American_Dream

English Essay The American Dream is a paradigm of American society and the iconic national ethos of the country. It embodies the core values of individualism, profit motive associated with free enterprise and hard work. The American dream is universal but through different times, it has often failed and collapsed, dismantling the values associated with it. The collapse of such values may vary as well as the extent of difference in every individual’s responses. Such examples of these are portrayed in JD Salinger’s book “The Catcher in the Rye” and a documentary by Michael Moore, “Capitalism…A Love Story”. The American Dream promoted individualism in a variety of ways including the use of propaganda advertisements. However, these advertisements ironically promoted the purchasing of materialism that ultimately told people to conform. In J.D Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye”, the main character, Holden Caulfield responds by openly rejecting the values of materialism that the American Dream offered. In a Post World War II era, propaganda advertisements used by companies highly succeeded. The American Dream of individuality collapsed as big corporations now controlled the materialism that people purchased. Holden’s response remained rebellious to the system and could not conform to society’s values that were constantly forced on him. “Take most people, they’re crazy about cars…I don’t even like old cars. I mean they never interest me. I’d rather have a goddamn horse”, showed Holden’s response towards society’s popular materialism. The horse represents the image of the past where ideas of conformity aren’t as strong. Even though the American Dreams of wealth and education are given to him, Holden responds negatively towards it. “It’s full of phonies and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddamn Cadillac someday” shows his critical view of education. His response to this collapse of values in individuality differs greatly from other people, presented through behaviour of trying to escape a system that wants to take hold of him showing little extent of hope. Michael Moore makes a documentary, “Capitalism…A Love Story”, in response to the collapse of values in the American Dream opposed to Holden’s rebellion of escaping the system. His response was directed towards the control of authority and big corporations, taking away individuality. In a scene, Moore juxtaposes the old Roman civilization with that of contemporary America. This humorous approach linked a collapsed civilization of the past, to a modern day civilization. “To keep idle citizens occupied, frequent games and spectacles were held at public expense” showed scenes of uncivilized behaviour portraying that the American Dream is still highly flawed. It shows the collapse of the dream upon realization by the public that it is still molded by the higher authority and there is no individuality, the American Dream is a controlled dream. Moore differs in his response to that of Holden’s as he identifies flaws in the system and proposes ways to fix it such as a democratic workplace. Moore also uses real personalized stories of citizens being evicted out of their homes portraying the collapse of dreams during the Global Financial Crisis. Randy and Donna Hacker were foreclosed by Citibank and it took away their home and their individuality. “There has got to be some sort of a rebellion between the people that got it all and the people that have nothing” was Randy’s statement, capturing the audience’s attention to the reality. Michael Moore’s mainly responds to the collapse of the American Dream by gaining the attention of audiences to the situation and giving hope in fixing it. The profit motive associated with the American Dream of hard work has also been a common idea in both texts but prompted different responses. In “The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden is given the American dream of wealth. However, there is a considerable amount of pressure on him to succeed in his life as well as his father, a lawyer, has. This pressure and confusion has caused him to dislike people who make large sums of money seeing them as ‘phonies’. Holden doesn’t believe in the values of money and comments negatively about his father’s occupation. “Lawyers are alright I guess – but it doesn’t appeal to me…All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink martinis and look like a hot-shot”. This shows that he doesn’t care about values in the American Dream like money, although ironically he spends it quite impulsively. The expectations placed upon Holden to conform eventually causes a response by him too escape the system. “I’d start hitchhiking my way out west…I could get a job at a filling station somewhere...and I’d build me a little cabin somewhere and live there for the rest of my life”, portrays withdrawal, in his response to the collapse of values. It gives insight into his thoughts and the desperate attempt to escape the system and a life of conformity. The profit motive is portrayed in Michael Moore’s documentary “Capitalism…A Love Story”, but the response towards the behaviour to seek profit varies greatly with Holden’s. In the film’s opening scene, there is a montage of shots depicting robberies that take place in various shops. Moore uses this to show the extent in which some people go to in order to acquire wealth. It represents the American Dream of profit motive collapsing from the immorality of the system. Examples of the corrupt operations of businesses such as the ‘dead peasants’ scheme was presented. Moore blames the United States Government for failing to look after the welfare of all of its citizens and instead seeking short-term profits. Congress representative Marcy Kaptur said that “the treasury department is basically an arm of wall street”, showing the power authority has in controlling wealth. In his response, instead of escaping the system like Holden does, Moore confronts the authority which led to the collapse and the banks that profited from the bailout package. He drives an armoured truck up to the building demanding the money be paid back to the taxpayers of the U.S. Responses of citizens affected by bank foreclosures played a significant role in the documentary. “Be squatters in your own home” voices the anger of protesters in the fight back against the collapse of the capitalist system. People, to an extent respond differently to the collapse of values associated with the American Dream. In the book “The Catcher in the Rye” the character, Holden Caulfield responds to his rejection of the values in society by trying to rebel and escape the system, giving no extent of hope. However, Michael Moore responds to the collapses of values in the American Dream through producing a documentary. He confronts the system and identifies the immoral and corrupt acts the American Dream has led to and proposes new ways to fix the system, differing to the response of Holden Caulfield.