Importance of the American Dream - Essay Example

The American Dream The theme ‘The American dream’ is present in various pieces of literature. Truslow Adams describes the American Dream, as a “dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement. The American Dream is not merely about material and monetary wealth, but rather a dream of social order in which every person will be able to attain the fullest stature that they are innately capable of reaching, and that each man and women can be recognized by others for what he or she is, regardless of his or her fortuitous circumstances of birth or position”. The American dream is desired by every citizen, which can be attained by hard work and strict disciplines. This theme is present to some extent in every piece of literature, written from different perspectives and having different results. The path leading to the American Dream, however, is a very harsh one and in the lust for wealth, power and success, men often leave their loved ones behind, and the dream is no longer an ideal for the individual concerned. On the other hand, some people waste their lives, trying to live the American Dream while to some, it is just a dream. This essay would revolve around the different pieces of literature and as to how they incorporate the American Dream in the daily lives of individuals. Citizen Kane which is one of the highest rated movies in the world was completed in the year 1941. This masterpiece is a fresh and sophisticated title which has known to be a classic. It has won one Oscar and seven other awards and was nominated for eight more. In Citizen Kane living the American Dream is portrayed as something that should not be desired. Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper tycoon, is one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. On his deathbed he utters a single word ’rosebud’. A newspaper man wanting to know what the word meant digs into Kane’s past and talks to people in his life, trying to figure out who Kane was and what was the importance of Rosebud to him. He finds out that Kane was separated from his family at an early age when his mother sent him to a boarding school. In order to treat his optimism, he buys a newspaper when he gets a fortune. He marries the niece of the man who later becomes the president of the United States of America. His thirst for power drives him to get more power and live the American Dream while he loses his soul and those who cared for him until he dies all alone. Citizen Kane was one of the earliest films to illustrate the American Desire as anything which was lot less than could be considered suitable. During his childhood, Kane is completely satisfied as he plays by himself in the snow outside his parents' home, despite of the fact that his parents own a boarding home and are very poor. He has no friends but is happy to be alone because serenity and protection are just within the property surfaces. When Thatcher eliminates Kane from this position, he’s given what seems like the American dream—financial importance and material high-class. However, Kane discovers that those techniques are not enough to keep him satisfied, and the return of psychological protection for economical protection is eventually not satisfying. The American dream is empty for Kane. When he gets older, Kane uses his cash and energy not to develop his own pleasure but to either purchase affection or try to make others as unhappy as him. Kane's prosperity isolates him from others throughout the decades, and his lifestyle finishes in solitude at Xanadu. He passes away enclosed only by his belongings, inadequate alternatives for real partners (Orson et al). This is quite relatable to the prevailing American society. People who seek to live the American Dream often ignore their loved ones in the chase for a better life and find that they do not have anyone left to share that life with, but then it’s too late. In their hunger for power, they hurt a lot of people and use them for their own benefits. They run after the material luxuries leaving behind things that actually matter, like family and friends. And when they have everything that money can buy, they realize the importance of the things that money can’t buy, which they lost. And since they can’t get those things, they can’t bear to see others with it and people like that, tend to make the lives of other people miserable to try to fill their own emptiness. Another movie which has the American dream in its theme is The Social Network which was released in 2010. The story of the movie is told with the help of flashbacks through hearings for two lawsuits which are coinciding with each other. The flashbacks are of the events leading to the development of Facebook and its journey onwards. Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, a student of Harvard was being sued by fellow Harvardite Eduardo Saverin, who was his former best friend and co-founder of Facebook, as well as fellow Harvardites Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss with their friend Divya Narendra. The Winklevoss twins file a lawsuit against Zuckerberg for stealing their idea of Facebook. As the website started to grow, Zuckerberg and Saverin started having differences in opinion regarding the website. Saverin wanted to generate revenue from the website and use it for advertisement, Zuckerberg disagreed arguing that they were not yet aware of the potential of the website and by placing advertisements in the website; it would lose its ‘cool’ factor, which had made Facebook so popular. The founder of Napster gradually became a part of Facebook which resulted in Saverin becoming detached from Zuckerberg's personal as well as professional life. This movie was well received especially by the young generation, as it depicts the new definition of the American Dream which is to make a change in the world. Facebook sure did have a very strong effect on the world, as it changed the way people communicated and connected whether for business or for pleasure. The American Dream is about being successful and having a secure future for one’s self and family. Facebook changed Zuckerberg’s life and with the hard work he put in, his position in the society elevated. It is similar to Citizen Kane, as by achieving the American Dream, Zuckerberg is alone and friend in spite of being a billionaire and the movie ends with him desperately waiting for a girl to accept his request for friendship. In the earlier half of the movie when Zuckerberg launched Facebook, he asked Eduardo for the email addresses of the members of the Phoenix Club. He did not need them for the page to grow, but still asked for the email addresses to show to the elite class that hard work and intelligence can make you successful, in that case success was Facebook being used by the members of the Phoenix Club. The Social Network also portrays a man’s addiction to money, power, and all the other material things for which he loses substantial relationships such as love and friendship. In order to live the American dream, people become cold and insensitive, and forget that the people who need them then are the people who had helped those people when they were in need. An example of that is found in the movie when Eduardo being Zuckerberg’s best friend provides the cash to start Facebook and sticks with Zuckerberg through the development process of Facebook but Zuckerberg dilutes his share in the company which ends their friendship and Eduardo sues Zuckerberg (Amanda Koster). Another example of a movie or text that incorporated the American Dream is the classic title known as “Godfather”. The tale starts as "Don" Vito Corleone, the leader of a New York Mafia "family", manages his little girl's wedding. His dearest son Michael has just come home from the