Fences: The American Dream

The American Dream The United States was founded upon the idea of an American Dream, or the idea that everyone should have the chance to reach success and happiness through hard work, determination, and initiative. However, many factors, such as race, age, intelligence, and gender play a role on how well one achieves their dream. Two well known stories based on the American Dream are Fences, a fictional story of an African American family in the 1950s, and The Pursuit of Happyness, a nonfiction story of an African American father struggling to make ends meet in the 1980s. Both have many similarities, but the most obvious is the hardships that the characters’ have to face because of their races. It is no secret that people of color have always had the lower hand in society, therefore creating a more difficult atmosphere for them to obtain their dreams. Overall, the obstacle

Viewers first meet him when he and his wife, Lisa, are struggling to make ends meet and provide for their son, Chris Jr., but under the stress his wife leaves. Chris is now a single dad with no money, that faces racism and prejudice daily in the society of the 1980s . As the movie continues, one observes difficulties that face the pair. It is soon made clear that Chris has a dream of becoming a successful stockbroker in order to insure his son’s happiness, as well as his own happiness. At the beginning of the film, there is a scene in a taxi with a rubik's cube between Chris and Jay, a prominent stockbroker. In the taxi, Chris states that he can solve the rubik’s cube before the car stops. He was quickly able to do so and Jay was so impressed that he offered Chris an interview for an internship position at Dean Witter's, the firm where he works. By the end of the film, Chris is offered a permanent job at Dean Witter’s as a stockbroker and is able to reach his dream, eventually surpassing it by creating his own