American Dream: A Pursuit Through Literature

The American dream is defined as “the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative”, yet many people in this day of age believe that this is no longer a plausible aspiration. Neverless, this demeanor is at the heart of the classic American tales of the highest and lowest points of the American spirit, making one question whether or not this fundamental dream is still worth pursuit. Though it is a path containing hardships and challenges, actively seeking to achieve what you desire is one of the most prominent life lessons throughout American literature, as evidenced through the Crucible, A Raisin in the Sun, and The Great Gatsby.

Before diving into the Crucible’s plot-line, it is vital in understanding the context under which it was written. In 1953, tensions continued to rise between America and the Soviet Union, with paranoia threatening the sanity of the country due to communist threat. This lead to the House of Un-American Activities

It is evident that all he wanted was to help his family prosper and achieve a better life, but he was so blindsided by his dream that he never saw the danger or risk in putting all of his money in one place. The American Dream promises that through hard work and determination, it shall be achieved. Yet with that, there are people “always getting ‘tooken’” while “people like Willy Harris, they don’t never get ‘tooken’”, meaning people will always cheat and steal the efforts of others for their own benefit (Hansberry 95). While their family does end up being cheated out of their money, they still move into their new home. They have an uncertain future, they are content and excited by the opportunity to live a better life, despite their earlier setback, and begin to carve a new path to their