Personal Narrative Essay: The American Dream

It was the summer of 1944 a year that would change my life. The dream I was having was abruptly interrupted by the loud voice of my mom yelling “Amante wake up!” Today was the day we were moving from Venice Italy to the great city of New York. There had been many bombing throughout Italy and we decided to pack up and live the American dream. I had been waiting for this day for years I had seen pictures and heard about America’s beauty but I couldn’t wait to see it in real life. The whole Dinardo family was excited to go, including me and my little sister Angelina. Angelina was only 8 years old. We’re seven years apart. She had golden blonde hair the color of honey and freckles dotted across her face. My dad walked excitedly into my room telling me that

today was the day! My papa and I had always been close, we enjoyed the same things we loved adventure, and were both always curious. We looked alike also, we had the same jet black hair and identical emerald green eyes and dark olive skin. I immediately combed my hair and put my clothes on. Our house had been sold already and as I got into the car I looked back at it for one last time. It was an hour drive to the dock and we boarded our boat just in time.
The boat was a large steam boat it was rusty and the paint was peeling away on the sides. On the inside there was a musty smell, once new carpets were now stained, cobwebs hanged freely and dust lingered throughout the inside of the boat. The boat smelled of body odor and was packed with immigrants overflowing the boat like bees in a beehive. Each day we got a breakfast and dinner in a buffet style old green dining hall. Each day our meal was stale Hard tack that tasted of nothing and a single glass of room temperature water. My sister and I slept in the same single bed while my parents slept in the other one. There wasn’t a day my sister complained about the boats conditions. Each day I longed to be on land dreaming of America’s vast luscious fields with dew on each single blade of sharp green grass. Or its warm orange and cotton candy colored sunset. One day on the boat I was especially hungry in the lunch line in front of my dad I quickly reached and took an extra piece of bread.

I quickly devoured it when I thought no one was looking. When I walked back to my cabin. My dad was sitting inside. Then when I went back in the cabin my dad scolded me and hit me for taking the bread, yelling furiously at me. You could have gotten us in lots of trouble he exclaimed. He then apologized and told me not to do it again. What have I come too I thought to myself.

It was a warm rainy June night the humidity was high which made it even harder to breathe on the crammed boat. My family was asleep on the constantly rocking boat suddenly the boat shook, but my family was still fast asleep. I couldn’t seem to fall asleep so I got up and stepped out on the cold wet steel boats upper deck to get some air. When I got outside I realized that it was pouring bucket sized rain. I saw increasingly large waves crash furiously against the lower deck. Hard water droplets pelted my face, I could taste the salt water in my mouth from the spray of the ocean. Suddenly A massive wave slammed hard against the ship and almost swallowed the boat. Wind gusts started kicking up. I held onto the rail grasping it as if it were my prized possession. Suddenly I was blown

back and slipped falling on to the ground. Things were increasingly getting worse. As I tried to get up the boat rocked back and forth causing me to slide to the edge of the boat at the last second I grabbed the rusty rail. I looked down slowly, hanging fifty feet above the thrashing ocean waves. One wrong move and I could be dead. I slowly pulled myself up the slippery pole onto the deck. I got up to the sound of screaming sirens in my ear and saw flashing red light out of the corner of my eye. My heart started racing. Suddenly the waves went crazy as if they were angry, slamming the boat as hard as it could. With 20 foot waves making the boat look like a toy. I heard the sound of frightened screams and scared yells. I saw a whole family on the lower deck swallowed in a wave as they vanished off the deck before my eyes. I rushed towards the cabins to warn my family screaming frantically. I realized that the boat was starting to sink. The water inside the hall was to my knees. But I was sent back by a ship’s captain. I yelled at the captain to let me in, he refused. I pushed through him and sprinted into the cabin hall the water was now at my chest. I went to our cabin and tried to open the door but it was jammed. I heard the pounding and yelling of my family. I was screaming and crying frantically trying to open the door as if I were delusional. My screams were drowned out by water and they became nothing more than air bubbles. I was now completely underwater I swam towards the steps fully underwater. My lungs no longer had air left in them. I then made it to the deck taking in as much air as possible. I didn’t have time to comprehend what had just happened. I was quickly led to a brown wooden life boat with 3 others. The boat fell twenty feet into the ocean making a large splash. Suddenly a large wave immediately flipped the life boat. I fell below the water, when I opened my eyes all I saw was the bottom half of the boat underwater illuminating the pitch black sea with its lights. I swam to the surface and went up to gasp for air but I was taken under by another wave. My lungs were collapsing and my vision blurred as I continued to swim to the top. I approached the surface just as I thought I was for sure dead. I began sucking in as much air as I could. I looked around surrounded by large waves to find the small life boat. I saw the figure of the boat and Swam towards it and got on. I realized I was all by myself. No one was anywhere to be spotted. Suddenly an object in the wind came in and hit me I was knocked out cold that was the last thing I remembered.

