman, the Roots Team Up for Langston Hughes’ ‘Ask Your Mama’.” PBS Newshour , August 27, 2009. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/jessye-norman-the-roots-team-up-for-langston-hughes-ask-your-mama/

Leroi, Jones. Blues People. Negro Music in White America . New York: Harper Perennial, 2002 (1963).

Miller, W. Jason. Origins of the Dream. Hughes’s Poetry and King’s Rhetoric . Gainesville: UP of Florida, 2015.

Osofsky, Gilbert. Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto . New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1971 (2 nd edn.).

Parr, Adrian, ed. The Deleuze Dictionary . Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2005 [2010] (revised edn.).

Rampersad, Arnold (ed.). The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes . New York: Vintage Classics, 1995.

Sylvanise, Frédéric. Langston Hughes, poète jazz, poète blues . Lyon: ENS Editions, 2009.

Tracy, Steven. Langston Hughes and the Blues . Champaign: U. of Illinois P., 2001.

1 In the remainder of the paper, I will refer to Hughes’s poems in Montage of a Dream Deferred as Montage . I will also use the version by Arnold Rampersad (1995) for all the poems quoted.

2 The Harlem Renaissance was a period of interest in African-American art and culture; racial pride and identity were defined by black intellectuals living in Harlem. This artistic movement claimed the full participation of African Americans in American society.

3 Leroi Jones considers blues as old as the presence of Black people in the United States (see Jones 17).

4 Hughes refers in the poem to Leontyne Price (1927) who interpreted Aïda and became internationally famous with her interpretation. He also uses ‘lieder’ in the sense favored by jazz musicians. Initially, a ‘lieder’ was a German poem sung with one voice and a piano accompaniment. To see the poem on the printed page: https://nyumodernworkinggroup.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/hughes-langston-ask-your-mama.pdf (p. 479-480).

6 According to Appiah, a New York University professor, differences and racial hostility are still a major problem and racial identities continue to define groups’ social identity; America has not moved into a post-racial world and it is not moving beyond ethno-racial identities.

Electronic reference

Christine Dualé , “ Langston Hughes’s Poetic Vision of the American Dream: A Complex and Creative Encoded Language ” ,  Angles [Online], 7 | 2018, Online since 01 November 2018 , connection on 23 April 2024 . URL : http://journals.openedition.org/angles/920; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.920

About the author

Christine dualé.

Associate professor HDR at Université Toulouse Capitole. CAS member (EA 801), Université Toulouse 2 Jean Jaurès and CELIS – Centres de Recherches sur les Littératures et la Sociopoétique (EA1002), Université Clermont Auvergne. Author of Les Noirs et la réussite universitaire aux États-Unis , Paris: L’Harmattan, (2007); Harlem Blues. Langston Hughes et la poétique de la renaissance afro-américaine . Paris: L’Harmattan (2014); Langston Hughes et la Renaissance de Harlem: émergence d’une voix noire américaine . Paris: L’Harmattan (2017). Fields of interest: Langston Hughes, Harlem Renaissance, African American culture, Deleuzian concepts: “margin, minor literature, rhizome”. Contact: christine.duale [at] ut-capitole.fr

The text only may be used under licence CC BY 4.0 . All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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What Is the American Dream?

Understanding the american dream.

• Advantages and Disadvantages

How to Measure the American Dream

Special considerations.

• American Dream FAQs

The Bottom Line

What is the american dream examples and how to measure it.

The American dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone.

The American dream is believed to be achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance.

Key Takeaways

• The term "American dream" was coined in a best-selling book in 1931 titled Epic of America.  
• James Truslow Adams described it as "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."
• The American dream was aided by a number of factors that gave the United States a competitive advantage over other countries.
• Homeownership and education are often seen as paths to achieving the American dream.
• Though the definition of the American Dream has changed to mean different things to different generations, it's undoubtedly part of the American ethos, and likely always will be.

Investopedia / Alex Dos Diaz

The term was coined by writer and historian James Truslow Adams in his best-selling 1931 book Epic of America . He described it as "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."

Adams went on to explain, "It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motorcars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

The idea of the American dream has much deeper roots. Its tenets can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

In a society based on these principles, an individual can live life to its fullest as they define it. America also grew mostly as a nation of immigrants who created a nation where becoming an American—and passing that citizenship to your children—didn't require being the child of an American.

The American Dream now costs $3,455,305 —that's the estimated lifetime cost of common milestones including marriage, two children, homes, health care, cars, and education.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the American Dream

Achieving the American dream requires political and economic freedom, as well as rules of law and private property rights . Without them, individuals cannot make the choices that will permit them to attain success, nor can they have confidence that their achievements will not be taken away from them through arbitrary force.

The American dream promises freedom and equality. It offers the freedom to make both the large and small decisions that affect one’s life, the freedom to aspire to bigger and better things and the possibility of achieving them, the freedom to accumulate wealth, the opportunity to lead a dignified life, and the freedom to live in accordance with one’s values—even if those values are not widely held or accepted.

The books of post-Civil War writer Horatio Alger, in which impoverished but hardworking teenage boys rise to success through pluck, determination, and good fortune , came to personify realizing the Dream.

The American dream also offers the promise that the circumstances of someone's birth—including whether they were born American citizens or immigrants—do not completely determine their future.

Disadvantages

Terming it a "dream" also carries with it the notion that these ideals aren't necessarily what has played out in the lives of many actual Americans and those who hope to become Americans. The criticism that reality falls short of the American dream is at least as old as the idea itself. The spread of settlers into Native American lands, slavery, the limitation of the vote (originally) to white male landowners, and a long list of other injustices and challenges have undermined the realization of the dream for many who live in the United States.

As income inequality has increased substantially since the 1970s, the American dream has begun to seem less attainable for those who aren't already affluent or born into affluence. According to U.S. Census family income data, real family income began to grow much more among the top income group than among other segments of American society.

These realities, however, do not diminish the luster of the American dream as an ideal and a beacon to all nations.

The American dream promises freedom and equality.

