LITR 5731: Seminar in American Minority Literature
University of Houston-Clear Lake, Fall 2001
Sample Student Midterm

Michelle Stephenson
October 2, 2001
LITR 5731 & CRCL 5931/Dr. Craig White
Midterm

The Dream vs. The American Dream:

The African-American Experience

The American Dream was founded on the concept that "all men are created equal"(Jefferson 729) and that everyone has the capability and resources to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." The Declaration of Independence was written so Americans could achieve this dream, but was not written with the African slave in mind. The African slave was never intended to be a part of this American Dream, therefore, not capable of obtaining it. These slaves were beaten up and/or lynched by their massas with these bootstraps instead of being "pulled up" by them.

Even after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Blacks still did not have access to all of the privileges of the white world. The Jim Crow laws of 1877 constantly reminded Blacks of their second-class citizenship and also limited them to certain areas and to very few resources. Signs reading "Whites Only" or "Colored" hung over restroom doors, drinking fountains and other public places.

The dominant American Dream narrative involves voluntary participation, forgetting the past, and privileging the individual while the alternative Dream narrative of American minorities involves forced participation, connecting tot the past, and privileging the group-the traditional (extended) or alternative families. So, clearly, to the African-American, there were and still are many restrictions that go along with the American Dream.

The great civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King in his famous speech, "I Have a Dream," delivered August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, D.C., supports these limitations and restrictions by stating that even one hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed the Negro still was not free:

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free; one hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination; one hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity…When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was the promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (Washington 217).

King’s dream does not happen in his time, nor does he expect it to happen. It is the dream deferred:

I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream, that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed—we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…(219).

Themes of the Dream and "dreaming" are often seen in the works of African-American literature. This "Dream Theme" starts with the slave narratives of Frederick Douglass and Olaudah Equiano written in the 1800s, and then moves on into more contemporary literature such as in Toni Morrison’s novel, Song of Solomon and Sapphire’s Push.

In his narrative, Douglass, often spent his Sunday’s in a "beast-like stupor, between sleep and wake," (Gates 293) where he would envision himself to be a free man, which actually gave him the energy to go on, at least for a little while:

At times I would rise up, a flash of energetic freedom would dart through my soul, accompanied with a faint beam of hope, that flickered for a moment, and then vanished (293)

This hope of being free was suddenly shattered by the nightmarish reality of slavery, which many times almost prompted him to take his own life and the life of his master. Douglass is finally able to go from illiterate to literate, from slavery to freedom and from working for others to working for himself. These are great accomplishments, but do not quite add up to the great American Dream. His dream means absolutely nothing to the dominant white society because he is still considered inferior.

Also, Douglass’ dream focused more on "the group" while the American Dream focuses more on the success of the individual. Douglass was not satisfied with just teaching himself to read, he wanted to teach the other slaves to read as well. Douglass extends the hope of the Dream to others by opening a Sabbath school. Many slaves learned to read and "write their way to freedom" as he did:

The work of instructing my fellow-slaves was the sweetest engagement with which I was ever blessed. We loved each other, and to leave them at the close of the Sabbath was a severe cross indeed. When I think that these precious souls are to-day shut up in the prison-house of slavery, my feelings overcome me…I taught them because it was the delight of my soul to be doing something that looked like bettering the condition of my race (304).

Equiano, a slave like Douglass, often described the dreams he experience while on a slave ship. These dreams were often visions of him being free. Equiano also suffered from nightmares:

…I dreamed the ship was wrecked amidst the surfs and rocks, and that I was the means of saving every one on board; and on the night following I dreamed the very same dream. These dreams, however, made no impression on my mind…When I left the deck I went to bed, and had scarcely fallen asleep when I dreamed the same dream again about the ship as I had dreamed the two preceding nights (Gates 108).

Dreaming, for both Douglass and Equiano, was a way to escape the nightmare of slavery

And also gave them hope for freedom.

In Toni Morrison’s novel, Song of Solomon, Macon Dead craved for the American Dream. He was in denial and believed that he could be just as successful as the white man. Macon desired to own everything, including people. Macon tells Milkman the following:

Let me tell you right now the one important thing you’ll ever need to know:

Own things. And let things you own own things. Then you’ll own yourself and other people too (Morrison 55).

Macon must have suffered from a memory loss because when his father acquired a house and land, he was blown five feet in the air. Was striving for the American Dream really worth dying for?

Striving for the American Dream ruined Macon’s relationship with his family and his community. This is a perfect example of The Dream becoming the American Dream gone wrong or the American Nightmare. Macon lost his family while gaining property and "things."

Milkman’s dream, on the other hand, was to become a man on his own terms not on his father’s terms. He obtains his dream by finding his heritage and learning about his ancestors. Unfortunately, obtaining his dream ends in the ultimate dream, which is death.

