The pursuit of happiness: the shifting narrative of suburbia and the American Dream

<p>American Dream is a concept that plays an important role in the American history and its society. The main values of the American Dream are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. These are represented in Captain America, carrier of the spirit of America to the world. Captain America, the main character in a comic, also preserved the values in the American Dream, so it is proven that there is a relation between Captain America and the American Dream. The problem is that there are changes in the way people see the concept of the American Dream today. It is because many people tend to simplify the values in which the concept off ers. This paper examines the relation between the change of perspective and the way the people in the U.S in applying the American Dream with the death of Captain America as the representation of the American Dream. This paper argues that the Death of Captain America can be a representation of the failure in the concept because Captain America died defending what he believed as the true American Dream that all the people in the U.S should preserve. Thus, many people believe the values which Captain America preserved are no longer suitable in the society today.</p>

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The Failure of the American Dream in “The Great Gatsby”- Fitzgerald

European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies ◽

10.26417/ejms.v6i2.p299-305 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 299

Author(s):

Zamira Hodo

Keyword(s):

Literary Criticism ◽

American Dream ◽

The Self ◽

The Novel ◽

Social Discrimination ◽

Pursuit Of Happiness ◽

Modern Life ◽

Great Gatsby ◽

The Great Gatsby ◽

Good Guide

The American Dream is one of the most important issues, which has drawn the attention of literary criticism through many years. It represents the ideals of a nation: equality, liberty, pursuit of happiness and democracy; ideals that have been understood in different ways by people. The real values related to these ideals changed and deviated from what it was meant into the enormous desire and greed for wealth and power. Fitzgerald tried to reveal that social discrimination is present and no one is treated as equal to others. The following research over the novel “The Great Gatsby” demonstrates how the dream cannot be successful because of the way it is misunderstood by the society and people’s materialism view of modern life. The characters and their attitudes through the chronology of the story are the embodiment of disappointment and the lack of moral values in the pursuance of a dream. Qualitative research used in this study aims to give a clear image and a deep analysis of the novel’s major themes, symbols, the period of writing, author’s life, various perspectives of the American Dream and its failure. We expect this thesis to be a good guide for further readings and projects with an explicit goal that the achievement of a dream does not necessarily requires the loss of the self and an excessive significance to what ruins the personal and the others future.

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PROBLEMATISASI KELOMPOK SUBALTERN DAN AMERICAN DREAM DALAM NOVEL THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC KARYA JULIE OTSUKA

Lakon : Jurnal Kajian Sastra dan Budaya ◽

10.20473/lakon.v10i1.29773 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 37

Author(s):

Sindhy Sintya Mianani

Keyword(s):

American Dream ◽

Pursuit Of Happiness ◽

Declaration Of Independence ◽

Gayatri Spivak ◽

The Buddha

Novel The Buddha in the Attic karya Julie Otsuka merupakan novel yang memuat fenomena migrasi para perempuan Jepang sebagai picture brides di Amerika Serikat. Berawal dari sebuah foto yang menyimbolkan kesuksesan American Dream, para perempuan ini mengadu nasib di daratan yang selama ini dikenal dengan gaung kesuksesan yang ditawarkan oleh American Dream. Akan tetapi, para picture brides, termasuk para imigran Jepang di Amerika, mengalami diskriminasi rasial. Dari kondisi ini, muncul sebuah permasalahan lain yang dialami oleh picture brides, termasuk didalamnya para imigran Jepang, yang mengalami kesusahan dalam mendapatkan kesempatan memperoleh kesuksesan di Amerika. Isu ini kemudian mengarah ke permasalahan yang lebih mendalam, yaitu mengenai problematika American Dream dari sudut pandang picture brides dengan American Dream dari sudut pandang warga Amerika itu sendiri. Untuk menjawab permasalahan tersebut, studi ini menerapkan teori subaltern milik Gayatri Spivak sebagai kerangka pemikiran teoretis. Berdasarkan hasil analisis, nampak bahwa ada fenomena propaganda American Dream yang mereduksi nilai-nilai American Dream. American Dream yang menekankan life, liberty dan the pursuit of happiness layaknya tercantum dalam The Declaration of Independence pada kenyataannya digunakan sebagai agenda politik oleh pemerintah Amerika Serikat untuk menjaga homogenitas budaya masyarakat Amerika.

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