American Dream Synthesis (April 2014)
Written by Cana McGhee
Much of the American ideology is based upon the idea of the American Dream: that
hard work will pay and lead to a perfect life complete with the happiness that comes with
achieving one’s every dream and goal. As represented by many literary characters, the
American Dream proves to be an unachievable task that everyone works their entire lives
to complete. The American Dream as a in idea is very real, as real as any abstract notion
can be, but in reality it is used to prolong the American ideals, therefore keeping our
nation alive.
Trina Paulus’ book entitled Hope for the Flowers, through the personification of
caterpillars that turn into butterflies, posits that one can achieve the goals of the American
Dream after one realizes the inherent emptiness of the Dream. The caterpillars crawl to
the top of a pyramid of thousands of other caterpillars, but the only reason they are doing
so is to reach the top. The protagonists climb to the top, realize the loneliness and true
lack of success, and ease their way back to the bottom and transform into butterflies, the
individuals who can truly fly and live their own lives if only because they are away from
the rest of their caterpillar society. Her picture book can be contrasted with the story of J.
Alfred Prufrock; Prufrock comes to terms with the futility of his actions regarding that of
his lover and succumbs unto his feeling that he will never be happy with or without her.
(Source C, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock) The American Dream only pushes
people to extreme ends. The American Dream tells its believers that it is real. But the
American Dream is only a light, “a new world, material without being real.” (Source B,
The Great Gatsby) Fitzgerald, in The Great Gatsby, utilizes light, an intangible object,
and Daisy, a hollow and emotionless being, to represent the American Dream, which
expresses that the American Dream is essentially false for anyone that is not a member of
the group that created it in the first place. Gatsby cannot have Daisy no matter how hard
he works to grab onto her, thus proving the futility in pursuing the Dream.
Franklin Roosevelt was a member of that group of people who created the Dream.
He was born into a family of money, and that fact makes him able to use the American
Dream as a manipulation tool in his Fireside Chats. He calms people in wartime by
telling his fellow Americans that the Dream is still possible. The American Dream
continues to be used as a way to restore hope in the future. The American Dream makes
Gatsby have a purpose, but he is too driven by this empty vision of green light and hope
to realize the emptiness. (Source B) The Dream, perpetuated by Ben, gives Willy Loman
something to make him feel necessary in the world. (Source A, Death of a Salesman) The
American Dream seems real enough as an idea that people want to believe in it, but no
one can be completely happy (as the American Dream says one should be) with
everything in life; something will always be imperfect.
But death arrives whether one knows the falsehood of the Dream or not. Willy and
Gatsby both surrender themselves unto the Dream; Willy, being the middle class, has
worked too hard for his empty dream to live for something that will not repay him, so he
instead chooses to become Linda’s dream and give her the money he will never have.
(Source A) Gatsby surrenders because he still has hope. He works and succeeds in
monetary rewards of his efforts, but he is unable to have power over Tom and Daisy,
creators of the American Dream. (Source B) Tom and Daisy manage to destroy
everything with which they come into contact, which is why they have to move around
the country so often; Gatsby becomes another flower on the daisy chain of destroyed
lives.
The Puritans set future Americans up for failure with this American Dream. They
told their posterity that working hard will win them God’s favor, therefore providing the
happiness and monetary success that only God is able to give. But Fitzgerald
demonstrates to the audience that even the rich are unhappy and do cruel things, such as
drink, cheat, and behave abusively, to fill their voids. The American Dream causes
people to act abnormally as exhibited by Willy Loman who goes crazy; the American
Dream causes people to work for a goal that can never be completely reached, as Gatsby
learns when he invites Daisy to a party; but the American Dream still gives a purpose to
being alive. People refuse to believe that death is the reason they were born, so they give
a purpose to life. The reason is unrealistic, but a reason nonetheless. “So we [drive] on
toward death through the cooling twilight.”