...transcendence and holiness Loss of God’s authority Moral Irrelevance Regaining our voice Conclusion 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 5 6 7 9 9 10 ii. Introduction God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams is authored by David F. Wells, a distinguished seminary professor and theologian at Gordon-Conwell Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. No Place for Truth was his first significant treatise on the subject of evangelicalism’s theological corruption which grabbed the attention of the evangelical community. God in the Wasteland is a continuation and his second treatment of the subject, in a four-volume series, where the author seeks to further define the origins and problems of evangelicalism’s theological compromise while proposing solutions like radical resistance to modernity and restoration of God-centeredness as central to regaining ground that has been lost to modernity within the church. In this critique I will seek to primarily interact with Wells assessment of evangelicalism’s compromised condition, and secondarily, I will respond to his proposed cures for its ills, while determining whether he succeeded in making his case for both. Brief Summary In God in the Wasteland the author presents a very disturbing account of the condition within American evangelicalism. One of the central causes of this condition is what he calls the marginalization of God to the periphery of both secular and church...
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...American Dream No Longer Reality? The United States is in really poor shape with the recession. In Bob Herbert’s article “Hiding from Reality,” he points out that unless the United States makes some drastic changes, the American Dream will fade away due to the increasing difficulties people will have in trying to reach it. The main problems include struggling to find a job after college, struggling to buy a home and car and paying for them, and overall issues with recession in the United States. Getting a degree and a college education is a great thing, but what use is it if people cannot find jobs? According to Herbert, there is not much of the American dream left (564). The economy is in terrible shape; the education in public schools is not as good as it should be, there are budget deficits and overseas warfare. This all show the horrible and sad shape that our country is in. The problem is, according to Herbert, that we as Americans are in denial about the extent of the rot in our system (564). We are in such bad shape that it can take a decade or more for employment to rise back to a level where one can say that the economy is good. This is due to the slow progress we are making in trying to improve the economy. Workers born in foreign countries gained 656,000 jobs while workers born in the US lost 1.2 million jobs in 2009 (Herbert 564). However, the immigrant workers experienced much less pay than Americans would have received. This shows that many places will hire immigrants...
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...the American Dream Ronald Reagan once said “The American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends him to be.” F. Scott Fitzgerald claims that the American dream is withering and that the real dream is being lost in the 1920s during the time of the booming America. In the Great Gatsby Fitzgerald uses symbols as a way to show something to the reader. He uses the Green light, the Valley of Ashes, and the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg as symbols. Gatsby himself starts from the bottom and then hits the top through his writings. The American dream in Fitzgerald’s eyes is that anyone regardless of who they are can achieve their ultimate goal in America. Scott Fitzgerald uses the Valley of Ashes a symbol of the American dream. It symbolizes America's possessive personality with wealth and how everyone during the 1920s were so blinded by greed that they did not focus on the true goal which is the American dream. Gatsby throws parties every Saturday night at his place. In that it ultimately corrupted the American dream as desire for pleasure and money tainted the more worthy goals. The valley of ashes...
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...term that describes an era or movement in American culture marked by attitudes of skepticism which challenges many of the ideals of Modernism. As an opposition towards the modern era, Postmodernism can be identified in art through its related terms such as fragmentation, hyper-realism, deconstruction, pastiche and ambiguity. Specifically, postmodernism refutes such concepts as reality, the ability to reach perfection, absolute truth, the structures of capitalism, ideals represented within popular culture, political values and other core concepts related to the structures of American culture. The concept is often criticized as a truism for its ambiguity in its very definition. Ironically, ambiguity in relation to truth is as much a description of the term as it is a concept practiced within the cultural movement. For this reason, the term is perhaps most simplistically exemplified and defined through media texts which encode its ideologies. One such media text includes Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a film adapted from Hunter Thompson’s 1972 novel. In the following essay, I will define the concept of postmodernism through Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The media text uses humor to challenge modernistic ideas of one’s ability to achieve the Utopian “American dream,” which is often defined as the realization of ultimate happiness and success. Specifically, Fear and Loathing’s satirical refute of the existence of an American Dream is encoded throughout the film, a theme immediately...
