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Themes Of The American Dream

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The American Dream is the chance for a person of any gender, race, sexual orientation, or or anyone of diversity to have an equal opportunity to change their and become happy and successful in their own eyes. Three books that explain the American Dream are The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou. Each book includes the main character trying to change his or her life by finding what makes them happy. They all leave their hometowns and have a chance to start over. In the book The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, the main character, Taylor Greer, leaves her hometown of Pittman, Kentucky to start a new life with her new “daughter”, Turtle. Taylor first follows the American Dream by changing her name from Marietta to Taylor. Her new identity was a pivotal moment in moving forward from her old life when she passed the town, Taylorville and believed “there was enough destiny in it to satisfy me”(16). Taylor soon starts her life by meeting Lou Ann, a single mother to Dwayne Ray, and decides to live with her. This symbolizes Taylor settling down and officially staying in Tucson, Arizona (101). Other characters who define the American Dream are Esperanza and Estevan. They had to flee from Guatemala because they were apart of the Teachers Union and many people were after them trying to kill them. Esperanza’s brother and friends were killed and her daughter, Ismene, was taken from her and Estevan on

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