Morrison’s use of magic realism keeps the reader guessing what is real and what is imaginary. Milkman often had dreams or nightmares as a child:

He had had dreams as a child, dreams every child had of the witch who chased him down dark alleys, between lawns trees, and finally into rooms from which he could not escape. Witches in black dresses and underskirts; witches with pink eyes and green lips…So when he saw the woman at the top of the stairs there was no way for him to resist climbing up toward her outstretched hands, her fingers spread wide for him, her mouth gaping open for him, her eyes devouring him. In a dream you climb stairs (239).

Was this old woman, Circe, real or part of one of Milkman’s dreams/nightmares? Could Macon’s grandfather really fly?:

He was flying. He flew. You know, like a bird. Just stood up in the fields one day, ran up some hill, spun around a couple of times, and was lifted up in the air. Went right on back to wherever it was he came from (323).

Was Ruth, Milkman’s mother, almost swallowed up by her garden plants as Milkman watched from the kitchen window?:

They were smothering her, taking away her breath with their soft jagged lips. And she merely smiled and fought them off as though they were harmless butterflies (105).

It really does not matter because dreams become reality and vice versa in Milkman’s world.

The dream of the women in Song of Solomon was to find a man or husband to take care of them. Ruth thought that by marrying a man with Macon’s status, money and ownership of property, she would live the perfect fairytale life. This dream turns into a nightmare as Macon either ignores her or raises a hand to strike her. This unhappy marriage often caused Ruth to dream about being with her dead father.

Ruth’s daughters, Magdalene called Lena and First Corinthians, also dreamed of having a husband in their lives. Although they never married, Lena and Corinthians always thought that life would have been so much better if they had found a man to take care of them instead of their controlling father. Even Hagar, Milkman’s love interest and cousin, dreamed of being his wife.

Similar to the women of Song of Solomon, Precious, the main character in Sapphire’s Push, wants or dreams to have a man to love her instead of the "love" her incestuous father often forced upon her. Her dream is also similar to the American Dream but falls considerably short. Unlike the dominant white culture, she does not necessarily want to work in corporate America or own her own business. She just wants to be able to read, write and just to live a healthy, abuse-free life. Precious often dreamt of having a loving, caring family like white people are assumed of having. She felt that people with lighter skin or who appeared white-like had it better than she did. She often associated being Black with being ugly and dirty. She though that being dark may have been part of the reason her parents abused her. Precious often fantasized about looking more like a "precious" little, blonde hair, blue-eyed, white girl:

Ms. Rain say write our fantasy of ourselves. How we would be if life was perfect. I tell you one thing right now, I would be light skinned, thereby treated right and loved by boyz (sic). Light even more important than being skinny; you see them light-skinned girls that’s big an’ (sic) fat, they got boyfriends. Boyz overlook a lot to be wif (sic) a white girl or yellow girl, especially if it’s a boy that’s dark skin wif big lips or nose, he will go APE over yellow girl. So that’s my fantasy, it get light (Sapphire 113,114).

Like Douglass, Precious definitely did not have a nuclear family structure, which is a part of the American Dream. She had to find her own family, an alternative family-Ms. Rain, her fellow students and her peers at the halfway house. She said that these strangers loved her more than her family ever could.

Precious’ story is left open at the end, but she does reach many of her dreams. She learns to read and, despite her background, turns out to be a good mother. She sets the pathway for her son, Abdul, to come a little closer to the American Dream than she did, as the African slaves did for African-Americans of the 21^st century. Writing in her journal empowered her, healed her, and finally freed her from her past. She was no longer a helpless victim. She was now the one in control of her life.

So, from the examples given in Push and in the other African-American literary works, it is clear that the African-American Dream is connected to but is still considerably different than the dominant American dream. Will African-Americans ever obtain the American Dream? They (we) still hope for it or it would not be a recurring theme in our literature. By making white Americans aware of our history and our plight, maybe one day we will be considered "true equals" in white society. My question to the dominant, white culture is, "What happens to a dream deferred?"

Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore-

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over-

like a syrup sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes

Dream Deferred

My answer to the final question? Yes!

WORKS CITED

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. 1845. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Penguin Group, 1987.

Equiano, Olaudah. The Life of Olaudah Equiano. 1814. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Penguin Group, 1987.

Hughes, Langston. "Dream Deferred". Literature, Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama & the Essay. 4^th Edition, Published by McGraw Hill, 1998.

Jefferson, Thomas. The Declaration of Independence. 1776. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 4^th ed. v.1,ed. Nina Baym et al (NY: Norton, 1994), 729.

King, Jr., Martin Luther. "I Have a Dream." A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr., Ed. J. M. Washington. Harper & Row, 1986. 217, 219.

Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: The Penguin Group, 1977.

Sapphire. Push. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1996.