The American Dream is having the opportunity to achieve many goals and dreams in America. There are opportunities to work, to receive an education, and for people to be able to do what they love and long for. The reality of the American Dream is not like the promise. Many people believe that the American Dream is when people come to America to get rich and that may be true, but it is not true for everyone. An example would be the short story, “America and I,” by Anzia Yezierska, where the tone progresses as she recounts her story of coming to America as an immigrant from false hope to a bittersweet reality. To begin with, Yezierska started the narrative with a very positive, hopeful tone. She began the story by comparing what America was going to be like compared to her home country, Russia. Yezierska explains, “Choked for ages in …show more content…
the airless oppression of Russia, the Promised Land rose up -- wings for my stifled spirit -- sunlight burning through my darkness -- freedom singing to me in my prison -- deathless songs turning prison-bars into strings of a beautiful violin” (3). The quote conveys Yezierska’s powerful feelings and need to move to America. In a way, America has become her savior because she uses the metaphor of Russia being her prison. If Russia was her prison, then America is her escape. It is her escape because she believes that the air won’t be filled with oppression, but that it would be filled with great opportunities instead. Furthermore, Yezierska feels very disappointed in America after not being paid after a month’s work of being a servant for an American family. Not getting paid after a month’s work was because the American family believed Yezierska wasn’t worth any money in their eyes due to not knowing English. This made Yezierska very anger because she came to America for the sole purpose of being able to make a living and her first experience working in America for an American family was not at all what she expected. This experience was even more harsh because Yezierska already anticipated what she was going to buy with her money only to not be paid at all. Yezierska declares “Now rejecting false friendships from higher-ups in America, I turned back to the Ghetto. I worked on a hard bench with my own kind on either side of me. I knew before I began what my wages were to be” (42). This first experience was very important because it is when she lost almost all hope for America and its people. This melting pot wasn’t in fact a melting pot, because she wouldn’t be able to survive if it kept going at this rate. Additionally, Yezierska reflects on her experiences in America from not being paid to learning english and becoming self-sufficient as a writer.
She summarizes her feelings toward America after all of this by saying, “I saw America -- a big idea -- a deathless hope -- a world still in the making. I saw that it was the glory of America that it was not yet finished. And I, the last comer, had her share to give, small or great, to the making of America, like those pilgrims who came in the Mayflower” (105). Looking back to the beginning of the story to this point, shows a great contrast in tone. The tone is no longer happy, hopeful, and naive, but it is now bittersweet, realistic, and wise. The analogy given is powerful because she, an immigrant, compares herself to the makers of America. This shows a great change in tone and character because she now feels like she can compare herself to the people who created and not to someone who doesn’t know a thing about America. She went from expecting many job opportunities to come to her right as she moved to America to feeling like she has the power to create her own America and her own
experiences. In conclusion, Anzia Yezierska tells her story of coming to America as an immigrant and progresses her tone from a false hope to a realistic hope in the short story, “America and I.” The narrative of her life is very emotional, because is it filled the harsh realities of America and it is filled with the successes she’s had while being in America. She showed how it is possible to go from being a servant to being an independent, great writer. Her stories are still being used today in classrooms, even though she came from nothing, which shows how the American Dream is attainable, but it requires hard work and a plan.
In the short story “America and I” by Anzia Yezierska, the author talks about a girl who came to America looking for the “American dream” and also trying to escape from Russia, which she calls prison. This nameless girl feels “beaten out of [her heart],” suffocated in Russia, like she couldn’t get out of her impoverished lifestyle there. She tried to adjust to living in America because she’s from a different culture and environment and she asks many questions to help herself out but then she realizes that she is not an American and never will be. She ends up working with a Russian family as a servant. Then, later on she worked in a sweatshop and got fired. She had low thoughts about
TRIANGLE The Fire that Changed America by David Von Drehle The book, TRIANGLE The Fire that Changed America, written by David Von Drehle, is set in New York City primarily in the tenements of the Lower East Side and in Greenwich Village. The story provides a detailed account of life as an immigrant during the early 1900s, the garment workers strikes, the corrupt political structure of the time, several eye witness accounts of the blaze that killed 146, the missing safety procedures that could have saved them, the trial that attempted to bring the owners to justice and finally the political change and work force standards that came about as a result of the tragic event. The book begins by describing participants in a garment industry strike and how any form of challenge to the authority, the factory owners, would be handled. He describes the money-driven political corruption that allowed the owners to thwart any upheaval by sending out the muscles of the not-so-underworld to beat the strikers, women included.
