The American Dream concept and cultural significance

¶ … American Dream metaphor stands as a symbol of the U.S. And of it being the land of freedom in which almost anyone can fulfill their fantasies. Subsequent to the war of independence, people everywhere became fascinated with the concept of a colony defeating one of the greatest empires in the world and then attaining freedom into a territory full of riches. As a result, masses of people wanting to live the American Dream began to flow into the newly formed country. Over the years numerous plays, movies, and books have been made on the topic.

James Truslow Adams is the father of the "American Dream" term as he first used in his 1931 book "The Epic of America." In his opinion, the American Dream should be represented through a picture of an amazing land where life is wonderful for everyone.

In general most of the people emigrating to the U.S. had been from the lower-classes of the time's society with a few exceptions from the upper-classes. Upper-class Europeans for example, regarded America as being a land of utopia, where people would go and destroy their lives. This was partly true, with most people coming in the U.S. discovering that little of what was said about the country had been true. The land full of gold and petrol proved to favor only the rich instead of favoring those lucky enough to find a deposit of such sources.

During the 19th century, when hearing the word "America," one would often relate to a dreamland where all wishes came true. In fact, the country had been a dreamland, but only for the hard-working people that had been clever. The "American Dream" meant that one could exploit his capacities to the limit and receive all the credit deserved for the act.

The fact that the U.S. had been the land of the free soon came to attention during the second half of the 19th century with the Civil War. In the war, free-soilers in the north went against their white brothers in the south in order to free all of the black slaves that had been obliged to hard labor.

Most of the people that came into the U.S. did so with a slight feeling of certainty that the American Dream would, in fact, be attained by them too. In the present, it had became obvious that all that normal people want is a decent life, with a decent job, a house, a car, and all the basic things which make life easier. However, apart from wanting a decent life, modern people would also appreciate a life full of wealth where they shouldn't work as everything would come to them. This somewhat new concept of the American life has been created in the late 19th century, with people seeing that they could get rich over night.

A true representation of the American dream would be the TV show "Who wants to be a millionaire?" Hundreds of thousands of people call every day in order to have a chance of appearing the show and the show has an audience of tens of millions. Most definitely, the show proves that people are fanatical about making large sums of money in little time. The lottery also demonstrates how people hope that they would win millions of dollars in an instant. A notable thing about both the lottery and "Who wants to be a millionare?" is that generally both games are played by people from the lower-classes.

People stopped clinging on the traditional American dream in which people be rewarded only through hard work and through sacrifice. Because of commercial purposes, TV shows and similar programs are made so that people would wrongfully believe that winning large sums of money is, in fact, easy.

Ultimately, most of the people in America want to reach the American dream and escape from depending on their bosses. With this happening, Americans are involuntary helping their country to get its image of being a fantasy land.

One of the most important factors in making people be certain that the American dream does exist is the media. The U.S. posses the most powerful media industry on the planet and it broadcasts almost everywhere around the world. There are billions of people from all over the world that have watched a product of the respective industry. Moreover, there are even more people that have heard the term "American Dream" in their life. Thus, America has started to be seen exactly as it had been in the movies, news channels, radios, and newspapers. In fact, the U.S. is one of wealthiest countries in the world, and, it is possible for people to improve their financial state while staying in this country. But with all these said, the chances for one to get rich immediately in America are practically zip.

One of the first and most significant movies to refer directly to the concept of the American dream is John Ford's 1856 movie "The Searchers." The plot is based on the novel of Allan Le May which depicts the story of middle aged Ethan Edwards, played by John Wayne, while searching for his kidnapped niece. The story is set in the second half of the 19th century, after the Civil War, in the year of 1868. Former Civil War soldier for the Confederacy, Ethan Edwards comes home to his brother in Texas. Supposedly, no one knew what Ethan did in the last years after the war, but all clues lead viewers in believing that he had misbehaved during the time. A local ranger attempts to convince Ethan in joining the Texas Rangers, but, surprisingly, Ethan refuses and begins to bring a lot of controversy around him. Ethan gives his niece Debbie, played by Lana Wood, a medal from the period of Emperor Maximilian which is intended to prove the fact that he had been in Mexico during the time. He also gives to his brother's family $20 golden coins in order to help sustaining the farm.

