The American Dream In Finding Forrester

Finding Forrester is a tale of an unlikely relationship between an aging, isolated author named William Forrester, and a 16-year-old with a hidden desire of being a writer named Jamal Wallace. William Forrester has only written one book which got him a Pulitzer Prize and since then he has never published another book. Jamal meets the author through a blunder that Jamal was dared to do by his friends, and after that they both inflamed each other's desire to write. Together throughout their intimacy, they learn about each other and about friendship.

“ This quote shows Jamal directly pointing out one of Forrester’s flaws, when it comes to confronting problems in his life. It goes on to point out how dissimilar Jamal and Forrester are when it comes to coping with adversity, and in a sense, goes to show how the two characters are almost direct foils on one another. The evidence for this can be found when Forrester talks to Jamal about his troubled past. Forrester goes on to reveal that the cause of his adversity is directly from the book he wrote. This book, acting as somewhat of a coping mechanism for Forrester at first, only ended up dealing more damage in the end, plunging Forrester deeper and deeper into the fear of his past. Although Forrester still shows many signs of being very cautious come the middle of the film, there are things that have changed since the beginning. Jamal’s confrontational attitude towards adversity is beginning to rub off on Forrester, as seen by the fact that he begins to open up about his past; beginning the first steps in coping with his heartfelt adversity. It is around mid film that we find Jamal attempting to cope with one of the many adversities of the film. Jamal confronts Professor Crawford, and it is through this that Jamal learns that he can’t tackle all of his problems head on. It is here that we are able to observe a change in Jamal's behaviour, that now Forrester begins to teach him about how to cope with conflict with Crawford, this is an

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman offers a distinct commentary on the American Dream, best explored in the death of its protagonist, Willy Loman. Almost immediately before Willy and his wife Laura are to make their final payment on their twenty-five year mortgage and take full ownership of their house, Willy, crazed and desperate, commits suicide. As his family mourns and praises him, Willy’s eldest son, Biff, bemoans, “He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong…He never knew who he was” (Miller 111). This occurrence sheds light on the truth Miller hoped to convey: The American Dream – what should be equated with home, family, and happiness – may all too often be corrupted into something much more superficial. It may be warped into the

11. Forrest warns Jamal about bitterly disappointed teachers, like Robert Crawford, because some people like these teachers only see and believe what they think is right, and since Jamal came from where he did with a background like he has, there will be criticism and disbelief over his work, but Jamal is to stand by what he writes and feel proud over it.

An identity of an individual may not conveyed to everyone in society, and they may possess unexpected qualities and skills. Throughout Finding Forrester, Jamal, the main character from the Bronx, meets a man who turns out to be William Forrester; a famous author. Jamal is intrigued to writing and is a skilled writer, enough to get him transferred from the public school to a private school. Jamal frequently visits William at his apartment that he never leaves to discusses literature and write papers. In the visits, Jamal and William discover each other's true identities through their writings. Jamal´s professor accuses him of plagiarism for using writing from Forrester, but is saved by William when he says he had permission to use his work. This moment shows the relationship they built by showing their true identity to each other. In the movie, Finding Forrester, a message displayed is that identity can be revealed through stereotypical based conflicts, and by individuals stereotyping another without further knowledge of their background.

One of the black students dropped her notebook on the sidewalk and didn't notice that she had done so. Forrest jumps through the crowd, picks up her notebook without noticing the tension or significance of the moment, and returns it to the young woman. Because of Forrest's personal strife of always having to run from bullies in Greenbow, he was able to attend the U of A. Forrest innocently participated in one of our Nation's most significant moments in history. His simple, personal act of kindness, intersected with the struggle of society to de-segregate the schools. Once again, the attitude of society towards handicapped persons landed Forrest at the University of Alabama and in the middle of de-segregation, a major historical episode of our society. Because society was very racist in its behavior at this time, Forrest's kindness and caring for people of any race, shows a sharp contrast to his personal life and behavior and the ways of society at the time.

On the other hand, Jamal is a sixteen-year old African American male who went to a private school on a scholarship and lives with his mother and brother. Unlike Forrester, he enjoys going outside, interacting with his friends from school and going to basketball games. Another difference between the Jamal and Forrester is his confrontational attitude. When harassed by another student from school on the basketball court, he handled the problem in his own way, proving his ability to do as well as the next person, which gained the respect from the coach and the other students.

Every respectable parent wants what is best for their children, even if that means putting their personal dreams on hold. Unfortunately, parents can negatively affect their children through, not only their actions, but also their beliefs onto how to achieve their dreams. The damaging effects of parents chasing unrealistic dreams, such as the American Dream, can be seen through their children and how they chase their own dreams. Biff Loman of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Walter Younger of A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry watch their parents fight for their dreams only to become a failure, Biff is pulled into his father’s delusional dreams of success and Walter lacks the proper role models to shape his dreams around,

In “Finding Forrester”, there were two main characters named Jamal Wallace and William Forrester. Jamal was an inner city teenager from Bronx, New York who had the gifted talents of being a basketball player and a good writer. While always a C student, Jamal received attention from a New York college prep school for his high standardized test scores. Even though Jamal wanted to partake this request, he was afraid of his 4 friends opinions. Unlike Jamal, his friends did not care about academics and thought of Jamal as being a nerd.

