Jim's American Dream Of Being example essay topic

Bob Johnson 2/18/99 First Draft American Dream The American Dream describes the attitude of hope and faith that overlooks the fulfillment of wishes and desires toward humans (Zimmerman 1). The search for freedom and happiness goes back to the very beginning of the American civilizations, to the time of the first settlers. To these people, American represented a new life full of freedom, and the hope of becoming wealthy. However, there are also negative aspects of the American Dream. The novels The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, and The Beautiful and Damned, by Scott F. Fitzgerald, show how the dream can be corrupt and unsuccessful and also be successful.

A novel that shows the failure of the American Dream is The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter takes us back to Puritan time, which were one of the first settlers that ever came to the United States of America. In this novel Hester Prynne is accused of adultery. Her punishment was to wear a scarlet "A" on top of her breasts, and she was ex-communicated from her town. The real question to ask yourself is: "Was Hester Prynne's action wholly sinful?" (Barry 2) To this question there are many different answers; it just depends who you ask. A traditional moralist would say "yes", because she broke the Ten Commandments.

A romantic enthusiast would say "no", claiming she acted according to human instincts. Finally, a transcendental idealist would have said that Hester did do wrong, but did not sin. (Frederic 3) Harold Bloom described Hester's action: "Hester assumed a freedom of speculation which our forefathers, had they known it, would have held to be a deadlier crime than that stigmatized by the Scarlet Letter" (Bloom 127). He says this because he believes that Hester should not have been punished because it was not a serious crime. The failure of the American Dream and the tragedy that Hester and Arthur Dimmesdale have created can be described in three different ways. The romantics believe that The Scarlet Letter did not result from a tragic flaw, but from the evil society.

They believe that Hester was defeated by moral tradition. The orthodox believe that Hester had not caused any kind of tragedy, and that she should not have been punished. And finally, the Anti-transcendentalists say that she did cause a great tragedy and should have been punished with death. The tragedy was the sin that she had committed. All Hester wanted to do was to live a good life as a Puritan. She wanted a good husband like Arthur Dimmesdale.

She wanted to start a family, but she was not allowed to do so because adultery was a sin and she died with the guilt on her body. Her comment before she was accused of adultery was: "Is this not better than we dreamed of in the forest?" (Hawthorne 173) This shows how Hester wanted "the authentic American dream of freedom and independence in the new world". (Terence 25) The Beautiful and the Damned is a story about a mood rather than a story of a character. Anthony and Gloria are forced into the plot of the story where the mood in places is desperate. This novel does not blame on the injustices of society or the nature of things. The author in this novel makes the hero and heroine, Anthony and Gloria, suffer.

The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn shows what happened to the American Dream in the mid-1800's. It shows how the dream can be successful by reaching for your goals. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the story of the success of a mutual dream. This is the ultimate goal that a person would want. The novel describes the rising of a vision of America. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jim's American dream of being free and taking care of his family would be his ultimate accomplishment.

Huck had moved closer to Jim during the trip to free Jim because he had started to accept Jim as a human being. Huckleberry Finn represents every person whom has ever had to make a decision between what they feel is morally correct and what society perceives as right. Huck knows Jim is more than others say he is, and he isn't about to let Jim lead a life of cruelty because there are other people who think they are better because they have lighter skin than Jim. Huck is willing to give up his afterlife for Jim's freedom.

Huck's dream was to get as far as possible from Pap and from his guardians. The King and Duke's American dream was to take money from innocent people at any means possible. In the novel, Huck is faced with the dilemma of whether or not to return Jim, the runaway slave, back to Jim's owner. He, at an early age, is faced with the decision that has plagued man for ages: choosing what is morally right, even though it is forbidden in society and popular culture.

He goes against the fold and goes with what his heart tells him. At the end of the novel Jim and Huck's American dream are granted when the owner of Jim dies and Huck finds out that Pap had died. Although The Scarlet Letter, The Beautiful and the Damned, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were written in three different time periods, they all show how the American dream can successful and unsuccessful in many ways. In all three novels, the American dream turns out to be both good and bad goals. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester's dream is a failure because she is punished trying to fulfill her American dream. In The Beautiful and the Damned, the author makes Anthony and Gloria suffer.

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim accomplish their goals by being set free.