The ideals of the American dream are motivating, including the freedom to be in charge of one's own life.

The reality of the American dream often falls short of the idea itself.

As income inequality has increased, the American dream has seemed less attainable.

Today, homeownership is frequently cited as an example of attaining the American dream. It is a symbol of financial success and independence, and it means the ability to control one’s own dwelling place instead of being subject to the whims of a landlord. Owning a business and being one’s own boss also represents the American dream fulfillment. In addition, access to education and healthcare have been cited as elements of the Dream.

Homeownership has steadily increased over time in the U.S., reflecting a key aspect of owning your own property as a sign of achieving the American Dream. For example, the homeownership rate at the end of the third quarter 2023 was 66%, same as the previous year. Entrepreneurship has always been important to the U.S. economy too. From 1995 to 2021, small businesses created 17.3 million net jobs alone.

Owning property, one's own business, and carving a life of one's own making is all part of the American dream, and the U.S. as a first-world country also offers the benefits of pursuing these passions, without having to worry about basics such as accessing good education and healthcare.

In her book Spreading the American Dream: American Economic and Cultural Expansion, 1890-1945 , sociologist Emily S. Rosenberg identifies five components of the American dream that have shown up in countries around the world. These include the following:

• The belief that other nations should replicate America's development
• Faith in a free market economy
• Support for free trade agreements and foreign direct investment
• Promotion of a free flow of information and culture
• Acceptance of government protection of private enterprise

The American dream was aided by a number of factors that gave the United States a competitive advantage over other countries. For starters, it is relatively isolated geographically, compared to many other countries, and enjoys a temperate climate. It has a culturally diverse population that businesses use to foster innovation in a global landscape. Abundant natural resources—including oil, arable land, and long coastlines—generate food and income for the country and its residents.

“The American Dream” has always been about the prospect of success, but 100 years ago, the phrase meant the opposite of what it does now. The original “American Dream” was not a dream of individual wealth; it was a dream of equality, justice, and democracy for the nation used in the early 1900s The phrase was repurposed by each generation, until the Cold War, when it became an argument for a consumer capitalist version of democracy. Our ideas about the “American Dream” froze in the 1950s. Today, it doesn’t occur to anybody that it could mean anything else.

What Is the Original American Dream?

The phrase “American dream” was often used by Progressive-era reformers of the 1900s. Rather than exalting the pursuit of wealth, they sought to tame monopoly capitalism and protect workers and communities from robber barons. This concept was popularized by writer and historian James Truslow Adams in his best-selling 1931 book Epic of America.  He described it as "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."

What Are Examples of the American Dream?

Examples of the American Dream include owning your own house, starting a family, and having a stable job or owning your own business.

Is the American Dream Still Achievable?

It's widely debated if the American Dream is still achievable, and what that achievement even entails. Indeed, today, many people wonder if they can keep up with rising housing costs and interest payments on loans needed to purchase things like homes and cars. Moreover, American's need to save for their own retirement and pay large out-of-pocket costs for healthcare and higher education, which can leave families saddled with high-interest debt that is hard to crawl back from.

What Is the American Dream in Dr. Martin Luther King's Speech?

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech referenced the concept of the American dream by stating: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.'" Since the early 1960s, Dr. King had pondered and preached about how African Americans didn't get a chance to access the reality of the American dream because they were not truly equal to white men and women. Ultimately, Dr. King's "American dream" was equality.

How Has the American Dream Changed?

Over time, the American dream has shifted from an ethos of equality and solidarity to one of individualistic competition to succeed materialistically, fueled by consumption. In the 1990s and early 2000s, mortgage company Fannie Mae began promulgating the notion that buying a home was a cornerstone of the American Dream, and use the term prominently in ads selling home loans. This ideology led to the housing boom and ultimate bubble that popped ultimately, leading to the 2008-09 financial crisis.

The concept of the American dream is still one of the most uniquely "American" ideals—the ultimate idea that any individual should be able to pursue their dreams and build the life they want if they put in the hard work. This motivating drive influences the economy with entrepreneurship and individual ambition, infusing a romantic notion to anyone trying to be successful in the United States. Though the definition of the American Dream has changed to mean different things to different generations , it's undoubtedly part of the American ethos, and always will be.

James Truslow Adams. " The Epic of America ." Page 404. Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.

National Archives. " Declaration of Independence: A Transcription ."

Constitution Annotated. " Amdt14.S1.1.2 Citizenship Clause Doctrine ."

United States Census Bureau. " Real Household Income at Selected Percentiles: 1967 - 2014 ."

U.S. Census Bureau. " Quarterly Residential Vacancies and Homeownership, Fourth Quarter 2023 ." Page 5.

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business 2023 ."

Emily S. Rosenberg. " Spreading the American Dream, American Economic and Cultural Expansion, 1890-1945 ." Chapter 1: Introduction to the American Dream. Hill & Wang, 2011.

Greene, Maxine. " On the American Dream: Equality, Ambiguity, and The Persistence of Rage ."  Curriculum Inquiry, vol. 13, no. 2, Summer 1983, pp. 179-193.

Sarah Churchwell. " Behold, America, The Entangled History of 'America First' and 'the American Dream' ." Hachette Book Group, 2018.

Ad Forum. " Fannie Mae - 'American Dream' ."

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The American Dream Essay – Free Example, with Outline

Published by gudwriter on May 25, 2018 May 25, 2018

The American Dream Essay 

Write a historical analysis of the factors you see as leading to the development of the American dream as a concept. Try to show how the American dream grew out of specific aspects of American history and if you have any difficulties grasping the concept do my history homework for me is here to help out at an affordable price.

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Here is a sample essay that tries to answer the above question.

Essay on the American Dream Outline

Introduction

Thesis: The American dream grew out of specific aspects of the American history defined by the fore-founding fathers and America’s greatest leaders.

Paragraph 1:

In 1931, there was the first public definition of the phrase in the book the Epic of America authored by James Truslow.

