教 育 创 新 管 理

An Interpretation of the American Dream in Homeless to Harvard
湖北工程学院新技术学院 魏 远
Abstract：As the leading figure of western countries, America has her special values. As an ideal of pursuing happiness and perfection, the American Dream becomes the motivation of them in their lives. Homeless to Harvard is a inspirational film which is based on Liz Murray’s autobiography Breaking Night. This movie tells a story about an ordinary girl suffers a hard circumstance when she grows up, but she never gives in. According to this movie, this thesis gives a brief introduction of the American Dream and explores it throughout the heroine’s touching experience, thus publicizing equality, freedom and struggle of American values and attacking abandoned attitude of life. Key words: American Dream; inspiration; Homeless to Harvard to studying. The death of her mother hits her heart deeply. As Liz slowly growing, she begins to understand that only reading and learning can change her life in the encounter with misfortune. At the beginning, she pursues getting a high school diploma. A major turning point for Liz is visiting Harvard University on a school field trip. She cannot imagine such a wonderful life before. While Liz walks towards her class, the school official tells her that her application is accepted and she is in the running for a full college education at Harvard University. During the interview, Liz tells judges frankly that she persists on getting rid of that dark world. Her experience touches them deeply. At the end of the interview, she gets the valuable chance. Liz makes her dream come true, just because she deeply believes that chances are equal to any individual, though you are an ordinary one. 3. Conclusion Through interpreting the optimistic story of Liz Murray, we can draw the conclusion that everyone can be a successful person if possible. Everyone should