...Nuong Nguyen Professor Renee Gaines English 102 - #3300 9 November 2014 Paper #1- Resubmit edition The struggles to achieve the American Dream in The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros is the author of several books including The House on Mango Street. She has been writing for more than forty-five years, publishing for more than thirty-five years. The House on Mango Street was first published in 1984, and has sold over two million copies since its initial publication and is still selling strongly today. The book tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and natural beauty. The house on Mango Street is not the house, which Esperanza has been dreaming about; however, it is symbolical of the struggles to achieve the American Dream. That dream of the young girl depicts a reality. The house on Mango Street has much better quality than the third floor on Loomis, which is where the Esperanza lived before. That improvement shows that Esperanza’s family is trying to make their dream come true, little by little in changing their lives. It also proves that her family can achieve the dream of the real house. The house on Mango Street depicts a house in which the family resides. In any event, the place on Loomis is merely a third floor that Esperanza cannot proudly admit that it is her house to the nun passing by. Esperanza describes the gloomy third floor as, “The house on Mango Street is ours and we don’t have to pay rent to...
Words: 883 - Pages: 4
...El Coyote left him and told one of his contact to take him to New York. Eduardo got into the van where he was waiting. The van arrives and takes him to New York. A couple of years passes where he reached the age 35 and works in a deli where he works as a chief. A lot has changed during the years where he has a family and haven’t stop working ever since coming to the United States. It was a busy night at Essen deli where Eduardo was working hard and upon his night he realizes how long he been working with no vacation or sick pay days. Eduardo a Mexican trying to achieve the American dreams which tends to become a nightmare every day for him. He came to the United States when he was 16 years old crossing the border. As mentioned previously,...
Words: 315 - Pages: 2
...Everyone has a different American dream just like everyone has different opinions on politics and religion. This is shown throughout the book The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls. The American Dream was something that people thought was unachievable by most but in reality, it was achievable it just took a lot of hard work and effort, and a lot of people struggled with this part. A lot of hard work and effort were the main parts of the American dream, which caused a lot of people the inability to achieve it. “It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it beauty” (Walls 38). The tree represents the hard work or “struggle” that Jeanette and her family go through when trying to achieve “their” American Dream. I believe the real meaning...
Words: 577 - Pages: 3
...The “American Dream” is defined as, according to Dictionary.com, “the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” Many people face obstacles in the attempt to pursue this dream, some obstacles larger than others. People come to realize that the idea they had of the American Dream is not always how they expected it to be. They also realize the many hardships, successes and failures on the way to achieving this dream. Some of today’s obstacles to achieving the “American Dream” are that some people that want to obtain this lifestyle have no money, no education, and no determination. It is believed that money is needed to make money, and while this is not completely true, someone with less...
Words: 983 - Pages: 4
...The Struggles that Were Faced During The Great Depression. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the characters face struggles such as the Great Depression, which causes job decreasing and discrimination, which cause there to be no happiness, while trying to achieve their goals of achieving the American dream. This relates to the title because of their struggles . The story focuses on migrant workers who moving from job to job because they are always looking for work and they're limited jobs . The workers face struggles such as the Great Depression and also discrimination. Three of the characters in the book are planning to team up to achieve the dream that they have, to purchase the land as a team. The workers struggle with the...
Words: 386 - Pages: 2
...many people immigrate to the United States of America in search of one thing...The American dream.There are people like J.G Ballard who think that the american dream is dead and would not ever come back.many people say he is wrong and there are facts to prove it.Most people think that the american dream is dead and that it no longer supplies the world with its images,its dreams,its fantasies.if people think that the american dream is dead because they can not get ahead financially then they are dead wrong.The american dream is within people solely because people control their own actions.The American dream is based on hardwork and determination that these immigrants have.Just because people think that they deserve everything because they...
Words: 1840 - Pages: 8
...Fighting For The American Dream Is wanting a better life a crime? Doesn’t everyone deserve the opportunity to constantly improve? Wouldn’t it make more sense if people tried to comprehend the choices others make without chastising and belittling them? Immigrants have always wanted to live the American dream; however, not only do they always encounter the reality of their struggles in life, but they are also psychologically and verbally abused. The novel, The Tortilla Curtain by T.C Boyle, demonstrates the abuse, racism, and cultural stereotypes that immigrants are subjected to, as well as, the idea that, no matter how hard an immigrant may try to retain the fantasy of the American Dream, in the end, the reality of North American racism and cultural stereotypes is always present. Tortilla...
Words: 1588 - Pages: 7
...understanding of the story. Even a tedious work of literature can be roused when symbols are applied. The 1959s play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry comes from the poem “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes. The Younger’s are an impoverished family who lives on the Southside of Chicago during the time of World War II and escapes poverty through the $10,000 insurance check followed by Big Walter’s death. Considering the poem what Langston Hughes wrote about, the dream discussed is most likely to differ due to the American Dream of success and wealth. Mama’s plant, the eggs, and the apartment represent symbols in the book that represents the struggle of achieving...
Words: 1081 - Pages: 5
...The Unachievable American Dream One of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, and one of the most iconic civil rights activists in our countries history, Martin Luther King Jr., both believed in equality for all. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” ( 327). Since then, America has become the number one country for achieving life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today, we know this better as the American Dream. The American Dream is something that every American strives for. Immigrants from other countries come here and become American citizens with the hope of someday achieving their ideal American Dream. We all design and carry this image in our heads of our own American Dream. The job we hope to have and the pleasant family we hope to build and raise in our perfect ideal homes, are all images that come to mind when thinking of the American Dream. Most of us, every day of our lives, are doing the best we can. We try to make this dream become a reality, but the reality of this dream is that it’s getting harder and harder to reach; due to unemployment, poverty, and our countries overall economic state. Over the past few years the country’s economy has been in a downward spiral and we’ve reached an economic recession. Poverty and unemployment rates amongst United States citizens have...
