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More handpicked essays just for you.
Individuality vs conformity in society
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The Lost Path of an Aspiring Individual One who seeks “The American Dream” strives to better their ways to accommodate their hope of undergoing Americanization to reach “the American Dream.” During the process of Americanization, one may lose sight of their individuality by family struggles, differential living, and over pleasing. Junior Diaz and Oscar Wao are described in Junior Diaz’s writing as to have complex family relationships. Junior grew up around a female surrounding which is shown in How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie) when his brother, sister, and mother are going to go visit their tia. From that text, one can infer his father is not present in his life, which causes many problems for Junior. Since Junior …show more content…
During the process of trying to win a girl, Junior tries to change his way of being to attract the girl he desires. He thinks out ways to act for different types of girls. When he was writing out directions he tried to use his best handwriting but handwriting does not determine an educational status since most guys have messy handwriting it is not viewed as being poorly educated. He really wants to get with a white girl because that will signify to him that he has reached his aspirations towards “The American Dream.” To culturize into America he thinks about how he should try to do everything like a white boy would such as run his hand through his hair. He would also use his busted-up Spanish to impress the girl and if the girl was Latina he would let her correct him but if she was black he could amaze her since she probably wouldn’t know Spanish. If the girl was a Halfie he would keep her interested with an interesting conversation. The Halfie is like him since they’re both looking for ways to be fully Americanized. As a way not having to worry so much about himself he plans on giving his date some Bermudez to sway her to more easily succumb to his true intentions. Oscar also tries to change his ways from being a geek most girls wouldn’t be interested in to someone they would want to
Junot Diaz's Drown, a compilation of short stories, exemplifies how the high standard of masculinity within the Latino community can have a detrimental effect on males. These stories are told in the first person by a narrator called Yunior. The different stories are told against the background of The Dominican Republic and the United States. The narrator highlights the different challenges that he faces throughout his childhood and into his young adult life. During this period, he struggles to find his identity which is expected by every Latino. In the Dominican Republic, a man’s manhood is closely tied to his identity, and Yunior is no exception. While in the process of finding his identity, Yunior is challenged with abuse, poverty and the lure of drugs, which leads to his addiction and his becoming violent .…
Time and time again, the society has put in force political and social ideals of America greatly affecting the American Dream for many. Every American resident has his or her own definition of “achieving the American Dream”. However, all American Dreams are common, in part, that all believers are drawn to the desire to go above their current social class and improve their way of life. Although many people try to achieve their own American Dream, the society possess ideals that negatively affect the American Dream for both Americans and immigrants.
We were raised considering the jobs we could do in the future and the universities we may attend; we heard that hard work and dedication was the only essential to fly in this world. Everyone was aware of the standard of living that was expected and few hesitated to buy into the legendary dream. The American Dream itself is what we all grew up desiring. Suburban homes, multiple cars, hefty paychecks and fantasy vacations are its elements. The American Dream is exclusive and unsatisfying at its core.
The Founding Fathers once preached that the American Dream entailed the right to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” nothing more, nothing less (Declaration of Independence). For centuries, the American Dream meant having a good job, owning a house, having a nice family, and generally enjoying life the best way possible. As history progressed however, people started working toward achieving individualistic success by any means necessary. Go back to the 1930s in New York City one fine spring morning. A boy, Moss Hart, remembers that back then “wealth, rank, or an imposing name counted for nothing. The dream of the wonderful American consisted of having a decent chance to scale the walls and achieve what they wished” (Kamp 1). Now flash-forward a century into the year 2014. Today in America, success does not reflect how muc...
Through the course of change in the world- either through prosperity, capitalism or greed- people have lost focus with the real meaning of 'the American dream'. It is no longer the gamely aspirations of living life to the fullest, providing a better life for yourself and or others; instead, a pursuit for those materialistic aspects in life.
It may be hard to imagine a person dropping everything in his or her life, leaving behind many possessions, friends, and family, only to start again in a new country. Imagine a person coming to America with only the clothes on his or her back and whatever that person could carry. If one can overcome these hardships, like many immigrants to America had to experience, and make a name for himself or herself, that is experiencing the American Dream. The American Dream, a stereotypical viewpoint of one being able to move to America with nothing and become successful. This success is achieved through a gradual process of an adoption of the American culture by drowning the past and receiving an education for the future.
