David Brooks 's Our Sprawling Supersize Utopia

For my journal, I am examining the second and third paragraphs on page two of J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur’s essay, “What is an American.” Using persuasive strategies, de Crevecoeur examines “that race now called Americans” (2), juxtaposing their former experiences in Europe with those upon arrival “on a new continent” (1). In this passage, de Crevecoeur anticipates the notion of America as a “melting pot,” while establishing the foundation of the concept of the American Dream.

Thomas More’s book, Utopia, was constructed to criticize aspects of European life during the 1500s. One issue that More evaluates is the subject of politics and war. War during this time was used to gain territory or increase the ruler’s power. The Utopians are a peaceful group of citizens that rarely have any altercations occurring upon their island. They have a strict daily schedule that provides a minute amount of time for leisure, resulting in a low rate of problems. So why does More bring up the issue of war, if the people of Utopia infrequently misbehave? More analyzes this issue to exemplify how war was implemented in Europe under the reign of King Henry VIII. In addition, more describes the Utopians’ preparations when they engage in war. More wrote Utopia to provide the citizens of Europe with a source of hope for a new outlook on life.

H. G. Wells’ book, A Modern Utopia was published in 1905. This book seems to be unique for two reasons. As Wells tells us, it is told from the point of view of "a whitish plump man" that he calls the "Voice" (1). This allows the book to be what Wells calls, "a sort of shot-silk texture between philosophical discussion on the one hand and imaginative narrative on the other" because the Utopia that we visit in the story is the one inside the mind of the "Voice" or the narrator (ix). He (the Voice) is talking to a friend, a botanist that continues with him on his journeys, about utopian thought when suddenly these two men have been transported past Sirius to Utopia, the Voice’s ideal planet

“In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate” said Toni Morrison. If so, is American Dream only for the White people? In a society where racial inequality was prevalent throughout the country, non white people, especially African Americans were treated severely. Such phenomenon, known as the social reproduction is closely examined by Jay Macleod in the book “Ain’t No Makin’ It”. Macleod closely examines two groups of working class teenagers in Massachusetts. One group, known as The Hallway Hangers, filled with white boys, and the Brothers, composed mainly of African American boys. By laying out multiple social theories and bringing in several sociologists’ theories, Macleod reveals his thoughts on why social reproduction occurs in the United States and why an American Dream is something that only few people could achieve. MacLeod shows that race, along with with class are directly proportional to people’s aspirations. If they belong in the lower class, they would automatically achieve less, no matter how hard they try. This means, working class children usually end up having working class jobs in the future. In order for people to get one step closer towards success, they must learn and develop their own cultural capital. One’s social background such as access to proper education determines one’s class within the society and has huge influence on one’s future life.

In a world where seven billion people can communicate in fractions of a second across the globe, share thoughts and exchange cultures, the way we choose to identity ourselves can often ‘’mark’’ us. You can often tell a lot about someone who proclaims to be Quebecois before being Canadian. And theses thing are often present in areas that have a clash of cultures, such as Québec in the former example. But the author Thomas King dives deeper into the subject with his short story Borders. King’s characters do not attach themselves to the place they were born, instead they take pride in their parents’ legacy, their heritage. By writing through the eyes of a twelve year old boy and using opposition, King displays the importance of such things and how minorities are slowly losing them.

Many individuals from another culture strive to live the “American Dream.” In the excerpt from the novel, The Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez, he leaves Mexico to become a middle-class American man and further his education. Sherman Alexie writes “Superman and Me,” which shows how Alexie, a Spokane Indian, teaches himself American literature. Both of these stories intertwine to show how different cultures step out of their own and try to live the American Dream. This leads the audience wondering if culture affects how far individuals go in life? Whereas Alexie describes the ideology of an American Dream as an Indian young boy teaching himself how to read from comic books, Rodriguez describes the ideology of American Dream by escaping Mexico to seek higher education in America.

The next day as I walk through the school doors, I see Hunter glaring at me. Remembering what my mom said, I continue walking to class. I go to my first two periods and I read the book Utopia by Thomas Moore through both my classes. When the lunch bell rings, I jump up from my seat and head to the cafeteria where I sit down at my usual table alone. I start eating my peanut butter and jelly sandwich as Hunter and a bunch of his friends enter the cafeteria. I freeze in fear and I start to become enraged. My hands start to shake and my face turns bright red with anger. Without thinking about it, I stand up towering over Hunter. Hunter’s friends begin to laugh at my idiotic decision. I become even more enraged as I hold my hands up in front

Many individuals from another culture strive to live the “American Dream.” In the excerpt from the novel, The Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez, he leaves Mexico to become a middle-class American man and further his education. Sherman Alexie writes “Superman and Me,” which shows how Alexie, a Spokane Indian, teaches himself American literature. Both of these stories intertwine to show how different cultures step out of their own and try to live the American Dream. This leads the audience wondering if culture affects how far individuals go in life? Whereas Alexie describes the ideology of the American Dream as an Indian young boy teaching himself how to read from comic books, Rodriguez describes the ideology of American Dream by escaping Mexico to seek higher education in America.

