The Son From America Sparknotes

Supposedly, both the individuals with ascribed statuses with hereditary wealth and the poor and homeless have equal chances to become successful although, Orestes Bronwnson in The Laboring Classes, pointed out that this is not true. “Do the young man inheriting ten thousand pounds and the one whose inheritance is merely the gutter, start even?” (219). As a result, the harsh separation of the rich and the poor, where capitalism thrives and,” the division of the community into two classes, one which owns the funds…the other provides the labor” (216). The inhumane apprehension of a capitalist society that keeps its workers “in a permanent system, [has] given preference to the slave system” (214) says a lot about the evils of capitalism corresponding with the false American Dream. An outcome of capitalism is the frustrating rivalry between the poor. “There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining the country. The competition is maddening”

Lauren Greenfield’s 2012 documentary The Queen of Versailles offers an entertaining and thought provoking look at what subjects a documentary can cover as the film follows billionaires David and Jacqueline Siegel and their family as they navigate the 2008 economic crisis and attempt to build a mansion inspired by Versailles. Though the premise of the film is fairly straightforward, on a deeper level the film touches upon such ideas as the unattainability of the “American Dream,” the correlation between wealth and happiness, and family perseverance in the face of adversity. However, one key theme of the film serves to discredit the outside assumption that wealthy individuals lead flawless happy lives, and are in someway elevated beyond typical humanity, not experiencing hardships in the same manner as middle class society. In reality, as the film demonstrates, the wealthy are as flawed and as deeply human as any other class, capable of experiencing hardships and unhappiness regardless of material wealth. To further explore how the film achieves its theme, one must first have a firm understanding of the documentary form and how certain events in the film highlight the theme, which is explored in the following paragraphs .

The American dream of success can be both a sweet satisfaction and a dreadful nightmare. Richard Rodriguez and his siblings grow up and become successful just as their mother suspected. On christmas, Richard and his siblings spoil their mother just as she wanted. However not all is well as her children and her are not close as they were before. In the following passage by Richard Rodriguez, Rodriguez uses language and details about his siblings, parents, and himself to show the distance created by material success.

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.

In Two American Families, a documentary film which produced by Bill Moyers, it follows the two middle class families in Milwaukie, one black and one white, for over a decade as they struggle to achieve the “American Dream”. This documentary reveals the struggle of some American families who work hard and follow the social order in the society, but have fallen as a victim in a struggling economy to a series of policy decisions made. The hand of policy ineffectively steered the lives of the two families featured, the Neumann’s and Stanley’s, despite their hard work ethic and sincere determination to succeed. There are many policy implications that played a role in this documentary, including those around education, institutional racism, taxation, overseas jobs and social security. However, the main factors that drive those policy implications are minimum wage, health care, the foreclosure crisis, and debt dependency. In this essay, I will go into in more details about those main factors that both two American families suffered from the series of economic depression.

The series Untold America: Divided Chicago delves into the issues surrounding urban poverty in Chicago. It showcases various community members from public school students, to school district administrators, and other community organizers. Overall, it offers a credible and realistic analysis of some of the problems in Chicago and also provides insight on the ongoing work to alleviate and solve them.

The importance of hard work and earning your way instills a sense of independence within the young generation who was reading the McGuffey textbooks. In the stories “Henry, the Boot-Black” (128) and “Poor Davy” (130) both boys, living in poverty, are praised for their work to support their mother. Working hard to earn a living, even at a young age, is commended and the value of family is reiterated. There is a belief that hard work prepares and enables one to lead a prosperous life. In “Charlie and Rob” (133) and “Advantages of Industry” (97), hard work pays off and is portrayed as the only way to become successful. This core value of work ethic for the American will be important in the changing world of industrialization and effect the attitude of the working class American toward those of wealth, as well as immigrants.

