THE AMERICAN DREAM

Money, Power, and Corruption

 

In James Truslow Adams' 1931 book "The Great Epic of America", he defines the American dream as such: 

 

"There has also been the American Dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement...a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature of which they are innately capable...regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

 

 

 

Truslow's interpretation is similar to Haratio Alger Jr's who 

believed that by living an exemplary life filled with good faith and

good deeds, one could achieve the American Dream as eluded

by Adams. Yet, no matter how exemplary one can be, there are 

barriers and limits to success. Money, Power, and Corruption

have altered the American Dream and turned it into a fabeled

story achievable by few. Film and literature have expressed this

notion of a corrupted American Dream.

 

In John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath families, like the Joads,

migrate to California in search of their American Dream. However,

corruption and greed on the part of landowners and corporations

make this dream unattainable.

 

On one hand there are the brokers in the film, Wall Street who seek wealth 

to no end. Their success is defined by their hunt for fortune no matter how

unethical it may be. As a result, money has come define the American

dream.

 

Likewise, there are characters like Willy Loman who in Death of

a Salesman seek the same fortune that the character's in Wall

Sreet seek, yet this is unattainable for Willy. In the mind of Willy

the American dream is solely defined by wealth.

 

Lastly, in The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby's acquisiton of the American Dream is ultimately unfulfilling because of how money

has become the defining characteristic of that dream.