The American Dream has been a talked about topic ever since America was created. But how achievable is it for an average American citizen? The Old Man and The sea, The Jungle, Of Mice and Men, and A Raisin in the Sun all show that the American Dream is possible if one has the right mindset and takes advantage of opportunities. In The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, the idea that the American Dream is achievable with the right mindset is a present theme. First, Santiago is a very unlucky fisher. He never catches anything, but when he does it is very big. When he was fishing after 84 days of not catching anything, he caught a fish bigger than his boat. His personal American Dream was to catch a big fish because he never caught …show more content…
In Packingtown, success is all about taking advantage of your opportunities and doing whatever it takes to get on the top. In the beginning of the book Jurgis, Ona, and their family are ready for anything. They all find good jobs that they are all able to succeed with and they are ready for anything thrown at them. Their American Dream is as simple as just living in America. They are all taking opportunities given to them, like staying late to help clean up the slaughterhouse because they know that the longer they work, the more they get paid. Taking those opportunities leads to them beccoming closer to acheiving their American Dream. When they have the mindset that they need to take all of their opportunities, things go good for them. They have food, they have money, they can buy a house, Jurgis and Ona can get married, however; when that mindset falls, so do they. Towards the middle and end of the book the family forgets what it means to take any opportunity they can get. And with that, things start to go bad for them. “But now the income of teh family was cut down more than one-third, adn the food demand as cut only one-eleventh, so that they were worse off than ever,” (Sinclair 128). Maria loses her jobs which she was great at, and at first she is reluctant to work anywhere else. She doesn’t want to work at the slaughterhouse, so instead of taking the …show more content…
First of all, the Youngers start off without much money, and they are very cautious of where their money goes.. Later on, Mama receives money from her husband's death. Instead of giving the money to Walter Lee to start up a business, she buys a house for the entire family in an all white community. That news gave a bittersweet feeling for the family because Walter was upset that he didn’t get that money, also the family was happy to get a house, but they were not going to be accepted in that community. To add onto the surprising things happening, a representative from the new subdivision comes and talks to the Youngers and tries to pay them to not move into the community. They believe that having a family of color living in the area will disrupt the harmony already developed in the town. They Youngers pridefully kick the man out. Later on, Walter’s partner gives him the gut wrenching news that his money has been stolen and that he can’t get it back. Walter Lee seems to almost snap and decides to go to the man from his new subdivision and ask for money to not move into the house. The Younger’s American Dream is to both make their dead father happy, and also be able to support themselves. Walter is blinded by the money and he is unable to see the other side of the American Dream. Walter and the man discuss the
Walter comes up with another plan to take money from Linder, president of the Clyburn home association. Earlier, he offered the family money not to move in their neighborhood but Walter declined. However, after his devastating loss, he called up Linder to make a deal to get more money. Walter Younger’s defining moment was when Mama told him he was not a man and his father would not be pleased with his decision. This seemed to cause something to rise in him to change his perspective on
At first, Lizabeth and her brother did whatever kids do. They played, hung out, and did not care about the hardships they face. But Lizabeth later realizes the situation she is in when she overheard her parent’s conversation of their struggle to find essentials. In the conversation, Lizabeth’s mother says that “everybody out of work now” in order to comfort her husband, who complained about not having a job and not being able to support his family (Collier 128).
Tom and Walter are in similar situations. They are living almost in poverty, and they are denied authority. Walter’s goal is not selfish, in that it is not just for him, but also for the benefit of the entire family.
“Ona’s heart sank for the house was not as it was shown in the picture; the color scheme was different, for one thing and then it did not seem quite as big”(p.35). Jurgis and his family purchased a house thinking it was going to be big and brand new, but turns out it was an old small house that someone has already lived in it. Jurgis’ family also had to work, including the women and children, just so they can pay the rent. The main issue was that the working conditions were terrible for their family. For example, the children would sometimes have to walk around in the cold snow just to sell newspapers and the women would sometimes have their entire factories shut down and lose their jobs. The factories closing did not only affect Jurgis’ family, but also every other worker who worked for that factory.
The Younger family scrapes through life, each person searching for their own version of the American Dream. Walter clings to the original American Dream of being successful, even if that means going against his mother’s wishes. Mama wants a house for her family, this dream causes her to not fully support Walter’s dream. Walter holds on to his dream of being successful and nothing less, however Mama only wants a home for her family, meaning “Her dream is unacceptable to Walter, who will have nothing less than the complete American Dream, since her version of it only amounts to surviving, not living in the fullest sense” (Washington 94). Their dreams are so different and Mama struggles to support Walter’s risky dream of becoming successful through opening a liquor store. Finally out of the goodness of her heart, Mama gives him the remaining part of the insurance money to start his business, however Walter loses this money to a dirty friend. Thus causing pain to not only himself, but also his family. Barriers and issues constantly block or prevent him and his family from attaining the wealth and success that Walter desires so greatly.