Jamal also has better resources to deal with the struggles of adolescence because he has a close friend. William Forrester, who helps him in his school. We can see that in the film, Forrester, being a writer, helps Jamal improve his writing skills. Forrester also helps Jamal against his teacher who believes that Jamal is plagiarising his work from someone. Forrester does this by coming to his school and showing them how good of a writer Jamal actually is by reading out his

David Kamp's 2009 Vanity Fair article "Rethinking the American Dream" focuses on the general perception of the ‘American Dream’ and how it has evolved throughout our nation’s history. It clearly states that as the average American household's lifestyle has become more and more consumer-oriented, the original spirit that invigorated and united its people from the age of western expansion to the Great Depression has begun to fade. The dream has been dampened as the vision of "success" has become more focused on gaining material/getting rich quick, rather than working hard all throughout one’s life to attain what they want and desire.

The topic of The American Dream has been brought up on many occasions. The arising issue that still ascends is whether or not The American Dream is alive or dead in the United States. The American Dream has come to the generalization of the personal perspective of any individual. The history of The American Dream has always gone back to the common man thinking of their future generations to come and how he will implant a positive outcome throughout it. Many now believe that the ideal plan of The American Dream cannot even be met anymore. Values and beliefs are now being questioned towards the aspect of upward mobility, the cost of education, jobs, and even affordable housing. Referring to an executive editor and vice president of Time Reporting, he states, “combined with a formidable American work ethic, made the pursuit of happiness more than a full-time proposition” (Meacham, Keeping The Dream Alive). This statement is targeted towards the actual definition of what The American Dream actually meant in various societies in the past. Happiness and a full-time of gratitude were critical aspects towards being met because it was the initial reason for this ideal. Some of the key causes and components that affect the way The American Dream is supposed upon today is the basic principles of economics, education, and a downward spiral. These reasons lead to The American Dream being considered in a diverse way with much complexity. The American Dream was different from the past and

The "American Dream" is an idea that has always been different throughouttime. It changes in diverse forms and in the end involves success. The "American Dream" was a phrase used by the American people and peoplewanting to become American. It was always the idea that you can become a success. This is true in a partial way, but the true "American Dream" is that with somework and determination anyone can build themselves up in the economic classsystem.

For example, when Jamal was shooting free throws to win the championship game, he purposely missed them. Jamal knew that the school was just using his basketball skills as a way to win their basketball dreams. In that second, Jamal used the opportunity of it being the championship game, to courageously miss the free throws, and prove a point to his school. Berardinelli (2000) stated “Jamal encourages Forrester to shake off his fear of the outside world. It is a time honored formula that, when handled properly, can be effective and affecting.” (p.2). This example explains that Jamal was trying to help Forrester break out of his shell and be more social. Jamal helps him realize the opportunities he has now at his age to be courageous. Another example is when Professor Crawford was harassing a student by making him stand up and asking him humiliating questions. Jamal then gets called on and replies back to Professor Crawford with questions that make Crawford appear unintelligent. Jamal used the opportunity of being in front of the class to finally stand up to Crawford and to help a classmate. This took courage because Professor Crawford controls Jamal’s grade and he never really like Jamal. Also, Jamal seeks help from Forrester throughout the majority of the movie, which encourages Jamal to break Forrester’s shyness (Levy, 2000, p.3). This example shows that the unknowingness of Forrester’s house gave him the opportunity to crack Forrester’s shell. This is courageous because Forrester was a complete stranger and they did not know each other. Therefore, individuals use unknown places as an opportunity to be

In a whole, the entire Loman family and their surrounding community, is one huge stereotype: the rural suburbs that turn into ghetto-like apartment district; the ‘grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side-of-the-fence neighbor; the loving wife and mother as well as the lowly housewife; the older, more handsome, more popular, more athletic brother; the anemic, know-it-all, that helps the ‘cool’ kids for popularity; and of course the ‘backbone’ of the family, the one who puts the ‘bread’ on the table, the supportive all-knowing father; in a nutshell the infamous label of the ‘American Dream.’ Yet if one cracks open this nutshell, they will see the truth that lies beneath this façade, and realize the daunting fact that there is no dream, just an unrealistic hope of perfection. Willy has passed this ‘dream’ to Happy. Throughout his life, he never is able to comprehend his father’s misleading notions. When he is young, he fantasizes about becoming the man his father says he is. Then when at father’s burial site he lets the world know that his father did not die in vain, and that he would leave off where his father had left, and win one for him, to come up on top and to be number one as his father wanted to be.