The Poem that relates most to my life is “America” written by Tony Hoagland. I believe this poem has the ability to save America. It was once said “Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. No person will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not come to you. It will only come from you.” It all starts with looking in the mirror rather than looking at others. To everyone this is so different because everyone chooses a different path though life. Every story is different but the best part is you get to tell your story and share it with the world.
"Battleground America," written by Jill Lepore, provides a strong history of guns and the way they have changed in the eyes of the American through the years. She proves her point with strong evidence throughout her article, sprinkling it with opinion and argument that is strongly supported. She presents her argument to convince her audience that the open availability of guns allows citizens to undeservingly purchase them by displaying the credibility in her sources, using negative connotations in her speech, and the strength and objectivity only a strong logos appeal can provide.
Anzia Yezierska is one of many immigrants that traveled to America in order to create a new living. Throughout her short story “America and I”, she immerses the reader with descriptive imagery and thoughtful detail as she tells of the challenges she personally faced. Perpetually conflicted and confused, Yezierska’s ever-evolving understanding of America changes the structure of narrative to fit her journey. Throughout the trials presented and an internal battle against an imagined and romanticized America, Yezierska finds her true America and the life she can build within it, which is reflected in her adjusted structure and tone.
...alize, once again, that words are powerful and can communicate the writer’s intent, dreams, desire and message. These words can become the messengers of influential ideas that can literally change the world and revolutionise lives. Hoagland’ use of figurative language distinctively accentuates the author’s experience of watching people cause harm to others without a second thought. The narrative method utilized in the poem makes readers contemplate the challenges third world labourers go through and envisage their pain. The symbolism applied to the poem, puts emphasis in the tone and mood of the poem and effectively rouses readers to stop turning a blind eye to those in impoverishment. In conclusion, the poem ‘America’ successfully allows readers to be witnesses to Tony Hoagland’s passion for all that it means to live and ponder over what it truly means to be happy.
What is the American Dream? There are a myriad of aspects to it, but one general idea: the ideal life. It is making a lot of money, being respected, and triumphing difficult situations. The American Dream has been pursued by many, but only few make it all the way.
I’d be a creator, a giver, a human being!” She was expecting to find good but instead she was completely used and treated as if she was disgraceful. Her struggle beginning with not speaking english in America, which pretty much made someone useless because communication would be hard. The narrator says, “Here I was with so much richness in me, but my mind was not wanted without language.” The tone shifted as Yezierska is now desperate for wages with her first job in america, being a servant. She put her all into her work thinking that it would pay off, but when she thought it was time for her to receive her wages she was disappointed. Yezierska felt not having her own money made her seem like she didn’t have any freedom. On page 18 she says, “Like a prisoner in his last night in prison, counting the seconds that will free from his chains.” Although she felt like she should have been paid, the family she worked for felt opposite. Her hard work was overlooked and she was not given any recognition. The narrator felt heartbroken and hopeless as she describes on page 19 “I was choked no words came to my lips. Even the tears went dry in my
The American Dream is the idea for any person, no matter race, color, or creed to become wealthy in a society by hard work and dedication. The idea starts when you're a child if you see your parents working and earning a living. The idea absorbs in the child’s head to do good in life, so he can succeed and do the same things as them. It all starts when you are 22 coming out of college. During those four years of college you choice your career and hopefully adept to it. After you graduate the job hunt begins with hundreds of people competing for the same spot and you hope that your number one so you can get the job. If you're lucky enough to get the position you have to work hard to adapt to the condition of working, and do good enough to keep the job. Hopefully after hard work for a few years you meet a girl and marry and start a family, and your life goes on.
