The American dream lives in the heart of those who believe in it. The American Dream can only be achieved in America. Or can it? The American Dream is the concept that through hard work, you can achieve your goals and climb to the top. We usually imagine this taking place in America but that doesn't exclude from taking place in other places or in literature. The American Dream is pursued in the novels, the Good Earth and Farenheight 451 by characters Wang Lung and Guy Montag when Wang wants to reach the top of the social ladder through acquisition of land and his hard work and by Guy in wanting to pursue in reading literature which is illegal in the setting.
In the book, The Good Earth by Pearl Buck, Wang Lung lives the American Dream by gaining wealth and land through his hard work. This is proven when he reflects on when he used to be a poor farmer that I'm was married to a slave in the House of Hwang. As noted by the author, “Wang Lung sat smoking, thinking of the silver as it had lain upon the table. It had come out of the earth, this silver, out of the earth that he ploughed and turned and spent himself upon. He took his life from the earth; drop by drop by his sweat he wrung food from it and from the food, silver. Each time before this that he
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Guy Montag has a dream to read some of the books that he has collected over the years even though it is illegal to do so. As stated in the novel,” You weren't there, you didn't see," he said. "There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing." (546). This quote shows Guy is coming around on believing that there is something within the books that he is burning. It is interesting to note that as Guy realizes that these books have substance, he as a person, begins to gain more substance and personality in a world where being different is