A Discussion on the American Dream in Classic Prose and Poetry

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The American Dream: Its Discussion in Classic Prose & Poetry The American Dream is a theme which often rears its head in American literature. For centuries we've been chasing it; the ideal life and state of being; and some of our finest wordsmiths have even immortalized it in verse. Notable essays, short stories, and poems have metaphorically touched on the topic, and have explored the range of limitations and opportunities in living the American dream.

The American dream is not so much a singularly fixed idea, but it is a multi-faceted concept that is only truly determined by the dreamer.

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In Sherwood Anderson's 'Mother' we have a protagonist who has long pined for her slice of the American dream. Elizabeth Willard feels small, unfulfilled, and unsatisfied; her life is filled with her wanting and wishing, and looking towards others to rescue her from her mundane existence. We learn that her husband, Tom, resents her because he feels that he has not been true to his own dreams, but has instead lived within the niche she's carved out for him, chasing her worldly pursuits.

The Willard residence is a portrayal of people living just short of what they each feel is the American dream. For Elizabeth, she would rather have traveled the world, explored new lives and new roles every day, rather than settle into a basic day-to day routine of housewife and mother. Tom disparages his life; in a fit of bitterness he even casts insulting words at his son in an attempt to discourage him from following his passion to write.

Moving on from Sherwood Anderson's 'Mother' we have another exploratory composition by the author. 'Adventure' follows a similar theme: a woman who is unhappy and unsatisfied, and has been living out her dreams through a man. In this tale too, the American dream stays just out of reach for the protagonist, Alice Hindman. After falling for a younger man, she is emotionally bound to him, and she essentially puts her life on hold for him while he lives free and unencumbered in Chicago spending his new fortune. Alice has envisioned a life for herself and her lover; in this story it is the character's aspirations and expectations to live their version of the American dream that has enslaved them. She wants to be loved by her distant lover, to live happily and wealthy with Ned, but this dream is becoming increasingly impossible, yet she does not see that.

She is deluded and blind to the reality of her world for the majority of the story, and it is in the end that she comes to terms with the fact she has been wasting her time and will likely die alone now. Robert Frost's 'The Road Not Taken' is the poet's best-loved work. In it Frost distinguishes between two paths which he comes across while walking; both paths being untraveled that very morning and seeming fair. The paths metaphorically represent the well-traveled road (towards what society says is the American dream) and the less-traveled one (which is what the traveler says it to be). The author confesses to choosing the route that is less-traveled and only says it has made all difference. This poem is not written as an attack on the concept of the American dream, it is rather redefining it. Frost suggests that the American dream is not merely what society, tradition, and public opinion lays out before you. It can also come as the road that leads away from the crowd and din; the road that takes you out of contact with the perpetual human merry-go-round, and enables you to be free in your reasoning and behavior.

In Frost's poem 'Desert Places, the reader finds almost a continuation of the thoughts from the piece, The Road Not Taken.' This poem appears expound briefly, yet meaningfully, on the loneliness the author feels after choosing to travel down his own path in life rather than go the way of the masses. Frost speaks of loneliness and isolation which is undoubtedly the result of having gone his own way. He describes the setting of the poem to be a winter landscape; it is bleak and quiet, with only the stars to keep his company. Now had Frost taken the common road and pursued the America dream the ordinary way, he would have given us a much livelier scene. Instead these 'desert places' are the cost of traveling opposite of the crowd. At best, 'Desert Places' is compelling and introspective, and especially honest in its viewpoint. It suggests that at times on the way to where you're going, you will feel lonely and you may even feel abandoned.