Ms._Al_Hasan

The American Dream From the Points of View of Three American Writers: Emerson, Douglass, and Wilder Name: Ghadeer Al Hasan ID No. : 8070572 Upon the American Nation’s coming of age as an independent land in the early nineteenth century, the Americans found themselves in an inevitably challenging situation: as the offspring of a young nation with no cultural heritage or historical legacy, the Americans had to shoulder the responsibility of shaping their own distinctive identity, which determines their views towards themselves and their nation. A new set of beliefs were established, contributing to the formation of the American mindset, which has viewed America as the land of “opportunity”, freedom, and “unlimited promise.”[i] Although the term “the American Dream” was coined by the historian James Truslow Adams in his book, The Epic of America, published in 1931, its tenets date back to the period during the American Revolution. The phrase's meaning has evolved over the course of the American history. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, and Thornton Wilder are three foremost American writers whose works reflect the different seminal attitudes and aspirations of their ages towards “the American Dream.” However, by studying and analyzing the works of these writers, one can always sense an urgent tendency to celebrate the idealism of “the American Dream,” namely the glorification of the individual. In the light of this assumption, this essay presents a chronological analysis of this argument from the points of view of these three American writers. Emerson, as a Transcendentalist, believes that the essence of “the American Dream” lies in the refinement of the human experience. In his most celebrated essay “Self-Reliance”, Emerson stresses the importance of transcending the common human experience, which is based on “conformity” to “dead institutions”; he denounces “imitation” as “suicide” (1062), and instead, he calls for self-reliance as a means of elevating the self. Emerson, in some of the principal precepts of “the American Dream” he points to in “Self-Reliance”, resonates with Adams’s beliefs with regards to the same topic, as the latter says, “Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it.” [ii] Similarly, Emerson, affirms that listening to the “voice of the mind” is what has enabled great men such as “ Moses, Plato, and Milton” to leave remarkable contributions to the history of humanity. (1061) He talks of “genius” and defines it as having faith in one’s own “thought” and believing that what is “true” for one in their “private heart is true for all men.” He further adds that the source of this “genius”, which he also refers to as “intuition”(1068), comes from within the individual; and he confirms that “a man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within”(1062). Furthermore, Emerson’s “mystic” views, outlining his definition of “the American Dream,” seems appealing to his audience at that time, being a source of optimism and hope to a world darkened by a period of economic slump, regional strife, and conflict over slavery. His idealism is manifested in his belief that man and every object in nature are reflections of the Divine Soul. He urges his audience to express their individuality in action, thought, and word without shame; for in each individual God has entrusted divine ideas.( 1062) He also celebrates the autonomy of the “soul” and condemns the “centuries” as “conspirators against” its “authority”, emphasizing that the divine wisdom must communicate directly with the mind, uninterrupted by the precepts of the past. (1069) In addition, Emerson in his essay argues that self-reliance as a mode of perceiving knowledge entails a new perspective of “property.” He deprecates the possession of unearned property, including that acquired “by inheritance, or crime, or gift.” In respect to that, he also criticizes his nation’s “dependence on foreign goods,” which could be interpreted as an invitation to discard both the European intellectual legacy and material “support”; and instead, he extols the reliance on the “inborn” “power” which resides in the individuals – which he refers to as “Spontaneity or Instinct” – to craft the new nation’s identity. ( (1076-77) On the other hand, Emerson’s view of “the American Dream” might have certain pitfalls. This view of the Utopian world he aspires his nation to live up to might not be perfect after all. The title his essay carries, “Self-Reliance”, implies a sense of self-centeredness; the individual is urged to rely solely on himself to go on happily with his life; despite the idealism this principle inspires, it is oblivious to the fact that this approach might promote a sense of self-absorption amongst the individuals and indifference towards each other within the same community; this might have a weakening impact on the ties and bonds which are supposed to bring all the different groups of the community together. In addition, this egotistic attitude might negatively influence the relation of the nation as a whole with the rest of the world. If the nation is to ignore the wide scope it exists within, this increases its awareness exclusively of its self-interest, leading to the nation’s isolation from the rest