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Justin Murphy
The Exclusive Dream
The American Dream is an idea that has
given hope to millions of people immigrating into the United States of America.
The American Dream is supposed to be something that all people can celebrate
while working towards their ideal life. However, when it comes to African
Americans, is the American Dream really a dream? This is something that I wanted
to explore in this assignment. What three selections from the 2008 midterm show
me is that the American Dream is not actually inclusive to African Americans.
In “African American Literature: ‘The
American Dream and the Dream’” the author describes the origin of the American
Dream. They describe the American Dream as something coming from the Declaration
of Independence. This is something that is interesting to me, as I have never
thought of it in that way before. As a self-professed history nerd, it never
occurred to me that the American Dream could have originated in the most
important document in American history. Thinking on it now, it makes a lot of
sense that this would be the case as the author goes on to describe the American
Dream as being one that is on individual achievement rather than on group or
culture achievement. This doesn’t fit into the minority narrative, as minorities
often have to strive to make achievements for their entire culture because of
their marginalization. This is what is echoed throughout this entire essay and
it showcases the examples of the American dream being restrictive.
In “Why the American Dream Overshadows
the Dream”, the author gives the reasons for why the American Dream can be an
allegory for the resistance to assimilation. The author states reasons such as
“Ill- treatment, lack of opportunity, seen as not human, choiceless, and
voiceless” as for why minorities resist assimilation. All of these reasons are
not represented in the American Dream, however. The author argues that the dream
is overshadowed by the American Dream, which then shuts off African Americans.
The American Dream is not inclusive because it does not include the real life
issues that African Americans face in the struggle for freedom from persecution.
Therefore, the dream was created.
Finally, in “The American Dream vs. The
Dream”, the author places the two ideals against each other to showcase that the
American Dream is not inclusive. The author refers to the “Breadgivers” where it
states that all a person needs to do to obtain the American Dream is have the
“drive and determination”. However, for people like Fredrick Douglass, this is
not true. Douglass has the drive and determination but is held back because of
his race. This shows that the American Dream idea is not the idea that most
people make it out to be. For African Americans, and all minorities for that
matter, the American Dream is not fitting to them. It is something that cannot
be obtained because of it’s rejective nature. The author puts it best by
describing the “American Dream as a dream with a catch.”
From all three of these essays, I have
learned more about the exclusive nature of the American Dream. The American
Dream is something that I have been discussing in school ever since 9th
grade, yet not once have I discussed it in a matter relating to minority groups.
Perhaps if we open up the dialogue and allow the discussion to occur earlier in
high school when students are first introduced to the topic, then more ideas
will be allowed to flow and students will be introduced to the idea of the dream
narrative earlier on.