Not long after Ethan arrives to the ranch, a Comanche group sieges the house and kills all members of the family, taking Ethan's two nieces, Lucy and Debbie, as prisoners. Subsequent to the funeral, Ranger Captain Clayton decides to go in pursuit of the criminals. Ethan joins the ranger group and they shortly find the Comanche tribe's camp. Ethan wants to attack the Indians during the night, but Clayton forbids him with the reason that it had been known that Indians normally kill their prisoners if they feel that they are under attack. Apparently, Ethan had been aware of that and most hints lead viewers to believing that he did not wish for the girls to remain alive. Captain Clayton forms a strategy, but as they get to the Comanche's camping point the Indians appear to have fled. The ranger group is ambushed and Clayton decides that they should retreat because of the reason that they had been outnumbered and one of the rangers had been in need of medical treatment after having been wounded.

As the rangers return, Ethan remains to rescue the girls along with Brad (Lucy's fiance) and Martin (Ethan's adoptive nephew). As they find the trail from the Comanche, the three separate after they observe that the trail leads in two directions. Ethan follows a smaller trail while the other two follow the main trail. After some time Ethan returns and Brad and Martin observe that he is distressed also they see that he has lost his coat. As Brad scouts the area he returns reporting that he had found the Comanche camp and has seen Lucy. Ethan confesses that Lucy had already been dead, as he found her and buried her in his coat. Infuriated, Brad goes against the camp but only manages to get himself killed.

With the coming of the winter, Ethan and Martin lose trail of the tribe and decide to return to the ranch. As they arrive, they find that Ethan had been waited by a man that delivers him a letter and gives information about Debbie's whereabouts. During the morning Martin discovers that Ethan had already left. As Martin receives help from a girl from the ranch named Laurie, he manages to catch up with Ethan and they both try to find Debbie for the next five years. The two soon find that Debbie had now been living with the Comanche tribe's leader. Disgusted, Ethan is determined to kill the girl with the motive that had done a terrible crime by being the spouse of an Indian. As the Comanche band is discovered, Ethan kills their leader and in the last moment stops from killing Debbie also. Presumably, Ethan did so as he realized what he had become.

Across the film the audience is presented with an image of the 19th century Americans as they actually live the American dream by living free. The American dream in Texas during the time referred to one having a ranch with which he or she could support a whole family.

The Grapes of Wrath" novel written by John Steinbeck portrays the Joad family as it tries to cope with all the difficulties that migrant laborers had suffered during the Great Depression. Across the novel, readers are presented with the 1930 farmers that, in search of the American dream, find themselves trapped into a world in which the wealthy are willing to exploit the working-classes to the maximum, regardless of the fact that farmers are malnourished.

In the beginning of the book, Steinbeck presents the situation by describing the farm crops in Oklahoma having been devastated by a recent dust storm. At first Steinbeck refrains from presenting any characters as he intends to let the readers in on the topic.

Tom Joad, a young man who has just been released from prison, tells the story of how he had been imprisoned to a truck driver. During the story, Steinbeck takes advantage of several unimportant details to indirectly refer to the efforts done by the working classes to survive during the Great Depression. At the same time that Tom's arrives home a couple of bank representatives arrive with the intention of evicting several farmers.

As he finds his home, Tom, and Casy (a former preacher and friend of Tom's), are informed by an old man that Tom's family had been evicted and that they were now staying at their uncle John's. As night comes, the three have to hide in order for the police not to discover that they were illegally staying on the bank's property. Tom finds his family living with at Uncle John's house as they have undergone several changes while Tom had been imprisoned. Apparently, the family had been planning to leave Oklahoma in favor of California where life had been presumed of being better due to the flyers that they found claiming that there had been jobs there. Steinbeck again portrays how the depression had affected people as the farmers had been selling mainly anything that was worth money.

The family embarks on a trip to California and Casy joins them, as he too is desperate to find work. At the beginning of the trip the Joads had already begun to lose members of the family with the both the family dog and Grampa Joad perishing. After Grampa's death, the Joads are accompanied by the Wilsons that also travel to California, and, have a car. Not long after going to road again the Wilson's car breaks down and it takes some time before Tom and his younger brother get the car repaired.

As they finally reach California the two families discover that the propaganda in the flyers had been filled with lies and that there had been no work there and furthermore the policemen were harassing everyone. The Wilsons decide to stay in a camp from California because a member of their family gets sick. The Joads travel on and it does not take long and another unhappy incident happens to the family: the death of Granma. The conditions in California are presented as being horrible, with the people of the state being on the verge of a revolt.

After some time on the road the Joads stop at a camp in order to search for work. During their stay in the camp they find out of the existence of a government camp named Weedpatch where the authorities are kind to the residents and all of the basic needs are assured. After an incident with the police, Casy is being taken to jail after having punched a policeman. Shortly after, the Joad starts to break apart.