• In his description, he maintained that the Dream is characterized by a situation where every individual desires his or her life to be more vibrant and fuller.
• There are five major pillars of the American dream including, the idea of a free market economy, embracing free trade agreements, embracing government protection of companies, and the idea that countries should replicate America’s development.

Paragraph 2:

Upon its inception, the American Dream only applied to white property owners.

• As people began embracing the idea of equal rights to every American despite their color or origin, the laws were extended to include other individuals including non-property owners and women.
• In the 20’s, the American Dream started acquiring a more profound definition characterized by obtaining material items.
• In the new definition, there were elements of greed that finally led to woes in the stock market and the Great Depression.

Paragraph 3: 

Prominent American politicians have continuously defined the American Dream.

• One of the greatest supporters of the Dream was President Lincoln who upon becoming president was quick to accord equal opportunities to slaves.
• Another champion was President Wilson who maintained and pushed forward for accordance with voting rights for women leading to the 19 th Amendment in 1918.
• President Johnson pushed forward for the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that led to an end of segregation in many Public schools.
• President Obama promoted the accordance of equal rights to married people regardless of their sexual orientation giving a voice to the LGBT community

Paragraph 4:

President Roosevelt pushed for the idea that attainment of individual freedom requires maximum economic security and independence.

• Roosevelt protected the US from different elements such as communism, socialism, and Nazism.
• Through the Second Bill of Rights that the issue of domestic security was addressed and later pushed forward by Truman’s administration.
• President Obama is the most recent president that redefined the American Dream to include affordable health care, employment opportunities, student loans and government aid.

Paragraph 5: 

In the American society of today, The American Dream may be taken to mean being able to exist in a free and equal society.

• This is a society where an American is hesitant to impose their cultural values on others but always ready to join fellow Americans in pushing for their common socioeconomic interests.
• They are concerned about protecting the right of another person and not on the cultural background of that individual.

American history has continuously shaped the American Dream. Although there has been a disagreement on what constitutes the Dream, the founding fathers and the American Presidents have made efforts to define the American Dream as equal opportunities for all.

What is the American Dream Essay Outline

Thesis:  The American Dream is based on the argument that every American citizen regardless of where they are born, their color, their religion, their sexual orientation or their political affiliations can become successful in life by taking risks and working hard and not by chance.

The first American to coin the term American Dream was James Truslow in his book the  Epic of America  in 1931.

• Therein, he argues that the Dream is not merely a dream of high wages and cars but a dream of social order.
• The American Dream is more of a charm of anticipated success as put across by a French Historian Alexis de Tocqueville.
• The charm and the desire has attracted thousands of immigrants to the American shores and set a high bat for other nations across the world.

Ever since the inception of the American Dram, it has acted as a guideline to help Americans pursue their dreams, happiness and attain their maximum potential.

• In essence, it is all about helping individuals shape their destiny.
• The basic concept of the American Dream is that success is not guaranteed but rather offers Americans a chance to overcome obstacles to achieve their inner most desires.

Paragraph 3:

The Dream supports commitment to a common set of values and ideals.

• It makes people acknowledge that a person can be American irrespective of their linguistic, cultural, religious, or ethnic background.
• All a person has to do so as to be considered an American is to show true commitment to the political ideologies of equality, republicanism, and liberty.

The elusive and difficult nature of the American Dream makes many Americans skeptical on the prospect of achieving it.

• In a statement made by George Carlin , he posited that it is referred to as the American Dream since one has to be asleep to believe it.
• Although Carlin interpreted the concept of the American Dream in a loose sense, it is without a doubt that it offers salvation for those who achieve it or damnation for those who fail to achieve it.
• Those who record success bear a legacy of positive influence while those that fail to achieve it bear a legacy of failure.

Paragraph 5:

The concept of the American Dream highlights the importance of optimism in succeeding in life but it offers no guarantees.

• As many Americans succeed due to their hard work, optimism and determination, others fail despite having put a lot of hard work towards achieving their dreams.
• The American Dream is crucial when it comes to fulfilling the American culture.
• The American culture is one that embraces the concept of success and working towards full potential.
• The beauty of the entire concept is that it guarantees nothing other than hope.
• While many are damned towards the course of its fulfillment, many have walked down the path of success and fulfilled the American Dream.

The American Dream is not about a destination but rather a journey towards success. Every American or individual within the borders of the United States has equal opportunities and chances to work his or her way up towards fulfillment of the Dream. It is a guiding light that has helped many attain their dreams.

What is the American Dream Essay Sample 2, with Outline

The beauty of every nation lies with its people’s ability to maintain universal ideals and philosophies. In the United States, there is the standard American Dream concept that guides every right-minded citizen. It is an ideology or a set of ethos that govern American citizens as they go through life or as they build the nation. The American Dream is based on the argument that every American citizen, regardless of where they are born, their color, their religion, their sexual orientation, or their political affiliations, can become successful in life by taking risks and working hard and not by chance.

The first American to coin the term “American Dream” was James Truslow in 1931. Therein, he argues that the Dream is not merely a dream of an extremely expensive life and cars but a dream of social order where every American can become successful regardless of their origin or color. It is more of a charm of anticipated success as put across by a French Historian known as Alexis de Tocqueville. The charm and the desire have attracted thousands of immigrants to the United States and set a high bar for other nations across the world.

Ever since the inception of the concept, it has acted as a guideline to help Americans pursue their dreams and happiness, and attain their maximum potential. In essence, it is all about assisting individuals to shape their destiny. It is important to highlight the fact that the basic idea behind the American Dream concept is that success is not guaranteed but that each American has a chance to overcome obstacles and achieve their innermost desires.

The Dream supports commitment to a common set of values and ideals. It makes people acknowledge that a person can be American irrespective of their linguistic, cultural, religious, or ethnic background. All a person has to do so as to be considered an American is to show true commitment to the political ideologies of equality, republicanism, and liberty. It is through this commitment that one can play their part towards ensuring that the American society exists in a free atmosphere where individuals can pursue their businesses and life dreams without fearing being sanctioned by anybody. However, the manner in which a person pursues their life dreams should not infringe into the rights of another person.