Junot Diaz, the author of "How to date a brown girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie)", was born in the Dominican Republic before moving to the United States where he was raised by his grandparents (Moreno 532). The early years of his life spent in the Dominican Republic helped to provide him with two different points of views regarding Dominican people, which he ties into his writing. The story is written in the second person, structured as an instruction manual for how to date different races of girls. The main speaker is a teenager named Yunior, who is presumed to live in a poor area. The narrator lists the steps for what to do in general, with specific intercessions of different things to do depending on the girl’s race. I believe that Diaz intended the story to focus on the various racial issues that it brings up, which can
... shining, his golden opportunity…the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and his vision can combine to make him…”(qtd.in The American Dream). A person who “manages” to achieve his or her version of the American Dream is often said to be “living the dream”. However this concept has been subjected to great criticism because some people that the social structure of the U.S. prevents such an idealistic goal for everyone. May critics often allude to various examples of inequality rooted in class, race, ethnicity, and religion, which suggests that the American Dream is not attainable to everyone. The principles of the American Dream are too idealistic. Everyone has dreams and goals, but the American Dream is one that is infinite and endless. It is very difficult to live the dream when so much of it is obscured by the government.
He knows that he never wants to be like his father when he grows up. Alcohol also causes a lot of deaths in Junior’s life. His sister died in a terrible fire because she was too drunk to escape her burning RV. Junior was let out of school early because of his sister’s death. He has to wait for his father to come get him, and he laughs and he cannot stop laughing at the thought of his dad also dying on his way to pick Junior up, “.it’s not too comforting to learn that your sister was TOO FREAKING DRUNK to feel any pain when she BURNED TO DEATH!
In “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie”, Junot Diaz describes how a teenage boy approaches romantic relationships and characterizes the girls based on their race and social class, instead of focusing on their individuality. The author also adds some sarcastic details to point out that a relationship should be built on trust, not massive lies. Juot Diaz successfully applies Gerard Genette’s theory of narratology while depicting his main theme on the impact of gender, race and social class towards one’s behavior towards others.
The film “Sugar Cane Alley” is focused primarily on a young African American boy by the name of Jose, who is trying to create a new future for himself outside of the sugar cane fields. Jose, lives with his grandmother in the small poverty stricken community of Martinique, which has a French colonial presence. During the course of this film, one sees Jose going through the process of becoming a young man and learning from the mistakes he made as well as the people within his community. Jose does something non typical for someone living in Martinique, which is utilizing his determination and drive to gain more knowledge and become educated, all with the help of his grandmother and Mr. Medouze. Jose’s strong desire to be educated shows how
Similarly, many of the goals and desires that the American Dream holds are not always what they seem to be. On the surface, they may seem to be what everyone wants, however below is the real truth about these desires and their consequen...
The American Dream can obliterate any prospect of satisfaction and does not show its own unfeasibility. The American dream is combine and intensely implanted in every structure of American life. During the previous years, a very significant number of immigrants had crossed the frontier of the United States of America to hunt the most useful thing in life, the dream, which every American human being thinks about the American dream. Many of those immigrants sacrificed their employments, their associations and connections, their educational levels, and their languages at their homelands to start their new life in America and prosper in reaching their dream.
Race is one of the obstacles presented, and it drives a Dominican’s reaction in “How to Date a Brown Girl (Black girl, White girl, or Halfie)” into a state of confusion and difficulty as a minority. The author commands the reader to do a bunch of things before going to a date; he says, “Clear the government cheese from the refrigerator…Hide the pictures of yourself with an Afro” (Diaz). The images of the government cheese and the pictures of the guy that he has to hide present poverty, inferior status of the narrator, and his origin. He does not want the girls that he tries to date to see his racial markers. He is not confident in accepting his race. This action may indicate that he values other people’s races more than his own race. Furthermore, the narrator complies with another instruction when he meets with a black girl , which states, “Run a hand through your hair like the whitebo...
Instead of just prosperity, the definition of the American Dream expanded to include the family; the dream became profoundly domestic. The American Dream previo...