Pros And Cons Of Achieving The American Dream

What exactly is the American Dream? The American Dream is a symbol of opportunity and success and it suggests that the hard work and freedom of an individual can lead to a better life. However, society persists to cease the possibility of achieving the American Dream, questions arise about the achievability of this dream. Patrick DeWitt shows that the American Dream is an unachievable dream. The characters, Eli, Charlie, Warm, and Mayfield, hope for wealth and a better life. However, DeWitt demonstrates, as the characters get closer to achieving the American Dream, the reality becomes apparent, exposing the truth that in this society, the American Dream is nothing more than an illusion. The American Dream is unachievable because the good, the

Hermann Warm is good, virtuous, and a hard worker, but he is not being rewarded. When Warm meets Morris, Warm approaches Morris friendly and offers him a partnership. As they were having a conversation, Warm shares his life work with Morris to become wealthy together: Warm “pulled from his pockets several loose, much abused papers, and he laid these before me … page after page of scribbled, intricate numerical lists, figures, and scientific calculations” (DeWitt 189). As a result, the hard-work done by Warm is shown by “a lot of papers and calculations.” Warm approaches Morris in a friendly way, he has courage and prudence about his work which is showing that he is a virtuous person. In addition, when Warm shares his work with Morris, it shows that Warm is a good man because he does not know Morris very well but he thinks Morris would become a good partner and he decides to share his rich plan with almost a stranger. Later in the novel, the hard work done by Warm is not rewarded. Warm starts to mine some of the gold with Morris, Eli, and Charlie, but, suddenly Morris falls into the toxic river, Warm rescues him but because of the deadly chemicals in the river, Warm dies before he achieves the American Dream. Before Warm dies, he says “All these men crowding around, and all of them so decent and honorable. I felt such the outcast, and for such a long time.” At these

Eli and Charlie both suddenly get wealthy, they can not stay as rich. After Eli and Charlie forcefully stole Mayfield’s gold and money, they hide it under the basement of the hotel for them to use later. Eli and Charlie “returned to the basement to count the safe’s contents, splitting and pocketing the paper money, which amounted to eighteen hundred dollars. The gold proved to be too much to account for in our travels and so was hidden underneath a potbellied stove” (DeWitt 162). The amount of money worth “eighteen hundred dollars'', considering the Western period, clearly proves how rich Eli and Charlie are. When they realize that “the gold proved to be too much to account for in our travels'' it shows that Eli and Charlie are too wealthy enough that they need to hide some extra money. However, when Eli and Charlie could not stay wealthy forever. After Morris and Warm die, Eli and Charlie come back to the Mayfield hotel to gather their hidden money and gold. Unfortunately, Eli and Charlie’s dream about having a change in their life is ruined because the basement that has their money and gold is burnt by the fire causing Eli and Charlie to lose everything they had. Eli “wanted to be changed in my life. So when I smelt smoke on the wind a mile or two outside of town … Charlie and I got to the hotel, my feelings pushed past worry and anger, which gave way to miserable acceptance.