The Hope of a Dream

The Hope of a Dream

The American dream is sometimes thought of to be an idea of something unreachable, or thought of as a tangible reality that everyone can accomplish. This American dream is something that people so often go after and hope to find. To some it is the idea of material prosperity that people are after, or for others it goes farther than just money and possessions. People start of this "dream" in the hope of obtaining stability and comfort in their lives. However money is not the only factor that can quench this thirst that people have inside of them. Every person longs for stability, happiness, and to love and in return be loved. So, perhaps this "American dream" a want for money, or it is a hope for a better life for oneself.

In one of the novels that we read The Jungle, Jurgis and his family move to America hoping to live out this "American dream"(Sinclair chapters 1-2). Unfortunately for them it did not go as they planned at all. They had dreamed of freedom; of a chance to look about them and learn something; to be decent and clean, to see their child grow up to be strong. And now it was all gone. It would never be!" (Sinclair 163). all Jurgis and his family wanted was to be decent and clean; to have freedom, jobs, and opportunity (Sinclair 163). Yet, they find themselves in a serious of horrible events that were nothing of what they thought America would be like. Jurgis pushes through the challenges though with the hope that he might finally get what he came for. After he lost everything he persevered. Perhaps this is what the American dream is after all, hope. Perhaps it's about hoping for more for you and working to get that.

Another Novel that we read was the great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The way that Gatsby went after Daisy with such a passion was captivating (Fitzgerald 112). Some people believe this love to be there "American dream". To have someone who loves you enough to through extravagant parties every week just in hopes that maybe you would show up (Fitzgerald chapter 5). "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay." (Fitzgerald 137-140) Gatsby is admirable. He did not let the world he grew up in affect the way he planned to live his life. Growing up in poverty to becoming widely rich is an astonishing task. Even though the way Gatsby may have earned his money might have been wrong, he is still respectable for persevering and getting what he wanted. However, in the end it seems like his riches were not worth anything after all. In the end he did not succeed in getting what he truly wanted, which was Daisy. "I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of the Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it" (Fitzgerald 180). Gatsby was a man who put everything he had into Daisy his dream, and just when he seemed so close, it all ended. What bothered me about this was that Daisy I feel didn't even have the nerve to show up at Gatsby's funeral. It was all of a sudden unimportant that Gatsby had become so rich, he had lost his life and he had lost his true dream; a life with Daisy.

The script that we had to read was death of a salesman. What is interesting about this novel is that it is more about a father's hopes for his son, then the son's hopes for himself. "I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you. You were never anything but a hard-working drummer who landed in the ash can like the rest of them! I'm one-dollar an hour, Willy! I tried seven states and couldn't raise it. A buck an hour! Do you gather my meaning? I'm not bringing home any prizes anymore and you're going to stop waiting for me to bring them home!" (Miller 132) perhaps Willy was too hard on his son, but at least he had hope. Yes, he did push Biff, and continued to push him over and over again (Miller act 1) in the hope he would one day become the son he dreamed of.

Martin Luther King, Jr. changed everything with his dream. He saw the need for change and he went for it. He followed his hope even when it seemed unlikely for change (king). If it was not for his dream we would all be living differently. He believed in the hope of every person