The elusive and challenging nature of the American Dream makes many Americans skeptical about the prospect of achieving it. In a statement made by George Carlin, he posited that it is referred to as the American Dream since one has to be asleep to believe it. Although Carlin interpreted the concept in a loose sense, it is without a doubt that it offers salvation for those who achieve it or damnation for those who fail to realize it. Those who record success bear a legacy of positive influence while those that fail to realize it bear a legacy of failure.

The concept of the American Dream highlights the importance of optimism in succeeding in life, but it offers no guarantees. Therefore, even as many Americans succeed due to their hard work, confidence, and determination, others fail despite having put a lot of hard work towards achieving their dreams. It is without a doubt that the American Dream is crucial when it comes to fulfilling the American culture. The American culture is one that embraces the concept of success and working towards full potential. The beauty of the entire idea is that it guarantees nothing other than hope. Therefore, while many are damned towards the course of its fulfillment, many others have walked down the path of success and fulfilled the American Dream.

In summary, the American Dream is not about a destination but rather a journey towards success. Every American or individual within the borders of the United States have equal opportunities and chances to work his or her way up towards the fulfillment of the Dream. Although there is a lot of disagreement over the definition of the term, one thing is for sure: the American Dream is a guiding light that has helped many Americans realize their dreams.

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Chasing Dreams: A Critical Examination of the American Dream Essay

Dear students, embark on a thought-provoking journey as we delve into the complexities of the American Dream in this meticulously crafted essay. Tailored for learners of all classes, this piece navigates the nuances of aspirations, opportunities, and challenges that define the elusive concept of the American Dream.

Essay (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); On American Dream: An Argumentative Exploration of Pursuit and Reality

In the tapestry of American ideals, the concept of the American Dream looms large, promising a narrative of boundless opportunities and upward mobility. As F. Scott Fitzgerald aptly noted, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” This essay seeks to unpack the layers of the American Dream, acknowledging its allure while critically examining the disparities between the promise and the reality. Beyond the rhetoric, we navigate the complex landscape of dreams, hopes, and societal expectations that shape the American narrative.

On the positive side, the American Dream has been a driving force behind innovation, entrepreneurship, and social progress. It motivates individuals to strive for success, pushing the boundaries of human potential. For instance, countless stories of immigrants achieving prosperity and social mobility attest to the transformative power of the American Dream. The dream serves as a beacon, inspiring individuals to overcome challenges and carve out a better future for themselves and their families.

However, the cons emerge as the gap widens between the dream’s promise and the reality for many. Economic disparities, systemic inequalities, and limited access to opportunities create barriers that hinder the realization of the American Dream for certain demographics. The cons are evident in the persistence of social mobility challenges, where one’s socioeconomic background often determines the trajectory of their aspirations. The dream becomes elusive when structural obstacles limit the upward mobility of individuals, challenging the notion of an equal playing field.

Moreover, the commodification of the American Dream in popular culture and media adds a layer of complexity. On one hand, the dream is celebrated as a symbol of hope and resilience. On the other hand, the romanticized portrayal of success can contribute to unrealistic expectations and a sense of failure for those who do not achieve the stereotypical markers of success. The cons lie in the potential disillusionment that arises when the pursuit of the American Dream becomes a one-size-fits-all narrative, neglecting the diverse paths to fulfillment and happiness.

In concluding our exploration of the American Dream, let us recognize the multifaceted nature of this concept. While it has served as a catalyst for ambition and progress, the dream’s realization remains elusive for many. As students and participants in the American narrative, we hold the power to critically examine and reshape the contours of the dream. In the spirit of Fitzgerald’s reflection on the ceaseless pursuit, let us strive for a collective future where the American Dream transcends its limitations, embracing a vision of opportunity and prosperity that is truly accessible to all.

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What Really is the American Dream?

• Alexander Bruno

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The 19th Century American Dream: Aspirations and Realities in a Changing Nation

Welcome to my blog, 19th Century ! In this article, we delve into the fascinating concept of the 19th century American Dream . Join us as we explore the hopes, dreams, and aspirations that defined the era and shaped the nation’s history. Get ready to embark on a journey through time and uncover the essence of the American Dream in the 1800s.

Table of Contents

The 19th Century American Dream: Aspirations and Realities

The 19th century American Dream was a concept that embodied the ideals and aspirations of many individuals during this time period. It represented the belief in the possibility of upward mobility, success, and a better life for oneself and future generations.

Aspirations for economic prosperity and social advancement were at the heart of the 19th century American Dream. People sought opportunities to build wealth and improve their social status through hard work, entrepreneurship, and determination. The idea of achieving success through one’s own efforts was deeply ingrained in the American psyche.

However, the realities of the 19th century American Dream were often far from the idealized version. Social and economic inequalities were rampant, especially for marginalized groups such as women, African Americans, and immigrants. While some individuals were able to achieve their dreams, many others faced immense challenges and barriers that limited their opportunities.

Industrialization and urbanization also brought about significant changes in society. While these developments created new avenues for economic growth and innovation, they also led to exploitation of workers, poor working conditions, and widening wealth gaps. The stark contrast between the aspirations of the American Dream and the harsh realities of everyday life caused disillusionment and frustration for many.

The 19th century American Dream was a complex and multifaceted concept. It encompassed the aspirations of individuals seeking prosperity and success, but the realities of the time often fell short for many. The pursuit of the American Dream was an ongoing struggle, shaped by the social, economic, and political forces of the 19th century.

Children’s Early 19th Century Morning Routine

The 1890’s ~ amazing rare footage of cities around the world, what did the american dream entail during the 1900s.

During the 1900s, the American Dream encompassed several key elements. Opportunity was one of the central aspects, as people believed in the possibility of achieving success and prosperity through hard work and determination. This period saw a significant influx of immigrants who sought a better life and economic opportunities. The American Dream also included the pursuit of wealth and material possessions as symbols of success. The rise of industrialization and capitalism allowed individuals to aspire to financial abundance and social mobility. Another crucial aspect was homeownership , as owning property represented stability and social status. Many Americans aimed to purchase their own homes and establish roots in communities. Lastly, the American Dream encompassed the idea of individual freedom and self-determination . People sought personal autonomy and the ability to shape their own destiny, whether through entrepreneurship, education, or political participation. Overall, the American Dream during the 1900s revolved around the belief that anyone could achieve success, happiness, and upward mobility through hard work and equal opportunities.

