The Non Existent American Dream - 1374 Words

The Non-Existent American Dream Why is America never America? â€Å"America never was America to me† is a line repeatedly written in the poem ‘Let America be America Again’ by an African American poet Langston Hughes. This poem was published in 1936, when being African American was one’s greatest sin. African Americans were treated as things that elite whites can own rather than free- willed humans. In this poem, the pain and suffering of colored Americans, who were considered less than humans, is reflected clearly. Despite being written by an African America poet, the poem ‘Let America Be America Again’ does not represent African Americans only. Minority groups including economically disadvantaged whites are represented in this poem. For these people America is not America. It is a sleepless night where dreams are not allowed. They never get freedom in the land of the free. They never get opportunity in the land of opportunities. They never ge t justice and equality in the land of the justice. America is not America they want to see, and the poet Langston Hughes repeatedly mentions, â€Å"America never was America to me†. In 1936, when the poem was first published, being colored immigrant was the same, or even worse than being a murderer, justice was never served, and there was no equality. The privileged elites had all the America to them but to the lower racial groups and immigrants, American dream never existed. Despite the fact that the poem ‘Let America beShow MoreRelatedMartin Luther King Speech Analysis989 Words   |  4 Pagestime. His words sparked change for an entire nation and was an enormous factor in contributing to the African American Civil Rights movement. During the time of Martin Luther King Jr’s speech, the country was in a great state of distress regarding equal rights and equal opportunity for people of color. Riots, protests, and chaos seemed to be taking over the country as African Americans began to demand their deserved equality. Martin Luther King Jr stepped up through all the madness going on andRead MoreThe American Dream828 Words   |  4 Pagesand believe me, we are trying our best to change this stereotype. The American dream has always been what everyone desires- a little perfect family, house, and neighborhood. The American dream is what our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents have always wanted. Everyone always desires owning their own home; this concept of the American dream has a symbol of stability attached to it. However, isn’t the â€Å"American dream† itself just another stereotype? I am tired of my generation being tiedRead MoreThe Great Gatsby - Demise Of The American Dream883 Words   |  4 PagesThe Great Gatsby - Demise of the American Dream The Great Gatsby (1925) is a highly symbolic novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald on 1920 s America, an era of great prosperity and material excess. Its theme mainly deals with the disintegration of the American Dream due to decayed social and moral values. The American Dream is a set of ideals in which freedom includes the right for prosperity, success, and social upward mobility for all Americans which can be achieved through hard work and dedicationRead MoreThe American Dream801 Words   |  4 PagesThe American Dream has a different meaning today as opposed to fifty-years ago. The American Dream once meant: marrying the love of your life, buying a home in the suburbs with a white picket fence, two to three children, and obtaining a job one could retire from in twenty years. That dream has vanished and disappeared with the advent, development, and advancement of technology, higher costs of living, and rising expenses of student loan debt. The heavy burden of paying off loans fr om attainingRead MoreHarlem A Dream Deferred Analysis762 Words   |  4 Pagesbecomes their dream, but people do not always fulfill these dreams. There are obstacles that come in the way of people being able to fulfill their dreams. In â€Å"Harlem [A Dream Deferred]† Langston Hughes uses imagery and rhetorical questions in order to demonstrate what happens to a dream. The theme that appears through Langston Hughes poem is the theme of not pursuing a dream. Through Hughes poem, this theme is demonstrated and the imagery helps in conveying the idea of having a dream postponed. Read MoreEssay on Modernism at Its Finest in Literature756 Words   |  4 Pagesof society and impacted more American lives than ever before. During the American modernism period of literature, authors, artists, and poets strived to create pieces of literature and art that challenged American traditions and tried to reinvent it, used new ways of communication, such as the telephone and cinema, to demonstrate the new modern social norms, and express the pain and suffering of the First World War. With new modernist American literature, Americans lose faith in their traditionalRead MoreThe American Dream Is The Forefront Of Many Beginnings For Citizens And Immigrants Alike943 Words   |  4 Pages The American Dream is the forefront of many beginnings for citizens and immigrants alike. Achieving this idea has proved to be unfair in certain circumstances due to many factors. The ability to reach the American Dream is not entirely realistic to a handful of people and is highly refutable. Having the chance to accomplish the American Dream is a freedom that most people desire. The American Dream is in fact real, and many have reached this set of ideals with success. However, the diversity thatRead MoreThe Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin Essay568 Words   |  3 PagesSometimes your dreams seem better than reality; sometimes they can be worse than your nightmares. In Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Lathe of Heaven, we follow the character George Orr as his dreams alter the reality of his dystopian world. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. After an attempt to control his subconscious with drugs, George Orr is forced to attend sessions of psychotherapy with a man named Dr. Haber, the antagonist of the story. He discovers Orr’s ability to dream a new realityRead MoreWhy Do People Come America? For Corn Dogs?1332 Words   |  6 PagesCorn Dogs? The Statue of Liberty? To be deported? If you were to ask someone who immigrated to America why they came they would not respond with any of those answers. People come to America for a chance at the â€Å"American Dream†, but what exactly is the â€Å"American Dream†? The American Dream is the belief that everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve success through hard work and determination. Through this there would be little to no class system permanently fixing someone to a definite status meaningRead MoreIn literature, symbols are used to add deeper meaning to the story or hint at an emotion or600 Words   |  3 Pagesthere was an old faded billboard of the eyes of T.J Eckleburg, Nick describes the billboard as â€Å"Blue and gigantic- their retinas are one yard high.they look out of no face,but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose.†(Fitzgerald 23).The Eyes of T.J Eckleburg symbolizes the corruption of society and also acts as a witness to the loss of spiritual value in America.During Wilson’s an d Myrtle’s argument â€Å" spoke to her (Myrtle),† â€Å"I told her she might fool