The American Dream can be describe in multiple ways, whether its freedom or as simple as a white picket fence. My American Dream is complete freedom to better ones self. I couldn’t live within a Communist government who controls every emotion and living condition. When I really think about the Communist system I think of a Prize Winning Book entitled The Giver by Lois Lowry. This book messed me up for life, the chosen women’s’ jobs were to be birthmothers. I couldn’t do it. Freedom of career choice, living conditions, family, car to drive is all determined by us. We choose our own destiny. Freedom to better ones self can be interpreted through multiple playwrights. Death of a Salesman, A Raisin in the Sun, and Fences show evidence of the American Dream being to the freedom to better ones self.
The play Death of a Salesman was written by Arthur Miller in 1949. The main character of this piece of art is Willy Lowman, he was an older man with a wife and two sons. One of his sons had the ability to make something of himself, but fell by the waste side when it came to handling his business to get there. Biff hasn’t found himself yet throughout his thirty odd years on Earth. He has the freedom to better himself and find his place in the world. Biff says “Well, I spent six or seven years after high school trying to work myself up. Shipping clerk, salesman, business of one kind after another.” (pg.871) Biff clearly had the freedom to test every possible job he could get his hands on, but fell short because he wasn’t satisfied with the work. Happy, Biff’s older brother, was just as dissatisfied but he stuck through his dissatisfaction. He wanted to one day become the merchandise manager at his job because that’s where the real money is. Happy had his own insecurities with finding a way to get by. He says” Sometimes I sit in my apartment – all alone. And I think about the rent I’m paying. And it’s crazy. But then, it’s what I always wanted. My own apartment, a car, and plenty of women.” But then he comes back and says “And still, god-dammit, I’m lonely” (pg. 872). Happy had the simple things he dreamed of, but noticed others making twice as much. He wanted to be just as they were, wealthy and able to build a house live in it and resale it. He sleeps with the executives of the company wives for revenge. He attempts to better himself. He is contemplating other jobs. Happy don’t want to disappoint his parents like Biff has. Willy doesn’t believe his son. Willy wants his sons to work as hard as he has to make a living. He has provided for his family already he wants to stop working so hard and want Happy to step in to reality, so Willy says to Happy ” You’ll retire me for life on seventy goddam dollars a week? And your women and your car and your apartment, and you’ll retire me for life!” (pg. 877)He wants Happy just to get real. Biff and Happy had the freedom to better themselves. They want to have something to look forward to in the long run. Willy just wants to see his sons make it. The freedom to strive for the best and correct lifestyles to accommodate the best lifestyle is truly am American Dream.
In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry there are also examples of the American Dream being the freedom to better ones self. The sub- plot of this piece of literature is to better ones self, in this case, to better the entire family’s’ living conditions. Walter was the outrageous dreamer of the family he woke up one day and noticed that he was over thirty married for eleven years and had a son sleeping on the couch of his mother’s apartment. He always had get rich quick schemes coming out of his pockets. He thought his family never listened to him. One morning he said “That’s it. There you are. Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say. Eat your eggs. Man say: I got to take hold of this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work.” (pg. 1043)He was talking to his wife Ruth about the liquor business he wanted to spend his father’s insurance check on. He had a dream to get his family out of poverty, and he thought no one would listen to him. Beneatha had great dreams of her own. She was popular with the guys, but their opinions of her choice of occupation made her reconsider their presence. Beneatha tells Mama and Ruth “Oh, I probably will.. but first I’m going to be a doctor, and George, for one still thinks that’s pretty funny. “(pg. 1048) Beneatha wants to be a doctor though everyone is teasingly doubting her. Her dream is to help those who are suffering; she wants to better herself by helping others, the American Dream. Mama had her ways also, though Walter wanted the money to start the liquor company; she went out and did something even better with the money. She went out and brought the family a house. Walter was mad because he wanted the money for his company. Mama said “It’s just a plain little old home – but it’s made good and solid—and it will be ours. Walter Lee—it makes a difference in a man when he can walk on floors that belong to him...” Mama did something her and Sr. Younger wanted to do for years. Her dream was to get her family something they all would enjoy and that’s what she did. The freedom to dream, the freedom to work hard, the freedom to better ones self is what the Younger’s stood for.
The play Fences by August Wilson is a wonder masterpiece that emphasize the American Dream as being to better ones self. Troy, the protagonist, is very out spoken one day he said “You think only white fellows got sense enough to drive a truck. That ain’t no paper job! Hell, anybody could drive a truck. How come you got all whites driving and the colors lifting?”(pg. 1339) Troy was one whose dream was equality. His life revolved around being treated better. He wanted to better himself, and at some point he didn’t know how. He said “I wonder why in the hell I ever stayed down there for six long years. But see, I didn’t know I could do no better. I thought only white folks had inside toilets and things.” (pg. 1340) He found the mind to get his family out of poverty to a better suited house worth living in. The American Dream to better ones self. Rose, Troy’s wife, was blind to his ways overall, she wanted to keep her family together. Her dream was to be safe in her home and make sure everything is intact. Her son Cory was a football player and he was very good. Rose told Troy, “Cory done went and got recruited by a college football team.” She was excited because she knew Cory’s potential. Cory’s dream isn’t to play professionally, but to just enjoy it. Troy wants to decline the offer because all the odds he faced when he wanted to play pro baseball. The color barrier was the issue of Troy’s time. The American Dream to better ones self in making dreams come true, questioning the statistics, and rethinking the conditions is Fences American Dream.
In conclusion, The American Dream of all three of these extravagant pieces of work is to better ones self, whether it is to find your place in the world, invest in something that is yours to get your family ahead, or to open your eyes to what you didn’t know to make anything possible.
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