I awoke to the feeling of the wet spray of the ocean on me and the Hot, bright sun beaming on my face. I got up and looked around. I was surrounded by nothing but the ocean that sparkled like a crystal all around me. Tears shed my eyes as I slowly regained my memory. I lay down on the boat for several hours thinking. All around me was blue green water and slow almost relaxing rocking waves going up and down. “Am I going to die out here? “I thought to myself. I decided the answer was no, at least for right now. I looked around to observe all my resources. I saw on the side of the boat a fringed rope and a life saver. There was also a spear placed on a rack that had managed to survive the storm. I spotted a brown oak box attached to the boat. I opened up the box and saw an orange lifejacket, food, and water. I was overwhelmed with relief. With it was a book on how to survive at sea, a pencil, and a journal. I took it and started reading through it. As I read I started to make a plan. I learned how to ration my food. I made a chart on food rationing in the journal. At the end of the day I had a full page of writing. I started writing what I had done each day and wrote about what happened, and how I missed my family. At the end of each day I wrote down a single tally.

It had been eleven days at sea. I was badly sun burnt and I had already lost around ten pounds. I had learned a new daily routine. I would normally wake up around what I assumed was 11:00 o’clock. Each day I would write in the journal and play the games in the book to keep my brain in shape. I would then eat my meal at around 2:00. My stomach had gotten used to being hungry all the time. I assumed I was somewhere off the northern coast of Africa. I had been drifting aimlessly for days and often got sea sick. I would tie the rope to the boat and swim around to stay in shape every day. One day when I was swimming around and I felt a hard bump on the bottom of my foot. It was rough like sand paper and it scraped my foot. Then I felt it again. The rope was about 18 feet away I started swimming back to it frantically. Then I stopped dead in my tracks when two fins swam about five feet in front of me. Then another one appeared behind me. I was froze my body didn’t move. My mind couldn’t think. Suddenly thinking back I remembered something from reading the survival book. I desperately wanted to swim back to the boat. But instead I did what the book had instructed. I focused on slowing my heart rate down and tried to remain calm. The book had said sharks could smell fear. I saw a massive grey and white figure swim directly under me. I tried not to make sudden movements as I slowly inched back to the boat. Suddenly one of the sharks came barreling towards me. It was within two feet of me. I had to act fast. I remembered back to the book quickly running through my mind. I punched the shark as hard as I could on its snout. Surprisingly it swam away. I was now within five feet of the boat with the two grey fins still coming near. I then made a sudden dash to the boat. Swimming faster than I ever had before, not daring to look back. I approached the boat and made it on. I immediately laid down kissing the boat. I had never been so happy to be back on that miserable boat. I thought my heart would explode it was beating so hard. I felt a sudden thud on the bottom of the boat. Then all three grey sharp fins vanished. That night I had wrote about my experience, and marked a twelfth tally.

It was the beginning of July. I was starting to run out of food. My ribs had now become visible. The clouds were dark and it looked as if there was another storm. I put my life jacket on and prepared my boat for the storm. It started off as a light rain. Increasingly getting harder and worse. The once innocent storm had now become a tyrant. Suddenly thunder boomed echoing across the ocean. The loud clap of lightning struck the sea. The waves began to become rowdy as if the storm were encouraging it. After all this time surviving would it finally be over? After everything I had done I determined this storm wouldn’t bring me down. The storm sent the small boat spiraling into almost a world pool. I held on to the side of the boat for dear life. The rain hit my face causing me pain while the wind was blowing me back. Suddenly a large wave came from under me flipping the boat over. I grabbed on to the boat and flipped it back. I wasn’t going to let the storm win. I then got back on and held my own throughout the storm. The storm soon started to die down. Soon after the storm the sun peaked from behind the clouds. A rainbow emerged in the sky. I sat down making sure I had all my supplies. Then I heard a splash. Then another one. I looked up to see the glimmering scales of a fish jumping in and out of the water. Then another one came then another. After that another one then another one jumped. Five became ten became twenty became 50 until hundreds of fish were all jumping. Many hit my body and landed in my boat. I had never seen anything quite like it. I yelled as the fish bounced of my body. I yelled a cry of victory with tears of joy streaming down my face. My cry must have echoed for miles. That night I had a bountiful meal. I cut open the fish with the spear and ate them. I looked up at the sky’s beautiful stars that made the water sparkle. The reflection looked as if the stars them self were underwater. I looked at my reflection for the first time in a month. My short combed hair had become long and mangy. My rounded face was now sharp. My once rounded body had become skinny and toned. That night I had the best sleep that I’ve had in a while. I woke up to the sound of the horn of a barge. At first I thought it was a dream until I then fully opened my eyes and saw the massive barge. I yelled at the top of my lungs my voice started cracking from my tears. The barge gave a loud BBBBBBBEEEEERRR as if it the boat itself had acknowledged me. The boat turned my way. It approached my small boat. They pulled down a team that loaded me onto the boat. I had survived.

I was brought to a New York hospital where I ate many meals a day. I constantly answered reporters’ questions, some not believing my story. My aunt who moved to New York when she was seventeen, was given custody of me. I regained my health but I still looked the same as I did on the boat. I grew up to be a New York business man who worked hard on Wall Street. What had happened to me shaped me as a person. If I had never been through that experience I wouldn’t be the person that I am to today. I still miss my family everyday never forgetting the naive words of my sister. Or the lessons by my parents. In fact nothing would be the same if I didn’t survive.