American Romanticism Sample Student Final Exam Answers 2010

Amy Shanks

Adaptations of Romanticism Across Race and Culture

The intense desire for the unattainable is a hallmark theme of European Romanticism.  As the literary movement spread to the United States, American writers, more racially and culturally diverse than their European counterparts, adopted this theme and transformed it into a mantra of the American spirit: the “American Dream.”  However, with different cultures come different perspectives of what constitutes the ideal American dream.  Though Romanticism’s dream theme was prevalent in American works regardless of race, the basic understanding of what the dream entailed and how it could be attained differed greatly among Caucasian and African American authors.   

A writer of European decent, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “Winter Dreams” exemplifies the pursuit of the “American Dream” in the traditional sense. Dream elements of “voluntary participation, forgetting the past, and privileging the individual” are evident in the story. The protagonist, Dexter Green, dreams of advancing his status to experience “glittering things and glittering people.”  While he did not grow up in a “poor as sin” home, Dexter has the intrinsic desire to improve his status. Exemplifying the “pick yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality, Dexter strategically chooses to attend a more prestigious university in an effort to achieve these desires. Leaving the familiar, he makes his fortune and becomes a part of the elite.

African American Romantic authors adapted the “American Dream” to suit their situation. Rather than being a voluntary participant, the African American dream grows out of the systemic oppression of the time. Instead of having dreams of individual success, their plight becomes that of a community because for them, oppression does not discriminate. All were victims of the same circumstances and had identical goals, i.e. freedom and equality.  Heavily influenced by the past, their dreams often go through the process of “setbacks” followed by the “need to rise again.” Though the Romantic dream still exists, it is a different variation of a common goal.

Zora Neal Hurtson, an African American writer, adopted the Romantic theme of desiring the unattainable and tweaked it to her cultural background in “How it Feels to be Colored Me.” Moving from the primarily African American town of Eatonville, Florida, to the primarily Caucasian Jacksonville, Zora undergoes the involuntary need for a dream when her new environment doesn’t lend itself to the comfort of her old.  Contrasting with Dexter’s intrinsically motivated desires, Zora’s dreams are a product of her surroundings. In Eatonville, the only difference Zora noticed in white people was that they “rode through town and never lived there.” She had a happy existence as “everybody’s Zora,” but once she moved to Jacksonville she feels that she “was not Zora of Orange County any more, I was now a little colored girl.” This change is the catalyst of her drive to dream. She states, “I do not weep at the world — I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.”

In his poem “I, too, Sing America” Langston Hughes provides another example of the minority variation of the Romantic dream.  Differentiating himself as the “darker brother,” Langston Hughes describes the African American dream of equality, stating “Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table, When company comes” rather than being sent “to eat in the kitchen.” This dream is involuntary in that it is a result of mistreatment and oppression. Despite making this declaration, it is clear that this dream has not yet been achieved, though he optimistically states “They’ll see how beautiful I am, And be ashamed—.“  This statement suggests the minority theme of having to rise again rather than immediately being able to leave the past behind.

While Dexter’s pursuit of the “American Dream” required hard work, there is little textual evidence of any other obstacles restricting his attempts. In contrast, Hughes and Zora’s dreams face opposition from the setbacks of the past. Zora describes minority groups’ attempts to achieve dreams as, “someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves.”  Just as Hughes optimistically predicts that those who oppressed him will “be ashamed,” Zora perseveres in the pursuit of her dreams stating, “I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep.” In contrast, Dexter’s only setback in his numerous pursuits is the seemingly unattainable Judy Jones. However, this missing part of his dreams could arguably be a result of his own doing. While Judy may not have stayed true to him, her past behavior showed she regularly returned to her love interests.  Zora does not waver in her pursuit and is confident of her eventual success, stating, “At certain times I have no race, I am me. I belong to no race nor time. I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads.”

Though the Romantic ideal of pursuing the impossible dream permeated American literature, Caucasians and African Americans certainly differed on their definitions of the “American Dream.”  For authors like Fitzgerald, individuals of European descent simply had to persevere and their wildest dreams could come true.  Yet, for African American authors, the dream involuntarily rose out of a culture of oppression where individuals serve as a voice for their community to inspire them to endure setbacks and rise up to achieve a different type of dream – not of material wealth or success – but that of freedom and equality.