I. Believing “The Dream”
“THE AMERICAN DREAM” has never been defined exactly, and probably
never can be. It is both too various and too vague: many men have meant many
different things by it.
-Frederic I. Carpenter, American Literature and the Dream (1968)
In his book, American Literature and the Dream, Frederic Carpenter relies upon
his own survey of American literature to facilitate a deeper understanding of the ideology
behind the now common phrase “American Dream.” Carpenter’s primary assertion,
made explicitly in the first paragraph of the introduction to his book, is that the
“American Dream” is in essence an idea that defies definition. According to Carpenter,
this intangibility is precisely that quality which has made the phrase “American Dream”
such a vital part of our cultural history and national identity. In particular, Carpenter
suggests that American Literature, which “has been defined more exactly,” is largely the
product of the pursuit of the dream (3).
The idea of the “Dream” has throughout
American history fueled the imaginations of our most prominent writers and
consequently exerted an unparalleled influence on the “canon” of American literature. In
effect, Carpenter seems to suggest that not only is it is possible to regard many of our
“greatest” works of literature (including novels we will read this year by authors such as
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, and F. Scott Fitzgerald) through the lens of the
“American Dream,” it is in fact imperative that we do so. For if we discount the
significance of the “Dream” in the American literature we are giving up on our own
chance to explore, understand, and add to the mythology that has shaped our country for
the last several hundred years. And while many of us are willing to see the “Dream” as
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vague or flawed or beyond our reach, I wonder how many of us would be willing to give
it up entirely?
II. “The American Dream” in Context
The “American Dream” was born before there was actually an America. It was
born when, in 1630 after landing in the “new world,” John Winthrop proclaimed that,
“…wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us…” Winthrop
saw the “new world” much in the same way that immigrants have seen America for
hundreds of years, namely a home in which he and his fellow Puritans would be free to
live, work, pray, serve and glorify their God. In essence, Winthrop’s words may be seen
as an early articulation of the “American Dream.”
John Winthrop was not the only man of his generation to articulate the mythical
power held in the idea of a new land. In 1654, Captain Edward Johnson wrote:
Oh yes! Oh yes! Oh yes! All you the people of Christ that are here Oppressed,
Imprisoned, and scurrilously derided, gather yourselves together, your Wifes and
little ones, and answer to your several names as you shall be shipped for His
service, in the Western World, and more especially for planting the United
Colonies of new England…Know this is the place where the Lord will create a
new Heaven, and a new Earth in new Churches, and a new Commonwealth
together” (Carpenter 5).
Perhaps the most lasting image in Johnson’s declaration is that of the new world as, “…a
new heaven and a new earth…” For whether or not we accept this as literally today as
Johnson did in 1654, the fact remains that for many the essence of the “American Dream”
is contained within this idea of a fresh beginning. For the modern dreamer, America
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remains an Eden-like land, a place where identity is never fixed, and a country where in
theory everyone has a chance to reach his or her fullest potential.
In his book Carpenter suggests that, “…the millennial hope of an ideal new
world…inspired the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights…the wisdom of
Lincoln and the idealism of Woodrow Wilson” (Carpenter 5). However, it is interesting
to note that it was not until 1931 that this “ideal” that had permeated American history
was formally named. This occurred when, in his book The Epic of America, J.T. Adams
wrote of, “…that dream of a better, richer, and happier life for all of our citizens of
every rant which is the greatest contribution we have as yet made to the thought and
welfare of the world” (Carpenter 5). It is interesting that Adams chose to use the word
“dream” at a time when most Americans were living (or on the verge of living) through
one of the worst periods of American history – the great depression. Through his allusion
to America’s humble beginnings and his implicit suggestion that the future would bring
forth new and hitherto unrealized opportunities for his fellow Americans, Adams
effectively creates an explicit link between America and hope. Carpenter picks up on this
connection and seems to elaborate on Adams’ intentions when he writes of Americans,
“Even when denied – and perhaps most clearly when denied most completely – the dream
has been our distinction” (Carpenter 5). “We” Americans are, like our Puritan founders,
a tenacious group of people. For even in the face of hardship, despair, poverty, and
sometimes desperate lives we persist in our belief that there is a light at the end of the
tunnel and it is this possibility, this glimmer of hope that sustains us. Carpenter writes,
“The dream has always been a fact of American history, and even of a delusion, it
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remains a motivating force” (Carpenter 6).
Again, these words beg the question, how
many of us would be willing to relinquish the dream?
Whether or not we truly believe that this mythic dream is in any way realizable,
we cannot seem to let it go. For ultimately, “…the dream is good; because a dream is
more beautiful than reality, and the tragic attempt to realize it gives nobility to man”
(Carpenter 7). Dreams are more beautiful than reality. Nowhere is this more apparent
than in the America we live in today, a place where reality is increasingly terrifying, as
we live daily with threats of terrorism, images of war, and news reports of bigotry and
hatred. Michael Moore, in his documentary Bowling For Columbine, suggests that we
Americans live in a country where we are taught to fear anything and everyone around
us. Is it any wonder then that we continue to find a certain comfort in the knowledge that
when the world around us becomes unbearable, we can turn to the “Dream.”
Works Cited
Carpenter, Frederic I., American Literature and the Dream. Books for Libraries Press.
New
York: 1968.
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