of the world. Douglass, in his autobiography, Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave, offers a relatively different vision of “the American Dream” from that of Emerson’s: he believes that the American Dream can’t be fully realized without the fulfilment of equality for all the individuals in the United States, regardless of their differences in ethnicity, color, or gender [iii]. Here again, behind the principle of equality lies the glorification of the individual. However, unlike Emerson’s spiritual and mystic idea of following the divine voice within the individual, Douglass, in his autobiographical narrative, confirms that the only path towards equality and freedom is through changing the mind-set of the individuals. Douglass’s emphasis on the need to change the way the individuals think in order to change their life runs in parallel with Adams’ notions; for Adams underlines the importance of man’s “altering his attitude of mind ”in order to “alter his life,” and he refers to this idea as “the greatest discovery of …[his] generation.”[iv] In his autobiography, Douglass is mainly concerned with advocating the abolition of slavery in the South of the United States. Recounting the emotional and physical suffering and torture he has endured as a slave, he conveys the horrifying character of slavery in all its aspects. However, he also relates the factors contributing to his aspiring to freedom, namely the transformation of his state of mind. In his narrative, Douglass explains how the enslavers attempt to “tame” and “break” (293) the slaves by exposing them to countless barbaric and brutal practices; he demonstrates how the slaves are trained to succumb to such physical and emotional cruelty with subservience and submission. He implies that the enslavers endeavour to obliterate any trace of human identity in the slaves by reducing them to a level with the brute. In so doing, they create a frame for the slaves’ mentality, which is that of accepting the fact of their inferiority to the whites. The only way the slaves can gain their status as human beings is to break free from the mind-set established for them by the enslavers. In chapter ten, Douglass acquaint the reader with the details of his painful experience with Mr. Covey, a man known as a “negro-breaker” (299) who rents him for one year from his master. He narrates, “Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!”(293) However, he later announces how this period of his life plays a major role in changing the acquiescent attitude of his mind. He states, “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.” He endures several incidents of physical assault conducted by Mr. Covey, until he is finally resolved to rebel and fight back; thusly, he asserts his humanity and dignity by resisting injustice. He narrates of the impact of that incident on his mentality ( 299): This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave. ...It was a glorious resurrection, from the tomb of slavery, to the heaven of freedom. My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact. Another issue Douglass emphasizes to be key in bringing about a change in the slaves’ attitude of mind is education. In various parts of his book, Douglass reveals how the enslavers strive to eliminate all the forms of education available to the slaves, in an effort to curb the their awareness of their human rights as individuals. He argues implicitly that the enslavers are aware of the fact that if the slave learns to read, he,she is exposed to a new realm of thought that leads him to question and then condemns the institution of slavery. In chapter Six, Douglass points out that “the path from slavery to freedom” is through education. He makes this discovery once he overhears his master, Mr. Auld warning his wife of the dangers of slaves receiving instruction. Mr. Auld says, “A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master… . Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world… .It would be unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable…”( 274). Furthermore, Douglass’s book exemplifies how the freedom from the shackles of slavery necessitates a revolution in the attitude of the slave’s mind. During the period of slavery, the slaves are depicted as passive recipients of whatever laws and orders imposed on them by the whites. Nevertheless, Douglass’s writing a book about his life after escaping from slavery stands as a deliberate attempt to transform the passive role of the slaves into a proactive one. In this act of writing about slavery, the slave is the subject, the doer, or the producer of action: he discloses the horrors and injustice of the slavery system and calls for a revolution against it. Douglass’s view of the American Dream may seem appealing to rebels and pro-revolution leaders; however, its implementation is encountered by many challenges. For one thing, when a system – whether it is religious, social, or political – is enforced on an individual, it is imposed on the group as a whole. It requires the collective effort and bravery of the group to overthrow that system; the effort of one individual is futile and insufficient when it isn’t accompanied by the support of the group. In addition, changing the values and