Huxley’s deliberate and distinct separation of two cultures mirrors the separate communities occupying America today: the black city and white suburbs. Huxley’s creation of his culturally separated world projects the ethnic divide America faces in 2017. Ethan Blake, a professor at Brown University, explains that post-WWII, “White America dramatically and swiftly became suburbanized” as the Baby Boom began and popular TV shows promoted to white audiences the, “idyllically picturesque suburban lifestyle,” (Blake 43). Unfortunately, Black America continued to face “Jim Crow structural racism” while White America's dream of suburbanization “drained public municipal funding and resources” which crowded Black America into “the descent and least

Culture has the power of informing you of someone’s identity. It is said that culture is the way of life a group of people follow, meaning their behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that identify them as where they came from, who they are, and who they can become. On the other hand, we know that culture is always changing and adapting to the lifestyle and advances of the present day. This can happen by the adaptation groups of people have suffered in order to achieve a better way of living other than the one they’ve previously had. Examples of these changes can be seen with the “Great Migration” in the 1900s. A movement in which many African Americans moved to the North to work and settle in the steel mills in search of a better life. In Blood on the Forge by William Attaway, we are able to in fact prove that culture can change and adaptation plays a key role in our existence. The book portrays this change through the life and experiences of the Moss brothers and their lifestyle from Kentucky to Pennsylvania.

Also, Amory’s struggle between the fruits of his heritage and the want to integrate and be seen as a leading figure can be compared to that of America’s during its history. America, born out of a melting pot of European heritages, just like Amory, distances itself from its parent, Europe (Amory’s mother) to finally fit in and make a place for itself in the world. Only when the links with Europe are

Throughout the centuries, people have dreamt of perfect worlds. Worlds free from conflict and unhappiness, in essence, the perfect utopia. Over eighty utopias were attempted in the 1840s. This was primarily because of the many ideas and movements circulating throughout the nineteenth century (Dunn). Some of these movements focused on moving towards gender, racial, and social equality. Others focused on creating more fair and necessary laws. Both types, however, were aiming for the United States to become a perfect society. This was the basis for the transcendental movement. At the simplest level, this movement was based on the belief that men and women can learn through intuition (Gura). Two people who were strong believers in this movement were George Ripley and his wife, Sophia Willard Dana Ripley. The Ripley’s decided to create what they believed to be a utopia in Western Roxbury, or modern day Boston (Smith). They named this community The Brook Farm Institute for Agriculture and Education, or Brook Farm. Brook Farm was one of the countless experiments trying to create a utopian society in the United States around the time of 1830 (Gordon).

Peter Carey has applied the motif of “the American Dream” to illustrate the issue of cultural hegemony, and the potential consequences of it in terms of a specific nation’s cultural identity. The outcomes of cultural hegemony may appear if a society is heavily affected by another one and endeavours to adopt its culture in the pursuit of a better life. In American dreams, Carey depicts idealized utopian scenario and corresponding loss of townspeople’s cultural identity - this fantasy of the “American dream” emerges like one of the story’s main motifs. Parallel to their mystification of the American way of life, the people of a place called Bacchus Marsh develop a negative attitude towards their own town, being dull and insignificant, as depicted in the words of the narrator’s father: “nothing more than a stopping place. Somewhere on the way to somewhere else” (Edelson).

Through Utopia, More criticized and provided the leaders with keen insights to help improve his world by claiming the leaders should not manipulate laws to control their people. In Utopia, More stated, “Let him not rashly revive law already abrogated by disuse, especially if they have been long forgotten and never wanted”(1). More means that a leader should not manipulate or bring back any law that is unwanted. He does not want the leader making laws for his own benefit. More’s point was that leaders should not use laws that are outdated or create new ones to control their people. They should not manipulate the laws in any corrupt manner. Sir Thomas More wanted what was best for the community, by not having any laws that weren’t agreed on by

Utopia is a brilliant novel written by Thomas More. The idea of a utopia seems impossible, how can anyone live in a perfect place when perfection is in the eyes of the beholder? The Utopia in this novel is nothing more than abundant of already established ideas therefore it can’t not truly be a Utopia.