Words: 1281 - Pages: 6
...In Death of a Salesman and in The Glass Menagerie both protagonists play a deep role with facing a tragic fate. Both plays show the struggle of the American dream and how it’s not what they make it to seem. It shows that the average man strives to achieve his rightful place in society but, remains unrecognized which eventually leads to his downfall. First of all, Willy’s tragic fault is his inability to be content by the reality of his life. He insists living in this fantasy world which he cannot move forward from, which eventually leads to his downfall. For example, “After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive” (Act II). Also, “I walked into the jungle at seventeen, and when I walked out I was twenty-one, and by god I was rich” (Act I). This quote represents the fantasy that Willy strives to achieve for himself and his sons. He believes everyone is entitled to success, instead of working hard for it....
Words: 489 - Pages: 2
...The American Dream: Why the American Dream is A Dream The American dream is solely based upon the hard work to achieve prosperity, success, and the upward movement in social class. Everyone's American dream is specific to personally set goals. While reading the book The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are many examples that symbolize the American dream. Two main details from The Great Gatsby will focus on Gatsby's hopes and dreams, as well as, obsession with wealth. F. Scott Fitzgerald has a very illusory message pinned on the American dream. He feels that the American dream can drive a man to do extraordinary and unethical things. “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies” (Friedrich Nietzsche). People will chase a better tomorrow that is always just a tad out of reach. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby does many ludicrous and unethical things to achieve the American Dream. Gatsby throws extravagant parties every weekend in hopes that Daisy Buchanan will show up amongst the large crowed. "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay" (Fitzgerald 147)....
Words: 600 - Pages: 3
...Chicano 10B 22 August 2014 The Struggles of Undocumented Students What is the dream of an Undocumented Student? The dream of an undocumented student is to pursue the American Dream of becoming someone professional and having the opportunity to help their family back in their country. What are the reasons that the government does not want undocumented students to continue pursuing an education after they graduate from High School? The government does not focus on what undocumented students dream of becoming in the future. What they do focus on are the jobs they are taking from our country. Undocumented students are being denied the privilege of attending college because they are unaware of their rights to attend college. Every year, there are many undocumented students from different countries migrating to the United States. They migrate from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala in search for a better life. However, once they arrive to the United States they are faced with many obstacles that they did not know existed. Many undocumented students graduate from high schools, but only a few get the opportunity to pursue the American Dream because they do not have the right documentations. I believe the government should give undocumented student a visa in order for them to pursue their dreams. Chicanos and Latinos students are being affected by this situation because most of them end up going back to their countries. Other students end up working in low wage jobs for example...
Words: 2889 - Pages: 12
...The Clutter family lives a prosperous, although rather quiet life in Holcomb, the Clutter family lives the American Dream they were not born into wealth, but they worked hard and managed a comfortable life, until their murder. Dick and Perry on the other hand, are criminals they squandered their first chance at the American Dream before they ever met each other, but they take any measures to make sure it does no slip through their fingers. In Truman Capotes true crime novel In Cold Blood the idea of the American Dream is interviewed throughout the story of a brutal murder. The American Dream is the idea that people who live in America have the chance, opportunity and right to prosperity. The American dream attracts people rich and poor, rural...
Words: 922 - Pages: 4
...passionate representation of love is somewhat paradoxical as she rejects the inherent Petrarchan sonnet structure and challenges many of the values connected to these forms. Her series of sonnets are social and political arguments that reflect themes of personal experiences as a woman, rejection of idealised platonic love and her desire to represent transcendental love. Nonetheless her inspiration arises from her context and the Romantics as she draws upon the impulse to alter the attitudes towards women and to validate human love. She connects lifeless desired objects into subjects “dauntless, voiceless fortitude” (Sonnet 13) which make her feebleness as a sonneteer, but concurrently indicating her strength as a woman and as a lover. In her struggle to maintain female subjectivity and feminine desire she refuses to be passive and demands a voice that personifies her desires and expresses her concerns of love. Hence her use of a muscular tone and enjambment such as “flung” (Sonnet 1) causes disharmony conveying her individuality as a person and highlighting how she breaks the rules of Petrarchan sonnets, which are traditionally flowery and beautiful. Through all of her Sonnets, it can be seen that she doesn’t like...
Words: 1467 - Pages: 6
... otherwise known as James Gatz, finds himself in a struggle between a fantasy like dream and power comes to inevitably stand for America itself. Gatsby becomes a mythic figure whose career and fate stand for America, our idealism in the face of materialism has destroyed America's green freshness and left only a valley of ashes. Gatsby personifies the “extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness” says Nick. Both of these descriptions can be transferred to characterize America. These two things are what America was built on. America is the land of the hopeful. America in the 1920s was wanting to be successful in an American city with a beautiful wife and home. However, Gatsby believed that this all could be bought, including the American dream. His ostentatious parties exemplifies the decline of the American dream. On the last page of the novel, Nick Carraway says “And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away…the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams;…something commensurate to his capacity for wonder”. Carraway is creating a picture of the American Dream, saying that versions of it could never be realized through America’s corrupt materialism. The “inessential houses” spoken of, are an example of the corrupt materialism on the once “fresh, green breast of the new world”. The only people who could have their dream realized were the first settlers, because those today...
Words: 505 - Pages: 3
