Huckleberry Finn American Dream

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American ideals come from the concept of “The American Dream”. This dream includes ideals of freedom and opportunity, success, and social mobility. These American ideals are supposedly available to every American citizen, however reaching this dream is not easily accessible to everyone. Human beings yearn to be accepted socially and acceptance typically comes from being successful. It is the materialistic comfort, job security, and personal happiness that overall creates this idea of success. In Huckleberry Finn and Charlie Chaplin’s Modern times, we see that these American ideals are not exactly realistic. In Huckleberry Finn, Huck comes from a broken home, with a drunk for a father. The life style he comes from makes it hard for him …show more content…

Like previously mentioned, he wants to be free. "What's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?" (Ch. 16). He doesn’t see the purpose in learning how to be an upstanding citizen in society, he rather do wrong and be left alone than to do right and get no recognition. Money and success isn’t a necessity for Huck and Jim. It means more to them to be free of sterotypes and being held back, than to have large amounts of money. Although it seems as if the American Dream today is all about money and power, when it comes to racism and even discrimination of gender, many people would rather be free from mockery than to be the most successful person in the world. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is able to depict the disillusions of American ideals versus the actually political and social realities. Even though slavery has technically been abolished, Jim was still being held back by Jim Crow Laws and the prejudices of the South. And Huck cannot seem to escape the wrath of his drunk father, who seems to do nothing but burden him. It is sad to see that their dream of freedom is being blocked by miniscule, yet overriding, …show more content…

The Orphan Girl even finds a small wooden shack for the two to live in. The shack is decorated and furnished, however it is old and everything is breaking. The Little Tramp opens the door, and a piece of wood falls down. The Little Tramp Sits in a chair, and the chair breaks. This pattern continues and the repetition is intended to show the audience that the rigid reality these two characters face. No matter how hard they work and how much they strive for success, the dream is too far out of their reach. For the Little Tramp and the Orphan Girl its one step forward, 2 steps back. This is evidence of the inequalities that the middle and lower classes face. The American ideals that these characters strive for, such as freedom and opportunity, are not realistic. We live in a world where we should be able to gain success by working hard, but sometimes your hardest isn’t

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