Anne-Marie Slaughter is the first woman director of planning policy at the State Department and the president and CEO of the New America Foundation. She has taught at two of the most prestige schools in the country Princeton and Harvard Law. She is also the author and editor of several books, but the most recent one is called “The Idea That Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World which was published in the year 2007. Slaughters essay is about trying to balance home life and work life, and it first appeared in the Atlantic in July/August 2012 issue and was also on the Huffington Post. This essay argues that women in high power jobs and government positions can have both a work life and also keep their home life. She started her essay with a little information on background about her job.
The American Dream is an idea that anyone can live in the United States through hard work and live happy successful lives. There are many obstacles that would stand in the way from achieving the American Dream. Fear, money and education/training, families changing in size, disability, race and gender, are some of the hurdles that many Americans face as they try to achieve the typical American Dream.
"The American Dream" is that dream of a nation in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with options for each according to capacity or accomplishments. It is a dream of social stability in which each man and each woman shall be able to achieve to the fullest distinction of which they are essentially competent, and be distinguish by others for what they are, despite of the incidental conditions of birth or stance. The American Dream is often something that humanity wonders about. What is the American dream? Many people discover success in a range of things. There are many different definitions of the American Dream. However, the American Dream embraces prosperity, personal safety, and personal liberty. The American dream is a continually fluctuating set of ideals, reflecting the ideas of an era.
The American Dream was and always will be something that makes America great. It allows those with aspirations to make them come true. In America alone needs is a dream and the motivation to carry out that dream. Ambition is the driving force behind the American Dream. It allows any one that has an aspiration, a desire, a yearning, to carry out the individual dream. It knows no bounds of race, creed, gender or religion. It stands for something great, something that every one can strive towards. A dream can be a desire for something great. In America, the American Dream allows dreams to become realities. According to Webster's New World Dictionary, the American Dream is defined as "An American social ideal that' stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity". To live this dream is to succeed. It allows anyone, rich or poor to have the opportunity to succeed. It is the ability to come from nothing and become so me thing. To succeed at any thing you do, you must have patience and persistence. It requires hard work, persistence and a desire for something better. To have these qualities and the desire and ambition to carry the moutis part of the American Dream.
The Quiet American is written by Graham Greene. This novel is about the conflict between Alden Pyle and Thomas Fowler. The novel’s events have already taken place and Fowler is the narrator of the story. Thomas Fowler, a man in his fifties, is a British journalist who has been covering the events taking place in the French War in Vietnam for over two years. He chooses to remain neutral between the sides of the battles he covers. He meets Alden Pyle, a young American who is well educated and secretly works in a secret agent service. Pyle has read numerous books written by a scholar named York Harding, who believes that a “Third Force” is needed in Vietnam, which is neither communism nor colonialism. Pyle is opposite of Fowler because Pyle is a believer of the “Third Force” and also, Pyle is naïve. Pyle fails to recognize the consequences of a majority of his actions. The conflict between these two not only involve their opposing beliefs but it also comes from their relationship with Phuong, Fowler’s live-in lover. Pyle and Fowler meet at a hotel called the Continental, which is where Pyle also meets Phuong. Pyle is captivated by Phuong and has the chance to dance with her. While Fowler is covering a battle for his journalism of the war, Pyle goes to tell him immediately that he has been in love with Phuong ever since he met her and that he wants to marry her. Fowler is annoyed by Pyle’s confidence that Phuong will leave him for Pyle. In an incident at a guard tower, Pyle saves Fowler’s life after he breaks his leg as they attempt to escape from soldiers. After hearing rumors about Pyle, Fowler starts to investigate Pyle’s actions and finds out that he is importing military supplies from the United States into Vietnam. Later, while ...
The American Dream is, has been, and always will be a myth. This myth is bolstered by others who appear to have benefitted all the while it may have just been their own speechless luck and not anything about this country as millions stay in poverty and jobless. We’ve gone from wanting the basics in life as our American dream to wanting more than we ever thought we could have.But for others it is the dream of a fulfilled life or even the dream of fame and wealth.However, the American Dream can be defined as being the opportunity and freedom for all citizens to achieve their goals and become rich and famous if only they work hard enough.