What is the 1920 definition of the American Dream?

In the context of the 19th century, the concept of the American Dream began to take shape, although its formal definition and popularity surged in the 20th century. However, we can still see some foreshadowing of the principles that would later define it.

The American Dream, in the context of the 1920s , can be understood as the belief that anyone, regardless of their background or social status, has the opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work and determination. This idea gained traction during the post-World War I era, also known as the Roaring Twenties, when the United States experienced rapid economic growth and cultural transformation.

In the 1920s , the American Dream was often associated with material wealth and social mobility. It reflected the prevailing optimism and consumerism of the time. Many believed that with the advent of new technologies and increased industrialization, economic opportunities were abundant. The dream was often seen as a pursuit of personal happiness through financial success and upward social mobility.

However, it should be emphasized that the American Dream meant different things to different people. While some focused primarily on materialistic aspects, others emphasized freedom, equality, and the pursuit of individual liberties. For example, women fought for their rights and sought to expand their roles beyond traditional domestic ones. African Americans and immigrants, who faced systemic discrimination and marginalization, also sought to realize their own versions of the American Dream by overcoming barriers and achieving social and economic equality.

Overall, while the specific definition of the American Dream in the 1920s differed to some extent from its later interpretations, the core idea of individual opportunity and upward mobility remained central. The concept continues to evolve and adapt as society changes, reflecting the aspirations and ideals of each era.

In what ways has the American Dream evolved since the 1900s?

The American Dream has certainly evolved since the 1900s. During the 19th century , the American Dream was often associated with individualism, freedom, and the pursuit of success and upward mobility. It was the belief that anyone, regardless of their background, could achieve their goals through hard work and determination.

In the early 1900s, the American Dream started to take on a more materialistic aspect. With the rise of consumer culture and economic growth, the focus shifted towards achieving a higher standard of living. Owning a home, having a stable job, and being able to provide for one’s family became important markers of success.

Following World War II, the American Dream expanded to include notions of suburban living and the “perfect” nuclear family. The post-war period saw a surge in economic prosperity, leading to an increased emphasis on material possessions and the pursuit of a comfortable lifestyle. The dream of owning a house with a white picket fence in the suburbs became a symbol of the American Dream.

The civil rights movement in the mid-20th century further reshaped the American Dream. The fight for equality and social justice highlighted the need for equal opportunities and access to the dream for all Americans, regardless of race, gender, or social class. The dream of equality and inclusivity became an integral part of the American Dream.

In recent decades, the American Dream has faced challenges due to economic inequality. The gap between the wealthy and the poor has widened, making it more difficult for some individuals to achieve upward mobility. The dream of economic success and social mobility has become more elusive for many, leading to a reevaluation of what the American Dream truly means.

Today, the American Dream is evolving to encompass broader definitions of success and happiness. It is no longer solely about material wealth or social status. People are redefining the dream to include concepts such as work-life balance, personal fulfillment, and social impact. The emphasis is shifting towards a more holistic view of success that takes into account individual well-being and societal progress.

The American Dream has transformed over the years from a focus on individual success and material wealth to a more inclusive and multifaceted ideal. It continues to evolve as society changes and new challenges arise, reflecting the aspirations and values of each generation.

Can you provide some examples of the American Dream throughout history?

1. Horatio Alger’s Rags to Riches Stories: During the 19th century, the American Dream was often associated with the idea of upward social mobility and achieving success through hard work and determination. Author Horatio Alger became famous for his series of novels that depicted young protagonists overcoming poverty and adversity to achieve wealth and success.

2. Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny: The concept of Manifest Destiny fueled the American Dream during this era, as it promoted the belief that it was the nation’s destiny to expand westward and create a prosperous and democratic society. Many individuals and families saw the opportunity to gain land, wealth, and a fresh start by moving westward.

3. Homesteading and the Frontier Life: The passage of the Homestead Act in 1862 further reinforced the American Dream. This act allowed individuals to claim up to 160 acres of public land if they were willing to live on and improve it for five years. Many people saw this as an opportunity to secure their own piece of land and build a better future for themselves and their families.

4. Industrialization and Opportunities in the Cities: The rise of industrialization in the 19th century brought new opportunities for economic prosperity. Immigrants and rural Americans flocked to the growing cities in search of jobs and a chance to improve their social status. The American Dream often meant finding employment in factories or industrial settings and being able to support one’s family with a higher standard of living.

5. Abolitionist Movement and Equal Rights: The American Dream also encompassed the ideals of freedom, equality, and individual rights. The 19th century saw a growing movement to abolish slavery and extend civil rights to all Americans. African Americans, women, and other marginalized groups fought for their right to pursue their version of the American Dream, which included equal opportunities for success and happiness.

Overall, the American Dream in the 19th century revolved around the ideas of social mobility, land ownership, opportunities in urban areas, and the pursuit of freedom and equality. These concepts shaped the aspirations and motivations of many individuals during this time period.

Frequently Asked Question

How did the concept of the american dream evolve during the 19th century.

Strong>The concept of the American Dream evolved significantly during the 19th century. Initially, it was closely associated with the idea of unlimited opportunities and upward social mobility that America offered to immigrants and settlers. The promise of the American Dream attracted millions of people from all over the world, seeking a better life and the chance to achieve success.

During the early 19th century, the American Dream was primarily tied to economic prosperity and individual achievement. It embodied the belief that anyone, regardless of their social background, could rise to prominence through hard work and determination. This idea was reinforced by the notion of frontierism, as the expanding frontier provided new lands to settle and exploit.

