Myth of the American Dream
“But there has been also the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.”
James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America (1931)
The American Dream . . . an idea that arguably has become the “national ethos” of the United States of America, has been central to cultural narratives about Americanness and American identity from the Declaration of Independence to Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the August 28, 1963, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The question is: for whom?
This course will investigate the American Dream as a cultural narrative and interrogate it as cultural myth, questioning its aspirational foundation in ideals involving democracy, equality, freedom, and rights.
In theory, the American Dream purports and promises an inclusivity that welcomes all, regardless of difference. In practice, however, history reveals moments in which the American Dream failed to live up to its meaning, excluding, denying, or dispossessing individuals and entire communities from ascending to its mythical zenith, let alone of reaching its distant horizon.