The American Dream

This summer is the summer of the American dream. Before I move on to elucidate what I mean by this, I should stipulate what I mean by American dream. The American dream, I believe, is something explicitly and implicitly explicit. Hmph! How can something be explicitly explicit? That would mean that that something is extremely obvious. Perhaps I should say that the American dream is a prevalent feeling that is explicitly and implicitly felt in America starting in the late 20th century and into the 21st century. Having the American dream is the sense of being expected to accomplish a feat called success – which has its own ambiguities in its meaning. Success is measured differently by different people. What is success to me? I guess I could say that success is simply accomplishing your goals the way you want to, no matter how small or big or many or few. So long as you know that trying to accomplish those goals was worthwhile, even if you failed. According to Ralph Emerson’s poem, “Success” Success is

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

I agree with him on most parts particularly the part where he says success is to leave the world a bit better. Some simply say that success is to be happy in the end after all has come and gone. The great historian, Herodotus , who fused so fluently history, mythology and religion wrote a short story which was one of Solon’s meeting with Croesus. In it are the profound and revealing admonitions to Solon: “Never count a person happy, until dead,” or in other words, “the happiness of human life cannot be judged until the entire span of that life has been lived, and death is to be preferred to the vicissitudes of life.” Indeed, success, if one thinks of it to be a finale of happiness, would have to be judged at the end of one’s time.

If that’s success, then why is it called “American”? Well, the “American” part adds a tinge of nationalism.

So, so far I explained success and the American dream and how they interlock. How do they have to do with the movies and novels I watched and almost read (I didn’t finish the novel, in fact, I’m still in the beginning)? The American dream or success, as I will now denote it as, is an expectation that I have observed as I watched movies and almost read novels epitomizing the so called dram that only a few really reached.

The protagonists in Revolutionary Road came so close to this dream – too close – that they ended up destroying it. They almost left for Paris to reach the American dream, which for me is ironic because they would have earned that dream, that success, in a different country. But that’s just my take on it. In the end, their dream – one of Utopian ideals – dissolved through loud and dramatic, table-turning fights.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a bit of a stretch from the American dream theme. But things will iron out as I continue to unfold meanings. Benjamin Button’s case is as the title suggests curious. But it is at the same time paradoxically revealing. It is curious because of his physiological nature, yet revealing through his case’s nature in the context of Benjamin’s relationships with people he cares about. He’s grows younger, yet ages older. That’s not natural! So we would naturally expect his relationships and views on life to be tweaked and twisted to accommodate his complementing condition. So for him to measure his success he would have to see to it through a different window than most people. His case is the case that Solon tries to teach Croesus in Herodotus’ short story mentioned earlier. He would have to judge his success or happiness only after he dies. And when he does, what’s left is the desire of his dying daughter’s mother (his true best girlfriend – I don’t know if they ever got married) and his daughter’s realization of his whole existence and his personality, that is to say, his life through his eyes. And did he achieve the success that most Americans dream of? I would say yes. He seemed to have accepted – earlier on even – his condition, as did his best friend, by the time he died as a young but old baby.

I would explain how the Great Gatsby has to do with the American dream, but I have not yet finished reading it. Sorry!

I think the American dream is an interesting theme that can be played around with in so many different lights. It stretches our ideals on the human state and the human life and what there is to do in it. And I think that is important to contemplate on every once in a while