As the century progressed, the concept of the American Dream became more inclusive, encompassing not only economic success but also social and political freedoms. The abolitionist movement, women’s suffrage, and the fight for equal rights for African Americans challenged the prevailing social norms and expanded the definition of the American Dream. People began to realize that true fulfillment of the American Dream required not only material wealth but also equality and justice for all.

However, it is important to note that the American Dream was not accessible to everyone during this time. Native Americans were forcibly displaced from their lands, and African Americans faced systemic racism and discrimination. Women also struggled for equality in a predominantly male-dominated society.

Despite these challenges, the 19th century witnessed a growing belief in the potential for progress and individual agency. The American Dream became a powerful narrative that fueled the nation’s growth and development, shaping its identity as a land of opportunity and freedom. By the end of the century, the American Dream had become a central theme in literature, art, and public discourse, reflecting both the aspirations and the realities of the evolving American society.

What factors influenced individuals’ pursuit of the American Dream in the 19th century?

In the 19th century, several factors influenced individuals’ pursuit of the American Dream.

1. Westward Expansion: The availability of vast land in the West fueled the desire for economic opportunities and social advancement. The idea of starting a new life on the frontier motivated many individuals to pursue the American Dream.

2. Industrialization: The rapid growth of industries during the 19th century created employment opportunities and the potential for upward mobility. Many individuals sought economic success by pursuing careers in factories, mines, or railroads.

3. Immigration: The massive influx of immigrants during this period contributed to the diversity and dynamism of American society. Immigrants brought with them their hopes and dreams of finding better economic prospects and social mobility in America.

4. Individualism and Self-reliance: The belief in individualism and self-reliance was a core tenet of the American Dream. People believed that through hard work, determination, and personal responsibility, they could improve their lives and achieve prosperity.

5. Social and Political Changes: The abolitionist movement, women’s suffrage movement, and other social and political reforms challenged existing social hierarchies and expanded opportunities for marginalized groups. These changes inspired people to pursue their own version of the American Dream, regardless of their background or gender.

6. Education and Enlightenment: Access to education increased during the 19th century, allowing more individuals to acquire knowledge and skills necessary for upward mobility. Education was seen as a means to escape poverty and achieve success.

7. Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation thrived during this time, with inventors and businesspeople achieving great success. Individuals aspired to create their own businesses, invent new technologies, or become successful professionals.

Overall, the combination of economic opportunities, social changes, and the belief in personal agency and hard work motivated individuals in the 19th century to pursue the American Dream.

How did economic and social changes in the 19th century impact the ability of individuals to achieve the American Dream?

In the 19th century, economic and social changes had a significant impact on the ability of individuals to achieve the American Dream.

Economically, the Industrial Revolution transformed the United States into a manufacturing powerhouse. This led to the rise of capitalism and the growth of industries such as textiles, iron, and railroads. While these developments created new opportunities for wealth accumulation, they also widened the wealth gap between the rich and the poor.

Socially, the 19th century saw an influx of immigrants seeking better economic prospects. The promise of the American Dream, with its ideals of freedom, equality, and upward mobility, attracted people from all over the world. However, many immigrants faced discrimination and limited access to opportunities due to their ethnicity or social class.

The expansion of westward territories during this period also played a role in shaping the American Dream. The allure of land ownership and the potential for economic prosperity motivated many individuals to take part in the westward movement. However, Native Americans were dispossessed of their lands, and conflicts arose over competing claims and resources.

Furthermore, the rise of industrial capitalism brought about significant socioeconomic changes. Labor conditions were often harsh, with long working hours, low wages, and unsafe working conditions. The working class struggled to improve their living conditions and secure a better future for themselves and their families.

Despite these challenges, some individuals were able to achieve the American Dream. Through hard work, determination, and entrepreneurial spirit, some were able to rise from poverty and achieve economic success. However, it is important to recognize that the ability to achieve the American Dream was not equal for all. Barriers such as discrimination, social inequality, and limited opportunities hindered the progress of many.

The economic and social changes of the 19th century had both positive and negative effects on the ability of individuals to achieve the American Dream. While economic opportunities expanded, social barriers and systemic inequalities limited the upward mobility of many, highlighting the complex nature of achieving the American Dream in this period.

The 19th century American Dream was a powerful and influential concept that shaped the lives and aspirations of countless individuals during this transformative era. The promise of upward mobility and the pursuit of success motivated immigrants, pioneers, and the working class alike to seek a better life in America. This period witnessed a plethora of opportunities and advancements, fueling the hopes and dreams of individuals across the nation.

However, it is important to recognize that the 19th century American Dream was not accessible to all. While some achieved great success and prosperity, others faced tremendous challenges and barriers, including racial discrimination, economic inequality, and limited opportunities for women. These disparities highlight the complexities and contradictions inherent in the pursuit of the American Dream.

Nevertheless, the 19th century American Dream remains a defining aspect of American history, shaping the values and ideals that continue to resonate today. It embodies the belief that hard work, determination, and ambition can lead to a brighter future, while also reminding us of the importance of addressing systemic inequalities and ensuring equal access to opportunities for all. As we reflect on the 19th century American Dream, let us strive towards an inclusive and equitable society, where the promise of a better life is within reach for every individual, regardless of their background or circumstances.

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Is the American Dream Still Alive? Essay

Introduction, the american dream.

• Factors affecting the achievement of the American Dream
• Is the American Dream achievable for all people? Why or why not
• The future of the America Dream

The debate about the American Dream has been common in recent years. Some people have held that the American dream is alive, whereas others have contested this argument asserting that the American Dream remains elusive.

There are various events which have taken place in the United States that have greatly impacted the aspect of the American Dream. Nonetheless, the future of the dream rests with the people and their resilience in pursuing it. This paper will elaborate on the concept of the American Dream in a modern day America.

The American Dream can be defined as a summation of national values entrenched in the culture of the United States. The dream emphasizes on the freedoms and rights of American citizens, and promises the prospect of prosperity and accomplishment. In early 1930s, James Truslow Adams defined the American Dream as something different from the conventional belief.

