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Gehena Girish

Mrs. Hillesland

AP Integrated English Silver

23 March 2017

American Dreamers

Langston Hughes, in his poem Harlem, questions his readers: What happens to a dream

deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sorethen run? Hughes brings

up various responses to the deference of the one dream we all sharethe American Dream.

Three American authors shared their own views on the American Dream during the 20th century,

when the idea of the Dream was fully coming into play. In their respective works, The Great

Gatsby, A Raisin in the Sun, and The Glass Menagerie, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Lorraine Hansberry,

and Tennessee Williams, although holding slightly different views on the Dream, all agree upon

one thing: the American Dream is possible, yet unattainable if we do not fit its mold.

In his 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgeralds take on the Dream is that the American

Dream is only available to us if we fit its mold. If the mold doesnt fit, the Dream remains out of

our reach. The personification of the Dream in The Great Gatsby is Myrtle Wilson, a poor

woman living in the dredges of society, married to a poor man and aspiring to become

somebody. Myrtles only connection to the life she seeks is as a mistress to a wealthy socialite.

At the end of the novel, Myrtle dies a fast death after being run over by a car. Fitzgeralds views

on the Dream are brought out through Myrtle. Myrtle wasnt able to achieve the American

Dream because she wasnt the type of person who couldbeing a poor woman in 1920s

America left her with no options to achieve her dream. Through Myrtles short life and fast
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death, Fitzgerald argues that the Dream existed for Myrtle; she could have lived the Dream, but

because of her circumstances and her role in the novel, Myrtles dream, the American Dream,

were left out of sight.

Lorraine Hansberry takes a similar position to Fitzgerald in her play, A Raisin in the Sun.

The play follows an African-American family living in poverty in Chicago and their approach to

the American Dream. Lena Younger, the matriarch of the family and inheritor of a large sum of

money from her late husband. Younger uses the money to buy a house for her family, in an all-

white neighborhood. The Younger family is seen moving into their new home after almost being

kicked out of it at the end of the film. Hansberrys characters in A Raisin in the Sun represent

another group of people who cannot achieve the American Dream: African-Americans. Because

racism was still a major factor in prosperity in the late 1950s when the play was written,

Hansberry reflects these racial tensions by ending her play ambiguously. Through the Younger

family, Hansberry argues that African-Americans were denied their share of the prosperity,

because of the color of their skin. She explores a different side to the deference of the American

Dream by examining the Dream from a racial background, leading readers to understand that the

American Dream did exist, but it was unattainable for African-Americans.

Tennessee Williams play, A Glass Menagerie, examines the American Dream similarly

to both Fitzgerald and Hansberry, focusing on how the Dream was left unattainable for an

untraditional family. A Glass Menagerie is the story of Amanda Wingfield and her two older

children, as she attempts to keep her family intact. By the end of the play, Amanda has reminded

the audience multiple times about her life as a faded Southern woman, forced to raise her two

children after her husband left her, and her hopes and dreams for her children. Williams

Amanda represents a womans take on the American Dream, but different from Fitzgeralds
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Myrtle. Amanda Wingfield is a woman whose American Dream has already been taken from her,

taken the minute her husband walked out the door. Where Myrtle still had her Dream, Amandas

Dream is already gone. As a woman and a mother, her options are limited as to how she can

achieve her American Dream. With Amanda, Williams maintains that the American Dream is

only available to those who have connections; if Amandas husband had not left, her children

and her might have had a chance to live the Dream. Because Amanda did not fit the mold, she

was denied.

All three authors have a similar take on the American Dream, but they each bring a new

perspective to the table in regards to how the Dream is possible, yet out of reach. Fitzgeralds

personification of the Dream in Myrtle Wilson suggests that the Dream is unobtainable if we are

poor, because we have no advantage towards building ourselves up. Hansberrys Younger family

personifies the racial tensions that come with the American Dream, since we are at a complete

disadvantage if we are of a minority. Williams Amanda Wingfield argues that the Dream is out

of reach if we do not play the roles of a traditional family. Each author examines in their

respective stories how their characters watch the American Dream touch their fingertips, slip out

of their hands, and shatter on the floor, like a piece of glass.

Like Langston Hughes argues in his poem Harlem, there are various reactions to the

dream deferredwe run away from our dreams, euphemize our situation, and even die because

of our dreams being torn from us. In their respective works, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Lorraine

Hansberry, and Tennessee Williams all hold different views on their American dreams deferred,

but they all agree that the American Dream is an unattainable but possible dreamif we fit the

mold. Examining the Dream from the lesser-known perspectives, each author came to the same

conclusion that if we were poor, a minority, or untraditional, the Dream was out of our hands.
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This hypocrisy of our American Dream, as shown by Fitzgerald, Hansberry, and Williams,

demonstrates that we need to stop discriminating against our aspirations, and make the American

Dream a realityfor everyone, regardless of their own stigmas.