America: Dream or Nightmare?
Homework Assignment after Close Reading Task:
“The American Dream”-James Truslow Adams
The American Dream refers to the reasons why
people come to the United States. For some people, it
is the opportunity to achieve greater wealth than was
possible in their countries of origin. For others it's the
opportunity for their children to grow up and receive an
education and have better job opportunities. It is the
opportunity to make individual choices without being
discriminated against because of your class, religion,
race, or ethnic group.
Historian and writer James Truslow Adams coined the
phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book The Epic of
America:
"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which
life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone,
with opportunity for each according to ability or
achievement.... It is not a dream of motor cars and high
wages merely, but a dream of social order in which
each man and each woman shall be able to attain to
the fullest stature of which they are innately capable,
and be recognized by others for what they are,
regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or
position."
Summarize: What are the reasons why people immigrate to
the United States in search of the American Dream?
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Summarize: According to James Truslow Adams, who can
achieve the American Dream? What do they need in order
to achieve it?
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Contributed by Neema Avashia, Teacher at McCormack Middle School, AY 2012-2013
America: Dream or Nightmare?
“The American Nightmare”—Malcolm X
The following passage is from a speech given by Malcolm
X, a writer and activist during the Civil Rights Movement in
the 1960s.
“I don't even consider myself an American. If you and I
were Americans, there'd be no problem. Those Honkies that
just got off the boat, they're already Americans; Polacks are
already Americans; the Italian refugees are already
Americans. Everything that came out of Europe, every blueeyed thing, is already an American. And as long as you and
I have been over here, we aren't Americans yet.
“Well, I am one who doesn't believe in deluding myself. I'm
not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing
on my plate, and call myself a diner. Sitting at the table
doesn't make you a diner, unless you eat some of what's on
that plate. Being here in America doesn't make you an
American. Being born here in America doesn't make you
an American. Why, if birth made you American, you
wouldn't need any [laws]; you wouldn't need any
amendments to the Constitution; you wouldn't be faced with
civil-rights filibustering in Washington, D.C., right now. They
don't have to pass civil-rights legislation to make a Polack
an American.
Summarize: According to Malcolm X, who is accepted as an
American?
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Summarize: When Malcolm X writes about "sitting at the
table", he is talking about having the full rights of citizenship.
So what does it mean when he says he has "nothing on his
plate"?
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Summarize: Why does Malcolm X believe that being born in
America doesn't make you American?
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Contributed by Neema Avashia, Teacher at McCormack Middle School, AY 2012-2013
America: Dream or Nightmare?
No, I'm not an American. I'm one of the 22 million black
people who are the victims of Americanism... So, I'm not
standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot,
or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver—no, not I. I'm speaking as
a victim of this American system. And I see America
through the eyes of the victim. I don't see any American
dream; I see an American nightmare.”
Summarize: What group of people living in the United
States does Malcolm X believe are living the American
Nightmare? Why?
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Contributed by Neema Avashia, Teacher at McCormack Middle School, AY 2012-2013