He argued that the dream should not be defined in terms of material things and good employment opportunities. Instead, the definition should be based on social grounds, whereby every individual has to exploit his or her potential maximally irrespective of his or her background (Davis-Laack,para 4).

In essence, the definition of the American Dream depends on an individual. Some people define it in respect to economic success; others in terms of education; while others define the term in relation to equality in social justice. It is true that as the American society keeps changing, so does the definition of the American Dream.

During times of economic hardship, people define the dream in respect to the economy; in times of civil strive, as the case during the civil rights movement, it was defined in terms of social justice and equality. Everyone coming to the United States holds a unique definition of the American Dream (Davis-Laack,para 5).

Factors affecting the achievement of the “American Dream”

In the pursuit of the American Dream, there are various factors which come in the way of individuals concerned. Race and ethnicity are among the various factors that affect the pursuit of the American Dream.

In this regard, the minority groups in the United States are often on the receiving end when pursuing the American Dream. For instance, when the economic recession hit the U.S., most of those who were affected were Latinos and African Americans. This is because a huge percentage of those who lost their jobs were from these minority groups (Hernandez,para 5).

Another aspect affecting the achievement of the dream is the economic environment. In this case, most individuals hope to land a job opportunity to make a living. In addition, to have achieved the American Dream, individuals struggle to have a home of their own. Therefore, people measure their achievement in respect to having secured a decent job and being able to own a home (Hernandez, para 11; Davis-Laack, para 5).

Apart from the economic and race factors, there is another factor which affects achievement of the American Dream. This includes equal treatment of people irrespective of their nationality, race, ethnicity and financial position. In his famous speech, Martin Luther King Jr. elaborated on the need to treat individuals based on the content of their character as opposed to the color of their skin.

He outlined social injustices as a major impediment towards the realization of the American Dream among the African Americans. Martin Luther King longed for a society where everyone will be treated equally and social justice upheld among all racial groups (King, Jr., paras 13; 17).

Is the “American Dream” achievable for all people? Why or why not

In the modern American society, it can be observed that the American Dream has remained elusive to many Americans. This is because many people in the United States have found it difficult to realize the dream. The immigrant population in America is the most affected. This is because they have found it difficult to realize the American Dream.

This is despite the fact that it was the main attracting factor that made them leave their home countries. The American society is viewed as one in which democratic tenets are the main pillars. In this case, America is depicted as a society which offers an opportunity to individuals to express themselves and enjoy the necessary freedoms and rights as human beings. America is also seen as a society that is tolerant to differences and one that embraces diversity (lam, para 20).

The immigrants had a hard time coming to the United States in the recent past. Things turned from bad to worse following the September 11 th terrorist attacks. The immigrant population in the United States has been subjected to unfair treatment, all under the guise of national security (lam, para 3).

Essentially, the American society often shifts blame to the immigrant population when things go haywire. Following the economic crisis that rocked the U.S., immigrants were blamed for having been the cause. In addition, in the war against terrorism, the immigrants are often used as a scapegoat and blamed for terrorist activities (lam, para 5).

In most instances, the immigrants are denied their rights and freedoms under the pretense of facilitating national security. The adoption of the U.S.A. Patriot Act has made it official to arrest immigrants without warrants and rubberstamped the subsequent detention of suspects for undesignated period (lam, para 6).

The government security agencies conduct unchecked surveillance over the immigrant population. Immigrants of Arab origin are more likely to bear the brand of the new security measures as they stand the risk of being arrested and deported on trivial grounds.

The advancement in technology has worsened the situation for the immigrant population. They are subjected to surveillance and wiretapping without their knowledge. A new program, Total Information Awareness, that is aimed at identifying terrorists is being developed by Pentagon and might be put to usage in the near future.

The right to privacy of the immigrants has been infringed as the government security agencies are protected by legislation to spy on the immigrants (lam, para 12). The immigrants also risk losing their jobs if they speak out their opinion. All these aspects make the achievement of the American Dream futile to some people.

Apart from the immigrant population, it can be noted that the minority groups in the United States find it difficult to achieve the American Dream. Racial profiling is a common trend among the police. In this regard, people of African American descent and other minority groups are arrested and imprisoned on trivial violations of the law. Essentially, there has been a bias in the manner in which the police conduct their arrests.

The future of the “America Dream”

The American Dream has remained an elusive aspect even though it is the driving engine that puts the United States in a leading position in the world. The American Dream lays emphasis on hard work which guarantees an individual some respect in the society and a good life.

The American Dream has been carried on for generations, and it still lives on. This means that the American Dream will continue to thrive in the future. As much as there are assertions that people have failed to realize the American Dream, it can be argued that this is what has made America to become a great nation.

For the American Dream to stay alive, it is necessary that people should come up with renewed energy to revamp the chase for the dream. Though it may appear as if the American Dream has remained elusive for long, it would continued to attract many people around the world.

The immigrants come to the U.S. with expectations, but they need to reenergize themselves in the pursuit of the American Dream. In order for the American Dream to continue being alive, people should not be afraid of coming to the U.S.; instead, they should come and aspire to realize the dream. This is what has kept America going. The future of the American Dream looks bright as many people from all over the world keep fighting for a chance to advance their lives, and the US is seen as the land of opportunities.

There is no doubt that the American Dream will continue to thrive now and even in the future. What is amazing about the American Dream is the fact that it keeps changing to adapt to the theme of the moment. As many more people immigrate to the United States, they hope to achieve the ever elusive dream. Nonetheless, this is what has kept people to come through challenging times.

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• April 19, 2024

A man set himself on fire on Friday afternoon near the Lower Manhattan courthouse where jurors were being chosen for the criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump.

The man, who had lingered outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse earlier this week, doused himself with accelerant at around 1:35 p.m. in Collect Pond Park, across the street from the building. Onlookers screamed and started to run, and soon, bright orange flames engulfed the man. He threw leaflets espousing anti-government conspiracy theories into the air before setting himself on fire.

People rushed and tried to put out the flames, but the intensity of the heat could be felt from some distance.

