Many people in the U.S. are living an American dream but they do not know where it came from. Chicago, home of million people, holds a significant place in the history of American dream. As in the "Preface" of, The Third Coast, the author, Thomas Dyja talks about how Chicago built the American Dream and influenced the whole nation. The author has explained the importance of Chicago by describing the hardships in the 20th century when the city was involved in corruption, segregation and cultural shifts. The author has also mentioned some important personalities who contributed to build the American dream regardless of the hard time they faced. He has given evidence to his central purpose by discussing how the city rose from ashes and developed …show more content…
in industrialization, became a masterpiece of architecture and music.
Dyja focuses on the point that it is the city of Chicago which perfectly describes the future of America. Dyja uses organization, imagery to take you back in past and provides evidence to communicate his central purpose of how Chicago had a tremendous impact on 20th century American life. To begin Dyja uses organization in his writing to make the readers clear that how Chicago influenced the nation in the 20th century. First he begins with the hook which tells the story of a significant personality, Louis Sullivan dying in the city while the Chicagoans are busy in the hustle and bustle of the city. The author then describes his central purpose, how Chicago contributed in the American dream. He reflects on how the city’s three most powerful groups the Catholic Church, the Mob and the Democratic party involved the city in corruption. But Chicago always rose back from ashes. As he writes, “It was a slow, often painful progress infused with creativity and greed, overshadowed by the two glamourous cities on the other coasts, but central in all ways to …show more content…
mass-market America we know today” (xxiii). As the city progressed with time, the author takes us back to the development of architectural buildings and how Chicago became a crossroad. As he explains, “The idea of Chicago as a crossroads, where all of America’s impulses met to converse and trade, battle and build, each structure a message about how technology and man could thrive together” (xxii). By reflecting on all those years, Dyja tells us how people of different race, color and gender started to live the lives of common people. The author concludes his preface by taking us back to the importance of Chicago in building American dream. Dyja says that America is known for fast food chains, naked centerfolds and cold skyscrapers but all these came from Chicago. As he mentions that “all these things are uniquely American precisely because they came out of the city that most genuinely expresses America as a whole” (xxxiv). The author takes us back through the Chicago in past and how it emerged regardless of all the hardships. Dyja’s use of organization helps us to understand the founder of American dream better. Another strategy Dyja uses is the imagery of the events happened in past.
As in the beginning of preface he starts with the tragic death scene of Louis Sullivan who was a contributing personality in the city’s development. He describes the old man who was drunk and in comma. He was suffering from kidney disorder, laying on the floor under the light of the bulb while the life in the city went on (Dyja). The author uses the strategy of this visual description to take the readers back in the 20th century. In addition Dyja uses imagery when he describes the life of a regular guy. As he states, “A house and a lawn in a parish full of your kind of people; kids safe and in line, and same with the wife; your nose out of other people’s business and theirs out of yours” (xxvii). This description of the events walks us back to the past. It makes us imagine how ordinary people lived their daily lives. The strategy of imagery helps the reader to imagine the past and makes them realize how Chicago contributed towards the American
dream. The final strategy Dyja gives is the evidence to his central purpose. He argues how Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler contributed in shaping the city. He writes, “Sullivan teamed up with Dankmar Adler to design scores of buildings that expressed the extremes of the city that gave America its meat, steel and the Wizard of Oz” (xxii). Together they showed the country of how the structure of skyscraper should be. This made the city to explore the modern industry. Moreover, Dyja tells us how the city progressed in musical culture which now, the world calls the American music. He states that “the liberated, leering sexuality of the Playboy; glass and steel modern architecture; rock and roll and the urban blues” (xxiii). Additionally, he gives the evidence to creativity and destruction era. He reports that “European intellectuals and dirt-poor southern blacks all came to the Third Coast to explore the postwar future” (xxxi). The city of Chicago at that time welcomed the trials of people. Similarly, the author at the end of preface provides evidence when he talks about the role of Chicago in America. He claims, “Understanding America requires understanding Chicago” (xxxiv). America would not be anything without skyscrapers, pop culture, crossroads and different cultures. Dyja says that it is the hardship of the Chicagoans in the past which describes the America today. This is how Dyja uses his strategy of evidence which makes his arguments more strong and deep-rooted. In conclusion, Dyja vividly uses three main strategies to communicate his central purpose, arrangement in describing the past, visual description of things happened through establishing the American dream and by providing proof to events happened in the 20th century. Dyja is enthusiastic about relating importance of Chicago and the American dream.