war, but does not plan to join his dad's company. Through Michael's lifestyle the truth about his family's company becomes clear. The company of family associates members is just like the master, kind and sympathetic to those who give regard, but given to callous assault whenever anything appears against the good of family members. Don Vito has the lifestyle the way it was of the old nation, but things are modifying and some do not want to adhere to the old methods and look out for group and "family". A competitor of the Corleone family associates wants to start marketing drugs in New York, and needs the Don's power to further his plan. The conflict of the Don's diminishing old world principles and the new methods will need a dreadful price, especially from Michael, all for the benefit of family associates members. The American Dream is depicted in the Godfather in the form of immigrants coming to America with nothing and making their mark with hard work, strong family morals and strict discipline. The Godfather suggests that with the American dream coming true for one person, the destruction of another comes. The Godfather becomes successful even if it is by way of theft, murder and lawlessness. . Vito Corleone easily understands that in the United States, money, energy and respect are carefully relevant. Because achieving the American dream has been applied as one of the main objectives in United states lifestyle, the romanticized expression of it in The Godfather trilogy has become a huge hit to almost all United states audiences. The American Dream: The first line of the first movie is "I believe in the United States... ". An essential concept of the movie is how the five family associates are basically living the American dream with particular values that the United States at the time significantly valued (capitalism, sex, family principles, etc.). One could easily see this as a deconstruction or even a strike on the idea of the American Dream, or at least a very different look at it. For example the conference of the Five Families is organized inside the federal Resource Bank, where Barzini comments that Don Corleone is eligible to benefit from discussing his system of governmental crime, since they are not communists. The expression of the American Dream within the films provides to correspond with the viewer’s lifestyle, but it also works as an indication of the crime engaged in such a desire of energy and achievements. The Corleone family goes from being inadequate to flourishing and significant over two years, but at the compromise of close relatives, buddies, and individual ethical principles (Not Just Movies: The Godfather Part II). The Grapes of Wrath is a movie which was released in 1940 and it also appears to be quite successful in portraying the American Dream. It is about a man, Tim Joad, who returns home after a long imprisonment in jail, only to find that his family has been evacuated from the farm as they had failed to keep up with the mortgage. He goes looking for them and finds them at an uncle’s place where they are about to leave for California. He joins them in the journey to start a new life. Or so he thought. The family thought that living the American Dream would not be difficult once they go to the west and get employed. The story takes place during the Great Depression. When the Joads shifted from Oklahoma to California, it damaged their financially protected lifestyle. Before the Joad family advanced towards the west, they had a home, a place to live, and money. Moving to California signified beginning all over again. The Joads made the decision to keep their old lifestyle in desires of beginning a new, effective one. But when they reached California, it was very different from what they had in want. Nobody was ready to give them land or lose their jobs to them or even eat their food. They were very selfish people and were very hostile towards the immigrants. The rich tried their best that their money remained in the family and the poor people got even poorer. What they expected the American Dream to be was crashing around them and they were getting poorer by the day. They imagined California to be a heavenly place of opportunities where every one could get wealthy but when the Joads reached California it was quite the opposite. The immigrants got even poorer than they were and it became a competition of survival of the fittest. The Joads knew that the journey to California would not be an easy one and they would face may hardships on the way but they expected that arrival to California would be the reward and all their hardships will be brought to an end. They realized then that the American dream was nothing but an illusion. During the journey Connie leaves his wife and child in order to live with the increasing burdens of a family. This is in contrast with Citizen Kane, as Kane after hard work manages to live the American Dream whereas the Joads declining wealth made them give up any hopes they had left of living the American Dream. The poor were being hired by the upper class to do their filthy work and all the poor immigrants could do was to try to keep their dignity. By keeping their dignity, the Joads faced with all the troubles they faced when they went to California to live the American Dream (Aghosh3). Ernest Hemingway has also used the concept of the American Dream in his text and has inspired a majority of youth in the time period between the two wars. With the help of his literature, he helped people to visualize and feel what freedom would be like, which was what the American pioneers wanted. Being focused on your own aims and not getting distracted by others was part of the American Dream that Hemingway made obvious. This relates to the much later pieces of literature like Citizen Kane and the Social network, where others are disregarded in search of one’s own benefit." (The University of West Georgia). The American Dream has been a very important part of American literature since a long time ago. The American dream is what every American wishes to live. It is a dream to make their lives better. It is a dream which is shared by every American. All these pieces of literature have incorporated the American Dream successfully to clarify the views regarding it in the society. If the dream is carefully reviewed it can be seen that the dream is more related to peace and tranquility. One can take lessons from these pieces of literature to adapt to the original thought of the American Dream. In other words the lessons learned can be applied in the real life to become successful in achieving the dream. REFERENCES: "Hemingway & the American Dream (Jim Klee)." The University of West Georgia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. . "Not Just Movies: The Godfather Part II."Not Just Movies. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. . aghosh3. "Critical Analysis of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck | Academic About social issues/civics, fiction, historical fiction, the grapes of wrath, critical essay, analysis, american dream, failure, joad and john steinbeck." Teen Ink | A teen literary magazine and website. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. . "‘The Social Network’ and the imitation American Dream | Amanda Koster." Amanda Koster | thoughts and experiences of an international documentarian. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. . Top of Form Welles, Orson, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Everett Sloane, William Alland, Paul Stewart, George Coulouris, Gregg Toland, Robert Wise, Peter Bogdanovich, Roger Ebert, Thomas Lennon, Michael Epstein, Richard B. Cramer, Bernard Herrmann, and Bernard Herrmann. Citizen Kane. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2001. Bottom of Form Read More