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American Dream In Upton Sinclair, Jacob Lawrence And Dorothea Lange

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My County tis of Thee The American Dream provides people a dream and not a reality. In 1931, James T. Adams introduced the concept of the American Dream to give hope for a better tomorrow to Americans during the Great Depression. Through hard work, education, and trust in the American Government. Unfortunately the American Dream was just that, a dream. The works of Upton Sinclair, Jacob Lawrence and Dorothea Lange, depicts different versions of the American Dream. An analysis of several works of these admired twentieth century figures revels many flaws in the American Dream. Although the American Dream gave Americans hope, it was just unachievable for a most. He defined the American Dream as… “dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to …show more content…

During the dust bowl many people made the pillage to the west in search of a work and a better life, but many people were struggling to make ends meet. Dorothea Lange, a photographer employed by the U.S. Government’s FSA program documented and brought attention of the living conditions of the poor to the public. Her most famous photo, the Migrant Mother taken in 1936, shows a mother looking into the distance with a concerned look on her face while two of her three children hide their faces and a baby sleeps in the women’s arms. She and her children are dirty, but the look on the mother’s face portrays the emotion of people during the dust bowl. Wondering how she will survive another night, where she could find a job, and how she will provide food for her and her three children. Florence Owens Thompson and her children had a difficult time living the American Dream. She and her kids had to eat frozen vegetables, hunt for birds, and occasionally lived under a bridge. After her husband passed away, Florence had a difficult time providing an adequate life for her

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Dorothea Lange was an amazing photographer, she captured many significant pictures during the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma. Her most famous picture is the “Migrant Mother,” a mother surrounded by her 3 sons, one in her arms and two holding on to her for support. The picture describes how bad times were, the worry on her face showed how many feared that they wouldn’t be able to sustain their family by providing them with food. The Dust Bowl affected many other states, people tried to go to California, the promise land, for jobs. Linda Gordon, a writer and historian, looks up to Mrs. Lange as a role model, a woman who overcame a physical and an emotional obstacle in her life.

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In Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, he tells the story of the Joad family who were forced into migration due to the dust. However as Steinbeck wrote that during the 1930s most migrants came form Oklahoma, but what historians later found out of the “million new residents in California during this period only about 15,000 to 16,000 were form Oklahoma (291). This new finding brought light to how really Steinbeck “portrayed laborers, farm workers, and Dust Bowl migrants not only from Oklahoma but also Arkansas, Texas and Missouri” (291). In addition to Steinbeck, Dorothea Lange seemed to document one of the most famous pictures of the Dust Bowl period. However, she did not just take pictures of what she saw.

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This book investigates if the idea of the American Dream is

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James Truslow Adams invented the “American Dream” in 1931. He was referring to “That dream of a land in when life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.” James Adams is right, but my definition is a little different. The American Dream to me is accomplishing your goal in life and getting a great education. People tend to think that if their education isn’t great, or that they don’t have a goal set, then they won’t go anywhere in life.

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The American Dream is a phrase that has been present in our nation for almost 200 years. But Historian James Adams propelled it into the common vernacular of our country in his book "The Epic of America" published in 1931. In his book, Adams explains "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,"(Kiger). Ironically, this phrase ,which has become an ideology and idiom representing Americana, was written and embraced in the midst of The Great Depression. Since it’s birth the idea of the American Dream has never paralleled reality.

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American .dream is dream that can be attained by hard work; It is a dream of living a happy life; and a dream of having a happy family. American dream was first publicly defined by James Truslow Adams in 1931. Adam 's often-repeated quote is, "The American Dream is 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." Adams said that American dream is not, "... a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman

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The book was released in 1931 and during this time the states were suffering under the great depression. In the book Adams used the term to describe the complex beliefs, religious promises and political and social expectations. The term is difficult to define because “the dream” always brings something individual or personal. The American dream is also something that is constantly changing depending on the society; the dream in the 20’s and 30’s most likely differs from the dream today. Even though the term “the American dream” was first used in 1931 it has been around much longer than that.

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The 1960s were a big time for America and her citizens. The american dream could differ, but always ties back into wanting the best for the present and the future. My essay is about the common view on the american dream and more personal views about the american dream. There is always a big picture that’s a montage of smaller parts. Take a painting of a park, for example.

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Over the years, a dream that changed the way the world saw the U.S. was created and it is the American Dream. As the years passed and the U.S. was developing the American Dream as well developed or as many say changed. The American Dream is a term that was introduced in 1931 by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America (Kamp 2). The term “American Dream” started with a meaning that was reachable: “a better, richer and happier life for all citizens of every rank”(3). Throughout the years the term`s meaning changed dramatically.

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Our Founding Fathers started the American Dream when they declared their independence from England because of their belief in unalienable rights. They believed that people had the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They made a country where people could break free from class restrictions and create the life they chose no matter what their circumstances at birth were. This was called the American Dream. The way people define the American Dream has changed over time.

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