The Devil in the White City is a literary nonfiction novel that is centered around the World’s Fair in Chicago. The subtitle of The Devil in the White City is “Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America.” As Erik Larson describes so vividly, the fair did just that. From the way electricity is distributed through homes, to the length of our working hours or days in a week, to cultural icons, and amusement parks. There is a brief but fascinating link between the Fair and other inventions today. The White City, as some would call it, was described as the scenery of the gleaming white colored buildings that soared into the sky and its majestic beauty. The book has the inspiration to combine two distantly related late-19th century stories into a narrative that is anything but bizarre.
Though it was non-fictional, Larson was able to make their histories into a thought-provoking and captivating narrative, with an intensity and closeness not seen in most history books. Using this closeness, and carefully analytical observation of historic documents, Larson used Burnham and Holmes as examples of the state of Chicago during the 1800s. The novel captures the mayhem of a disorganized yet quickly-advancing time.
Dan Georgakas in his book “Detroit: I Do Mind Dying” he analyzes the activists and formation of the black workers. The first project that he investigates was “The Inner City Voice” (pag16), a revolutionary newspaper that help to denunciate and expose the injustices of the black communities. Georgakas states that this newspaper “reflected a belief that the paper’s hard-hitting and revolutionary viewpoint was an accurate expression of the dominant mood of Detroit’s black population” (pag16). Moreover, this newspaper helps to put in knowledge the lower class “they tried to build their paper into a vehicle for political organization, education and change(pag16) in order to inform “what was already in the streets(pag16). In other word they try to educate the mass in political education and advocate for them in their struggle and inequality in the
The Chicago World Fair brought about through the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus landing in America has posed significant value and worth to the city of Chicago. Over a six-month period, more than 26 million visitors from all over the world would flock to the fairgrounds to experience the rebuilt and vibrant city of Chicago. The 600-acre fairground would have housed 200 buildings that showcased new food, art, technology, and entertainment. Chicago became known as the White City, a place of freedom, grandeur, and security. But unbeknownst to fairgoers, there was a serial killer among them. While Dr. H.H. Holmes lured his innocent victims to his “Castle”, just blocks away architect Daniel Burnham built up the dream city of Chicago. Both these men operated at the same time in history, simply blocks apart, both creating legacies that carry to this day. Burnham and Holmes are two side of the coin of human nature. In “The Devil in White City” Erik Larson’s juxtaposition of Burnham and Holmes, and the Black City and the White City, contributes to the understanding of human nature, that one cannot be good without having done evil, and that good and evil are viewed as complementary in their mutual dependence.
History textbooks seem to always focus on the advancements of civilization, often ignoring the humble beginnings in which these achievements derive. How the Other Half Lives by journalist-photographer Jacob A. Riis explores the streets of New York, using “muck-racking” to expose just how “the other half lives,” aside from the upbeat, rich, and flapper-girl filled nights so stereotypical to New York City in the 1800s. During this time, immigrants from all over the world flooded to the new-born city, bright-eyed and expecting new opportunities; little did they know, almost all of them will spend their lives in financial struggle, poverty, and crowded, disease-ridden tenements. Jacob A. Riis will photograph this poverty in How the Other Half Lives, hoping to bring awareness to the other half of New York.
People who work hard enough become successful and build a good life for themselves and their family. Millions of Americans and others who admire America have believed this for generations. However, is this still true? Brandon King debates his interpretation of the American Dream in his published work, “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?” During his essay, the speaker highlights how important the American Dream is to the economy and providing a distance from inequality. The speaker emphasizes his belief that the American Dream is still alive within America and that people must work hard to achieve it. When discussing the American Dream, King will agree that the idea is alive and thriving in the minds of Americans; yet, I argue that the idea is on hold within American society due to lack of upward social independence and economic mobility.
In short, she is heartwarming, sunny, lively and dangerous as most large cities. She is good to the soul and as cold as the wind. Chicago is the Windy City also the City with Big Shoulders in the end Chicago is my Home .