Richard Wright writes, “Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can starve from a lack of bread.” Throughout all of America’s history and today, people of color, specifically African Americans, have been treated maliciously and unethically. In Native Son by Richard Wright, Wright tells the story of a young, African American man named Bigger who lives in a segregated Chicago, Illinois. Furthermore, Wright describes the frightful feelings that Bigger has towards white people by placing Bigger in a situation that involves murder. By doing this, Wright was able to decipher Bigger’s thought process and explain it to the readers. As a result, Wright created a masterpiece. Native Son should be read

Hatred for white society was a strong theme among the African American community during the 1950s. These emotions were conveyed through different platforms of the time, ranging from art and music, to articles and books. But James Baldwin, a popular African American writer during this time period, does not obsess over this subject that was so passionately conveyed by so many people like him. Instead of preaching about his hatred for white America, Baldwin utilizes his story of his childhood as well as his early adulthood to illustrate the destructive nature of the African Americans society’s hatred for white society in the very well known essay, “Notes of a Native Son.”

Nearly every person alive has felt the struggle of not having enough money and worrying about fitting into to a higher society. The short story written by Graham Greene, “The Destructors”, demonstrates the difference between classes of society. The short story written by D.H. Lawrence, “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, demonstrates the anxiety over money in poor family. Both of these two short stories appeal to the common man by presenting a universal theme. The theme of both “The Destructors” by Graham Greene and “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence is the struggle between class and wealth however difference in character and setting drive the two stories apart.

When the family is packing to come to America, Mr. Smolinsky discourages his wife from bringing her dishes by telling her that, "in the new golden country, where milk and honey flows free in the streets, you’ll have new golden dishes to cook in, and not weigh yourself down with your old pots and pans" (9). He has an incredibly unrealistic picture of America. He even believes "all America will come to my feet to learn" (9). Mr. Smolinsky expects, like many immigrants, that in America he will not have to do anything, he will simply be rich. Unfortunately, his dream is quickly shattered once in the United States.

The “rags to riches” story is a term of reverence respecting the few in society who sacrificed the little they had and emerged successful. These doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and other professionals inspire people of all socioeconomic levels by transforming nothing into something. Jay-Z, George Soros, Steve Jobs – these are names culture holds with great respect. One “rags to riches” story not many Americans have heard of pushes the limits of mental capacity. This man followed the poor-to-rich path and succeeded to such high degree that he, in turn, defined the very essence of this characteristic. Once a poor boy, Andrew Carnegie transformed the limited resources available to him into tools that aided his journey in becoming one of the richest, most successful men in all of history. Carnegie began his journey as an immigrant to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from Scotland. His family sought work, as their former weaving business had been destroyed by the Industrial Revolution (“Andrew Carnegie” American Experience). This experience as a poor worker created the drive that led him to become one of the wealthiest men of all time through his massive steel company, the Carnegie Steel Company. In conjunction with his economic success, the tycoon used the fruits of his leadership in the steel industry to become the “father of American philanthropy” (“Meet Andrew Carnegie”). As accomplished the man became, the

Money— sweeter than honey but oh so destructive. It facilitates a man’s life, while a lack of it imprisons him in the streets of penury. It raises his social status, while an absence of it leaves him unnoticed. It gives him an aura of superiority and importance among others, while a deficiency of it makes him worthless in society’s eyes. Considering these two roads, most do not take more than a second to decide to chase riches.

Carnegie was a wealthy man himself, but he practiced exactly what he preached. He notices how American society has revolutionized and created the divide between the rich and the poor as it changed. Carnegie compares the American past equality to the equality experienced among the Sioux Indians. Carnegie does not disapprove of the change, but recognizes it as “highly beneficial” (Foner 29). According to Carnegie, the evidence of the changing society is present in the “contrast between the palace of the millionaire and the cottage of the laborer” (Foner 29). Although Carnegie recognizes the divided between rich and poor, he does not see it as a bad thing, nor does he believe that people should stop obtaining wealth. Carnegie believes that the wealthy should use their money to provide for good instead of “hoarding great sums all their lives” (Foner 29). Carnegie approves of the implementation

A quote by Ralph Ellison states, “Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat”. I choose to open my paper with quote for the reason that, this quote undoubtedly fits with the theme of my paper. African Americans were treated as 2nd class for 2 decades and once set “free” had to start from scratch. Today, a sense of freedom from any time of injustice is still being desired. In the novel, Native Son by Richard Wright, the lack of power among the characters caused them to live in fear. Leaving them to make choices they wouldn't have made otherwise.