The sun definitely smiled on John and Marie that Thursday at two o’clock in the afternoon of April 1953. Marie and John, two twenty-three year olds, sat down on a bench outside of a financial aid office at John Hopkins University in Maryland. Fate undoubtedly played its role well that afternoon. John looked over and Marie and Marie looked over at John. Awkwardly, they glanced back and forth at each other for twenty minutes. The voice in their heads said, “What do I say? What do I say?” John then began to fumble through his pockets. Marie fumbled through her purse. They both pulled out there wallets. The only connection they had between each other was their wallets, which were both empty. For John and Marie a hole in their wallets was nothing new to them. John had grown up in a family of eight in Boston, Massachusetts, and money was not always readily available. His parents were Irish immigrants. John had worked many different jobs throughout his teens, including a paper boy and a delivery man. When he turned eighteen he enlisted in the Navy. When World War II started his brother and he went out to sea. John spent his time working on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. His parents …show more content…
She was able to find job as a seamstress and also wealthy Americans to sponsor her when money ran low. The voice in her head nagged at her, “Marie, what if what your teacher said was a lie. You came here and you haven’t found enough wealth to support yourself”. She had found her way to America on her own, without financial or parental support. The letters her parents wrote warned her that she would be homeless and once again starve. Marie was as stubborn as she was clever. “The American Dream”, that is what her teacher promised her. “The American Dream”, which included all the liberties and financial happiness she could imagine. While just getting by on her low paying jobs she continued to question if this dream was