“I have a dream today... I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” (King) Martin Luther King Jr. was the dreamer of all dreamers. He was put down for having a dream; he was put down for having an idea of how society should look. But did he give up? No. He used his challenges as motivation and used his dream to strengthen the bond between people across America. That idea of dreams and determination is laced throughout many pieces of literature. In A Raisin …show more content…
Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, is filled with dreamers, although not all of them are dreaming for the right thing. The characters hoping for a better tomorrow are the optimists, they are the dreamers that our society needs to thrive and strive for a future where everything is how it should be. Atticus, loving father and determined lawyer, is one of our dreamers. Through his years he has seen terrible things, but he continues to have hope. Terrible things such as the accusation of a horrendous crime like rape, the accusation of an innocent black man. Tom Robinson had all of the evidence in the world to prove his innocence, but he didn’t stand a chance with society stacked against him. Atticus had hoped that by pursuing his dream he would change the society for the better. He put his hope and trust in the very men that caused many of the problems of his Maycomb society. “Now I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence that you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this man to his family. In the name of God, do your duty.” (Lee 205) Atticus knew that even through the blood, …show more content…
Gunnar Myrdal, a Swedish economist who loved America and what it’s stood for. Equality, freedom, and homogeneity were things he admired most about America, but his picture was smeared when he visited and got down and dirty into the racial prejudice so prevalent in the United States. His life and discoveries are recorded in the compelling documentary, “American Denial.” Myrdal had a dream about America and how this country was a spokesmodel for equality. Gunnar Myrdal’s daughter, Sissela Bok, told PBS, “ There were these extraordinary ideals that he also shared. He felt very strongly about the ideals of equality, liberty, and freedom in the United States.” He was mistaken. In the Deep South he finds a color line built more like the Great Wall Of China. He found a society based around racial domination. Myrdal could have lost hope for the beautiful country he thought America was, but he didn’t. He traveled this way to study the America he imagined and he was going to study that America. He published a study called “American Dilemma.” In short, he explained what he discovered, and what he found shook the world. What he found led to the more equal society we live here now. “The Supreme Court was arguing that segregation is physiologically damaging to African Americans and they cited Myrdal there.” (Danielle Allen, Political Philosopher Institute for Advanced Studies.) Myrdal was cited in the ruling for the Brown vs. The Board Of Education case.