Late 1930s Song Of Solomon: The American Dream

While many have dreams to be rich, healthy, and hardworking, America is special because it is the only country to have a national dream. All Americans and immigrants pursue, if not acknowledge the concept of The American Dream. From the founding fathers of our country to the present day, there has been stories and concepts of The American Dream. Although the term has existed since 1931, the content and to whom it applies has varied from the late 1700s to now. Seen in American Literature from Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac and autobiography to the late 1930s Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, the American Dream has undergone many revisions. Starting from the late 1700s, Benjamin Franklin advocates for self improvement, thriftiness and hard work. As the time period shifts past the Industrial Revolution to the roaring 1920s, the social classes change and The American Dream is one of extravagance and wealth. This time is also a turning point as more freedoms allow choices to expand across gender, causing tidbits to spread into female American culture. Finally by the early 1930s and late 1950s, The American Dream has been swept up into the minds of poor Black American and men and women alike. Throughout these time periods, the people, the concept and the environment have changed and as such The American

In his first paragraph Benjamin Franklin in his autobiography once wrote: “Having emerg’d from the Poverty and Obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a State of Affluence and some Degree of Reputation in the World, and having gone so far thro’ Life[...]the conducting Means I made use of, which, with the Blessing of God, so well succeeded, my Posterity may like to know, as they may find some of them suitable to their own Situations, and therefore fit to be imitated” (Franklin