Langston Hughes's Pursuit Of The American Dream

1. Langston Hughes is one of the most iconic American poets of all time. His work is forceful and direct, and spoke to the heart of the battles over inequality being fought in his time. Perhaps his best known poem, “I, Too”, highlights all of Hughes good qualities. His very first line expresses a common theme of the Harlem Renaissance, “I, too, sing America” In this we see the belief that African-Americans of the time thought of themselves as, well, Americans. Moreso, they actually believed, for the most part, our national mythology. They believed, and rightly so, that African Americans had artistic and emotional perspectives, hence the singing, that America would do well to incorporate. The next stanza shows the state of inequality present

Few would equate F. Scott Fitzgerald to John Steinbeck in any sense, though, they both did deal with the american dream, and ultimately, the unattainability of it. For example, in Fitzgerald’s, “The Great Gatsby”, Gatsby is shown to represent the unbridled pursuit of the american dream (vis. Daisy, and in order to obtain her, everything). However, he ultimately fails to reach his goal fully because of the unbridled nature of his pursuit. Steinbeck’s, “Grapes of Wrath”, on the other hand, paints a quite different picture. This novel follows the struggles of a poor migrant family from their lost land-share in Oklahoma to California. The family is excluded from the American Dream, and even basic liberties, due to their status as poor. However, hope is given that the migrants will rise up and take what they deserve. The primary similarity between the two is their understanding of what the American dream is. Both imply that, though it may be less satisfying, that which makes us American is not having the dream, but rather, the process of attempting to realize the dream. However, their focus is very different. Fitzgerald focuses on the rich, and as such, finds that attaining the dream in any meaningful sense is impossible. This is due to the ambition of the rich, and by extension the inability to remain satisfied, as well as their propensity for dreams that are without any direct utility (I.E. love). Steinbeck comes to a startlingly different conclusion, by using the poor as a focal point. He finds that if the poor were to join together, they would easily accomplish their wildest collective dreams. Moreso, as the dream is pure potential in their hands (land), the dream would not be ended by anything so simple as achieving