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What is the American Dream?

What is the American Dream?. American Flag and Statue of Liberty . Plowing in the Fields. The Perfect Home. Family Praying at Dinner. Family Feast. Husband and Wife . Woman At Work. Rosie the Riveter . January 18, 1964

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What is the American Dream?

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  1. What is the American Dream?

  2. American Flag and Statue of Liberty

  3. Plowing in the Fields

  4. The Perfect Home

  5. Family Praying at Dinner

  6. Family Feast

  7. Husband and Wife

  8. Woman At Work

  9. Rosie the Riveter

  10. January 18, 1964 President Lyndon Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and other prominent black leaders.

  11. American Soldiers

  12. Money

  13. A Look Back-- American Literature

  14. The Pitfalls of the American Dream Brainstorm the positive and negative impacts of the American Dream:

  15. The American Dream: A Perspective “We hold these truths to be self-evident--that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” Thomas Jefferson

  16. The Promise of the American Dream • Historical perspective • Symbol of the opportunities inherent in a democracy • Immigration and the American Dream • Diversity as a major strength in our society • The American Dream as a motivating force that attracts immigrants • The belief that hard work, ingenuity, and perseverance can take you anywhere!

  17. The Changing American Dream America is a new Eden, a “promised land” of beauty, unlimited resources, and endless opportunities. Voices of the Revolution and Nationalism—Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson

  18. The Changing American Dream The American birthright is one of ever-expanding opportunity. Progress is a good thing, and we can optimistically expect life to keep getting better and better.

  19. Romanticism– 1800-1860 Emphasized feeling and intuition over reason. Common features included looking to the past as well as to nature for guidance and wisdom. Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  20. The Changing American Dream The independent, self-reliant individual will triumph. Everything is possible for the person who places trust in his or her own powers and potential.

  21. Transcendentalism— (1850’s) Believed in living close to nature and taught the dignity of manual labor. Self-trust and self-reliance were to be practiced at all times, because to trust self was really to trust the voice of God speaking intuitively within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau

  22. Realism 1865-1900 1865– Civil War ended 1917– America entered World War I This was a turning point in American life, marking a loss of innocence and a strong disillusionment with tradition.

  23. Postwar Period Two important trends, Marxism and psychoanalysis, were noteworthy factors in the breakdown of traditional beliefs and values. Psychoanalysis led to the literary technique of stream-of-consciousness narration, which attempted to imitate the moment-by-moment flow of a character’s perceptions and memories.

  24. The Moderns 1900-1950 What events in history sparked a change in these writers?

  25. 1909—Freud lectures on psychoanalysis in U.S. 1917—U. S. enters World War I 1917—Russian Revolution/Communism 1920—Harlem Renaissance 1920—19th Amendment grants women the right to vote. 1929—Stock market crashes, leading to Great Depression. 1933—Roosevelt becomes president; New Deal program to counter Great Depression begins 1941—US enters World War II after Japan attacks Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. (1939 World War II began.)

  26. Introduced the Following Major Themes: ISOLATED SELF SUICIDE ABSURDISMDEPRESSION HOPELESSNESS WASTE DISILLUSIONMENT RELIGIOUS UNCERTAINTY

  27. RE-EVALUATION OF THE AMERICAN HERO IN RELIGION AND BUSINESS NONCONFORMITY IN LANGUAGE, THOUGHT, AND STRUCTURE TRAGEDY OF THE “LITTLE MAN” RECONCILING THE SELF TO AN ORDERLESS, OFTEN SELF-DESTRUCTIVE WORLD MEANINGLESSNESS OF WORLD

  28. Thoughts From Two Modern Writers “Men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things.” --Willa Cather Death Comes for the Archbishop “I had a world, and it slipped away from me. The War blew up more than the bodies of men…It blew ideas away.” --Sherwood Anderson Letter to his son, November 1929

  29. How Do Modern Writers View the American Dream?

  30. WHAT DO YOU ENVISION AS YOUR AMERICAN DREAM?

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