If there is one thing on which critics agree when discussing this book, it is that Kotlowitz is a brilliant narrator. He has a keen eye for the daily particulars of this dangerous neighborhood. Adding to this strength is the fact that he spent years in one particular Chicago project, earning the trust of his informants. What ensues is a story that is told masterfully.
The American Dream provides Americans hope that if they work hard, they will eventually be successful, no matter how penniless the person. To understand the construction of this topic, there is a need to understand the circumstances involved. The Epic of America, The narrative in which the American Dream was constructed, was produced in the nineteen thirties. During this time, the Great Depression was at the height of destruction, and the new president Franklin D. Roosevelt created the “New Deal,” which inspired newly-found hope. In his Second Inaugural Address, he voiced his vision for the expanded role that the government would take in American's lives by stating, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little” (Franklin D. Roosevelt). This began the facade of hope towards the impoverished folks attempting to achieve success. In reality the optimism and dedication given towards this dream is disproportional...
The concept of the American dream has been related to everything from religious freedom to a nice home in the suburbs. It has inspired both deep satisfaction and disillusioned fury. The phrase elicits for most Americans a country where good things can happen. However, for many Americans, the dream is simply unattainable. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams,” Dexter Green, a hardworking young man born into the middle class, becomes wrapped up in his pursuit to obtain wealth and status in his life. These thoughts and ideas represent Dexter’s fixation on his “winter dreams,” or, the idea of what the American Dream means to him: gaining enough wealth to eventually move up in social class and become somebody, someday. As Dexter attempts to work himself up the social ladder, he falls in love with Judy Jones, a shallow and selfish, rich woman. But to Dexter, Judy represents the very idea of the American Dream-- obtaining wealth and status. Dexter’s pursuit of Judy and essentially the American Dream becomes an obsession. In the end, Dexter is forced to accept the realization that his “winter dreams” are actually just empty wishes. By characterizing Judy as a superficial, materialistic woman, Fitzgerald criticizes the destructive nature of the American Dream.
Frazier’s use of detail becomes apparent when rereading the essay. Each moment he describes himself traveling through Brooklyn is so explicitly detailed that his tone and language and layout of the essay starts to become apparent. Frazier detailed description gives the readers a feel of Brooklyn’s environment and the people that create it. When he talks about the bad things he sees in Brooklyn he states in the first sentence, “Brooklyn, New York, as the undefined, hard-to–remember the shape of a stain.” Then he continues to describe where he lives leading up to the F train in his neighborhood. He talks about the street and corner he lives on, “ I live on the edge of Park Slope, neighborhood by the crest of a low ridge that runs through the borough.” From there he continues to talk about the environment in his area. The sound of the planes that fly over his building, the touch of the shadow the plane makes, and the feel of the train makes when shaking his building. The next scene he takes us on is when he is on the F train, “Once a woman… pulled a knife. I remember the knife – it is flat,
In the United States there is an idea many pursue called the American dream, which differs from person to person. The American dream according to americanradioworks.publicradio.org is “a revolutionary notion: each person has the right to pursue happiness, and the freedom to strive for a better life through hard work and fair ambition”. Yet it has been said there is no real definition of American dream, instead it merely proves that it has an unconscious influence in American mentality (Ştiuliuc 1). The American dream is different for each person because everyone yearns for things that will they hope will in return make them happy. Whatever that may be, each person goes through different struggles to obtain what they want. According to Frederic Carpenter, the American dream “has never been defined exactly, and probably never can be. It is both too various and too vague” (3). The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse depicts the different interpretations on what the American dream actually is through the opinions and actions of Hector Esperanza, Efren Mendoza and Mrs. Calhoun.
“Batman Begins” is a movie based on DC Comic’s Franchise character Batman. The themes of poverty and fear are highlighted in the film and are the prime examples of Problem Definition. In the context of superheroes and science fiction, the film holds little ground in defining problems of society. However, the argument can be raised that problems of Gotham city, equate to the problems most face in the urban parts of major cities across the United States: poor structure. In analyzing structure one must begin with the definition and causal agents while contrasting and drawing comparisons between Gotham City and for a more realistic model, modern Detroit.
It was late June, and Luke and his friend Ben had just finished up their day in Chicago. The great city had so much to offer, and they were reluctant to
Evensvold, Marty D. "The American Dream: Stories from the Heart of Our Nation." Library Journal Dec. 2001: 200. General OneFile. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.