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...In 1851 a man smuggled onto a boat leaving towards the US. For three months he was a stow away with the help of some of his friends who was heading to america as well. One morning we looked out the window to see a massive statue, and the land of the american dream. He was my great great grandfather. The american dream was alive and well through the life of the United States, but about 15 years ago it came to a screeching halt. College has become so important that you can't get a well paying job to climb the social ladder. America is the place where you can come, start a business, and achieve your american dream, supposedly. How can one achieve their american dream when eight out of ten businesses fail. But what pulled the plug on the already...
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...Can you obtain your American Dream without causing pain to yourself or others, some may argue yes and some may argue no, but in the book The Great Gatsby the answer is not. The book The Great Gatsby is a book of tragedy, love, sins, and overall secrets. Daisy had murder in her hands, but the blame went on James Gatsby, Tom Buchanan was committing adultery yet never got caught and in the middle of it all only nick was there to see the truth of everything, yet none of what he saw mattered. The American Dream is portrayed differently depending on what these characters have been through and what they were seeking. This book has many unknown events but throughout the book there are many symbols that give clues to what will happen next. First one the biggest symbols in this book is the color white which means Impurity. Another big symbol is the eyes of Doctor T.G which are always watching the characters when they are committing sin and is acting towards them in a sardonic way. Lastly another big symbol was the green light that was the symbol of the American Dream.. Firstly, one of the main symbols in this book is the color white, although many might argue that the symbols in this book have different meanings, the color white is seen through the book and there is clues that suggest that...
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...Men who set their future goals based off past experiences, will end up destroying those dreams by themselves. “Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald attempts to correct Americans’ misconceptions about the American dream” (Dilworth 119). The Great Gatsby was written during the “Jazz Age” and prohibition era. Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota and died on December 21, 1940 in Hollywood, California. He attended Princeton University in 1913 and in November 1917, with graduation looking unlikely, he decided to accept a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He later went on to marry Zelda Sayre and had a daughter named Frances Scott Fitzgerald (born in 1921). In his novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald demonstrates...
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...| | The American Nightmare: Money's Hidden CurseThe American dream stands as a symbol for hope, prosperity, and happiness. But F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, examines the American dream from a different perspective, one that sheds light on those who contort these principles to their own selfish fantasies. Fitzgerald renders Jay Gatsby as a man who takes the Dream too far, and becomes unable to distinguish his false life of riches from reality. This 'unique' American novel describes how humanity's insatiable desires for wealth and power subvert the idyllic principles of the American vision. Jay Gatsby is the personification of limitless wealth and prestige, a shining beacon for the aspiring rich. Nick Carraway declares that there is "something glorious" about Gatsby, and that he is filled with "some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life"(8). It appears to mere mortals who are not blessed with riches, that Gatsby fulfills the American dream of achieving fame and fortune. But instead of being content with his greenbacks, Gatsby believes that he can replicate the "Platonic conception of himself" (89) and become the flawless god of wealth that he depicts. The American dream has many interpretations, but Gatsby latches onto the concept of wealth alone, failing to see that he can improve his character through hard work and toil as well. One understanding of the American dream, bettering oneself to achieve a higher social status, sadly spurs people like Gatsby to...
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...with the Author and the Characters Fitzgerald and Carraway Thoughtful young man from Minnesota Educated at an Ivy League school Moves to NYC after the war Found the new extravagant lifestyle seductive and exciting Fitzgerald and Gatsby Idolizes wealth and luxury Falls in love with a beautiful young woman while at military camp Narrator Nick Carraway; he also implies that he is the book’s author Point of View Both first and third person Presents only what he himself observes Tone Ambivalent and contradictory; sometimes he seems to disapprove Gatsby, and sometimes he romanticizes and admires Gatsby, describing events in nostalgic and elegiac tone Background Year written: 1925 (the Jazz Age) American economy soared; great prosperity for majority Prohibition (18th Amendment in 1919) ‘bootleggers’ Money is everything Plot Nick Carraway moves from Minnesota to New York (West Egg) to learn about bond business West Egg: wealthy and fashionable area; where the “New Rich” live Nick has social connections with East Egg, where the “Old Rich” live Nick’s classmate at Yale, Tom Buchanan, lives with Nick’s cousin Daisy in East Egg Tom has a lover, Myrtle Wilson, in the Valley of Ashes Valley of Ashes is a gray industrial dumping ground At one party, Nick breaks Myrtle’s nose because she taunts Tom about Daisy At Gatsby’s party, Gatsby tells Jordan that he was in love with Daisy Stares at the green light...