The American Dream is something many Americans desire. The desire to the mind – set or belief that anyone can be successful if they worked hard for what they’ve been yearning. It is considered to be a ‘perfect life’; it can be full of money, contentedness or even love. There are many divergent opinions given by people. Walter Younger from Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ and Willy Loman from Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of the Salesman’ both have their own views on the American Dream and how it can be achieved. Walter Lee Younger, a
Working hard is the key to success. This struggle for success is most commonly called the “American Dream.” The aspect of the American Dream has been around forever and is often the underlying theme in many pieces of American literature. The theme of the American is especially presented in Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Two Kinds writer by Amy Tan, and in “Sophistication” by Sherwood Anderson.
As Walter's dreams become bigger and bigger, he seems to neglect the 'smaller' things such as his family. "Here I am a giant surrounded by ants! Ants who can't even understand what the giant is
The American Dream has long been thought the pinnacle idea of American society. The idea that anyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, or financial status, could rise from the depths and become anything they wanted to be with no more than hard work and determination has attracted people from all around the world. Two writers from America’s past, however, have a different opinion on the once-great American Dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck have given the public their beliefs on the modern Dream through the novels they have written, The Great Gatsby, and Of Mice and Men, respectively. One novel placed during the Great Depression and the other during the Roaring Twenties both illustrate how their author feels about the Dream
Mama's inheritance of ten thousand dollars left by her deceased husband provides fodder for conflict in the family. Each of the family members, envisioning their own American Dream, has an idea of how the inheritance should be spent. All of these ideas, of course, conflict with Walter's "get rich quick" scheme. Mama, Ruth, and Travis all have the dream of moving to their own home with a white picket fence, a garden, a place for Travis to play outside and a bathroom that is not shared by other
(page 45-46)” In the first act alone, the audience is shown the great disparities between the American dream for a white man and the American dream for people of color. However, now with this insurance money from Big Walter’s death, there is a chance of someone their dream, the problem that the Younger’s face is which someone should get to use the money. Beneatha needs it for college to become a doctor, Walter needs it to invest in a liquor store so he can finally “be somebody.” But Mama wants to use that money to buy a house. She wants to leave their current rented apartment and she wants a nice house in the suburbs where she could have a garden and “with a yard where Travis could play in the summer. (page 44)” Mama believes that a change of scenery is what the family needs and that it will bring them back together. These three characters have the most conflicting wants for the
Walter Lee Younger is a chauffeur which shows that he serves a higher class person, therefore, putting him in the lower class. Mama Younger and Ruth have domestic jobs because that is all that is available to them because of their lifestyle and skin color. Also Karl Linder asking the Youngers to move out of his neighborhood was because he thought it would make his community look bad due to the fact thee Youngers were lower class
In the novel Little Women by: Louisa May Alcott, a common theme is expressed throughout. To the family in this story, each other is the only thing that matters, therefore, displaying the message family is the most important thing you can have in your life. The four sisters, Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy, belong to a very poor family in which the father is away at the military, leaving their mother alone to care for the children. The mother works very hard, but still can not manage to create a solid income for their family. The four sisters understand how hard their mother works
After putting a down payment on the new house, Mama gives the rest of the money to Walter and ultimately gives him the role of the man of the house and to step up to take care of the family. However, Walter goes against Mama and decides to follow through with his dream and invest the money in his potential liquor store business. Although, his plans fall through when Willy, one of the “investors” runs off with the money. Not only Walter, but his whole family lose the chance of a better life and are forced to start back up again. They no longer have the money to put Beneatha through medical school or the money to support themselves. Despite the backfall, the younger family keeps trying. Even though the road ahead may be difficult, the Younger family has each other to support one another and that’s all they need. By picking themselves back up after they have lost everything, it shows that they aren’t ones known to give up at the sight of defeat. They kept trying after they had lost everything because having nothing left to lose means that things can only get better from here on out.
The Younger family is a black family that struggles to gain middle class acceptance. When the play opens, Mama, who is the mother of the Younger family, is waiting for a $10,000 life insurance check from the death of her husband. Walter Lee Younger who is the son of Mama, shows signs of disappointment with his current living conditions “I got a boy who sleeps in the living room… and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live…”(1477). Walter was desperate to attain a better live for their growing family that he