After a minute or two, dozens of police officers arrived, running around and climbing over barricades to extinguish the blaze. The man was loaded into an ambulance and rushed to a hospital burn unit. He died on Friday night.

The New York Times

City officials identified the man as Max Azzarello, 37, of St. Augustine, Fla. Mr. Azzarello had appeared outside the courthouse on Thursday, holding a sign displaying the address of a website where the same pamphlets were uploaded. The top post of the website says, “I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial.”

Mr. Azzarello walked around Lower Manhattan earlier in the week, holding a sign on Wednesday critical of New York University at Washington Square Park before moving on Thursday to Collect Pond Park.

At the park on Thursday, Mr. Azzarello had held up various signs and at one point shouted toward a group of reporters gathered there, “Biggest scoop of your life or your money back!” One of his signs claimed that Mr. Trump and President Biden were “about to fascist coup us.”

In an interview that day, he said his critical views of the American government were shaped by his research into Peter Thiel, the technology billionaire and political provocateur who is a major campaign donor, and into cryptocurrency.

Mr. Azzarello said he had relocated from Washington Square Park because with the cold weather, he thought more people would be outside the courthouse.

“Trump’s in on it,” Mr. Azzarello said on Thursday. “It’s a secret kleptocracy, and it can only lead to an apocalyptic fascist coup.”

Mr. Azzarello arrived in New York City sometime after April 13, the police said, and his family in St. Augustine did not know about his whereabouts until after the incident. While Mr. Azzarello was recently in Florida, he had connections to the New York City area and worked for Representative Tom Suozzi during his 2013 campaign for Nassau County executive on Long Island.

A man at a Brooklyn address associated with a possible relative of Mr. Azarello’s declined to comment on Thursday.

Over the past year, however, Mr. Azzarello’s behavior appeared to become more erratic. He was arrested three times in 2023 on misdemeanor charges in Florida, and he posted online in August that he had just spent three days in a psychiatric hospital.

Later that month, while dining at the Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine, he threw a glass of wine at a framed autograph of former President Bill Clinton. He showed up to the hotel again, two days later on Aug. 21, stripped to his underwear and shouted profanities at guests while blasting music from a speaker.

Three days later, police arrested him for defacing and breaking signs belonging to several businesses. He took a pest control sign from the yard of one business that had warned passers-by to keep children and pets away for their safety. In comments to the police, he said that “the pest control company was there to exterminate children and dogs.”

His mug shot shows Mr. Azzarello sticking his tongue out.

In addition to his website, Mr. Azzarello was also active on social media, promoting anti-government literature on Instagram. Most of his online posts before the spring of 2022 were of his travels and his family, and he noted that his mother died in April 2022 from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

About a year later, he posted a photo of what appeared to be his Covid-19 vaccination card — defaced with the words “Super Ponzi” and the symbol for Bitcoin.

People who witnessed the fire said they were in disbelief as they saw Mr. Azzarello, who was in an area of the park reserved for supporters of Mr. Trump, toss the pamphlets into the air and then flames shoot toward the sky. Mr. Azzarello, who was wearing jeans and dark gray T-shirt, fell to the ground amid the fire.

Some of the pamphlets referred to New York University as a “mob front” and also mentioned former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore and the lawyer David Boies, who represented Mr. Gore in the 2000 presidential election recount. Another pamphlet contained anti-government conspiracy theories, though they did not point in a discernible political direction.

Most officers who responded to the fire on Thursday ran from the direction of the courthouse, which is a couple of hundred feet across the street; some struggled to immediately reach Mr. Azzarello because of steel barricades in the park.

Al Baker, a spokesman for the court system, said the trial schedule would not be affected, though one court officer had been taken to hospital because of the effects of smoke inhalation.

Fred Gates, 60, said he had been riding his bike through the park when he stopped to watch the Trump supporters and saw Mr. Azzarello getting ready to light himself on fire. Mr. Gates said he thought it was a prank or a performance until he saw the flames.

Another witness, Gideon Oliver, a civil rights lawyer, said he saw smoke rising from the park and a court officer rushing from a building carrying a fire extinguisher.

“When I saw and smelled the smoke I thought someone, I assumed one of the pro-Trump protesters, had lit a fire in the park,” Mr. Oliver said. “When I saw police and court officers running, I then thought it might have been a bomb.”

Mr. Azzarello stood tall as he poured the accelerant on himself and then held a flame at chest level. As people nearest him fled, others cried out as they realized what he was about to do.

Screams and shouts — though not from him — filled the air as the flames consumed him and he slowly collapsed.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, you can call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

Wesley Parnell , Alan Feuer , Chelsia Rose Marcius , Jan Ransom , Maria Cramer , Stefanos Chen , Nicholas Fandos and Dana Rubinstein contributed reporting.

Matthew Haag writes about the intersection of real estate and politics in the New York region. He has been a journalist for two decades. More about Matthew Haag

Our Coverage of the Trump Hush-Money Trial

News and Analysis

As the final jurors  for Donald Trump’s criminal trial were selected and lawyers finalized their opening statements,  a man set himself aflame  outside the courthouse .

Fame creates its own gravity and Trump, who for decades sought to project an image of power, is usually at the center of it, but the mundanity of the courtroom  has all but swallowed him. And in his courtroom, Justice Juan Merchan also has pull .

Two prospective jurors who were excused  contacted The New York Times to describe their experience  in the fraught environment  of an unprecedented trial.

More on Trump’s Legal Troubles

Key Inquiries: Trump faces several investigations  at both the state and the federal levels, into matters related to his business and political careers.

Case Tracker:  Keep track of the developments in the criminal cases  involving the former president.

What if Trump Is Convicted?: Will any of the proceedings hinder Trump’s presidential campaign? Here is what we know , and what we don’t know .

Trump on Trial Newsletter: Sign up here  to get the latest news and analysis  on the cases in New York, Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C.

Home — Essay Samples — Economics — American Dream — The American Dream in 2023: Does It Still Exist

The American Dream in 2023: Does It Still Exist

• Categories: American Dream Research

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Updated: 4 October, 2023

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