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...Carly Weiss Mr. Mangan English 10 November 16, 2015 The American Dream James Truslow Adams’ idea of the American dream is not the same today because certain jobs can make someone’s dream more attainable, education dictates success, and race has limited success in the workplace. Americans strive for success and to achieve it, they will need to get an education and a job. Even if an individual can obtain both, does not mean they will succeed because there are limiting factors, such as race and ethnicity. According to James Truslow Adams, the American Dream is not based on materialistic objects, but to have a rich and full life in which all are able to play their parts (Adams 1). To make the dream come true, it will take everyone working together...
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...The American Dream is represented through many books and texts that we read throughout our high school years. Three of the main text that highlight the American Dream as a whole are The Crucible, The Great Gatsby, and Of Mice and Men. These stories although very different still have a similar message from the author who wrote it. The time frame for each story is different to express how the American Dream has always been there and will always be something that Americans can thrive for. These stories show how they had religious freedom, personal freedom, and material aspirations. All the characters in these stories all wanted something even if they were poor or rich. They pursued happiness and wanted to achieve the pronounced “American Dream”....
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...The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby gives the readers a visual image of every character’s life by expressing their feelings; the colors are used very often as symbols that depict the person’s character and represents their behavior. The author utilized the colors white, green, red, blue, yellow, and gold. The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock is symbolic to the limitless promise of the dream Gatsby pursues. “Gatsby believed in the green light with such intensity that he did not realize his immature dream was unattainable from the start.”(Fitzgerald) Gatsby, was hoping that his American Dream would come true, it was his inspiration, his hope, and, ironically, his death and downfall. he was expecting to get married...
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...Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The Decline of the American Dream in the 1920s On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night—resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals. When World War I ended in 1918, the generation of young Americans who had fought the war became intensely disillusioned, as the brutal carnage that they had just faced made the Victorian social morality of early-twentieth-century America seem like stuffy, empty hypocrisy. The dizzying rise of the stock market in the aftermath of the war led to a sudden, sustained...
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...Nightjohn expressed bravery, leadership, and freedom when he was enslaved with others. He acted in ways that were not selfish; he acted in a way to help everyone. Nightjohn was a hero, a true leader. The traits and actions taken by him show a true American hero, one that we could only dream of having in modern society. Nightjohn taught Sarny letters in secret. By risking his life by divulging the secrets of the alphabet and strings of words he helped the cause of abolishing slavery and strengthening human rights in the United States. After being caught by Mammy, the mother of the children enslaved by the slaveholders, even she had changed her attitude and was curious in learning what there was. Over the course of many months, if not years,...
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...College and the American Dream Jenny Golightly Western Governors University College and the American Dream The term “American Dream” was first introduced by James Truslow Adams in his book “The Epic America”. He felt “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” (American Dream, 2014). For decades, people have lived by the promise that a strong work ethic, dedication, and honesty can lead to a better life. Unfortunately, today, many Americans find this is not the case. No longer does hard work guarantee that one can provide a comfortable lifestyle for their families, save for retirement, or afford to send their children to college. The dream of being able to send their children to college is fading for many Americans and is an example of societal inequality described in the conflict theory. Conflict theory does not view society as a system but as social groups experiencing unequal power, money, and unequal life chances. This leads to struggles and oppression for the lower classes while the upper class continues to prosper. According to Phil Oliff, a policy analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Higher education attainment is growing increasingly important. Getting a college degree is increasingly a prerequisite for success in the workforce and entry in the middle class” (Sherter, 2013). Statistics have shown that the level of education correlates with the level of earning...
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