the beliefs a certain system has engraved in the individuals’ minds over the years and replacing them with new ones is a mammoth task that demands quite a lengthy period of time. On the other hand, the twentieth-century view of “the American Dream”, follows a different trend; Wilder’s explored in his famous play Our Town, his attitude towards “the American Dream ” is consistent with that of the contemporary writers and poets of his era. Their perception of “the American Dream” is largely influenced by the tremendous change which marks the twentieth century. Wilder, in Our Town, presents “the American Dream” as an illusory idea which eludes and “blinds” many Americans in the twentieth century; the collapse of the dream is due to society’s failure of maintaining the fundamental spiritual and moral values, which are essential to shaping the mind of the individual, who is alienated and marginalized by the material value–oriented society. In the play, there’s a noticeable yearning for the essence of the American Dream Both the promise and the disappointment of “the American Dream” are reflected in Our Town. A manifestation of this is that the action of play extends over two main periods of time: the past and the present. The events taking place in the past are characterized with stability; in contrast, the present in the play witnesses a decline in action. Moreover, the mood in the play changes as the action moves from the past to the present: the mood dominating the play in the first two acts, which take place in the past, is full of expectation, peace, and joy; however, the mood prevailing the present in the last act is marked by frustration and bitterness. The past in Our Town represents the idealism and promise of the American Dream: the first two acts describe the serenity and simplicity of life in Grover’s Town; Emily and George fall in love and get married; despite its imperfection, the life of the townspeople seem to go on smoothly and untroubled. However, as Emily dies in the last act, she discovers that the past is nothing but an illusion, and the living people are no more than blind and ignorant individuals (199): the present in Our Town symbolizes the failure and disappointment of “the American Dream.” In this play, wilder draws on the issue that society, with the complexity of its modern life, fails to fulfil the expectations of “the American Dream” as it is more concerned about material prosperity rather than the moral and spiritual education of the individual. With Respect to this matter, Adams states, “There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live. Surely these should never be confused in the mind of any man who has the slightest inkling of what culture is.”[v] Wilder agrees with Adams in this regard, as he assumes that the industrial and technological advancement and the spiritual vacuum, which characterize twentieth-century America, replace what Adams refers to as the “liberal education” of its individuals as “human beings.” What is worrisome about Wilder’s view of the American Dream is that it is nostalgic: it inspires a yearning for the idealized life of the golden past, despite its flaws, but without the ability of returning to it. This is precisely the reason why Emily can’t relive the past as she dies; she knows what happens in the future; she finds going back to the past not only impossible but also “painful”(98), so she joins the dead with their indifference. The dead represent the disillusioned, alienated individuals of the twentieth-century America, whose dreams are shattered by the cruelty of events such as the First World War and the Great Depression. In conclusion, over the passage of time, freeing the individuals’ mind from all the various types of restrictions imposed on them by the conditions of their society and time has been a prime aspect and concern of “the American Dream.”[vi] Despite Emerson, Douglass, and Wilder’s differences in anxieties and aspirations, their writings reflect that the autonomy of the individual’s mentality and experience, supported by the appropriate values of spirituality, integrity, and morality ensue the presence of culture in the American nation. Changing the current government’s mode of thinking, based mainly on “self-interest,” is the only way to save the twenty-first-century American dream “from slipping further and further away,” as Barack Obama said in one of the speeches he delivered during one of his presidential campaigns in the United States. End Notes ----------------------- [i] From Elements of Literature; Fifth Course; pg. 562 [ii] Quoted from ( http://thinkexist.com/quotation/) [iii] Quoted from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass) [iv] Quoted from (http://www.great-quotes.com/attitude_quotes.htm [v] A quote from one of Adams' essays, entitled ‘To “Be” or to “Do”: A Note on American Education’ which appeared in the June, 1929 issue of Forum. 6 Quoted From (http://voices.washingtonpost.com) Works Cited Douglass Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, As a Slave. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Gates H. Louis. Jr. USA: Penguin Group, 1987. Elements of Literature: Literature of the United States. U.S.A: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2000. Emerson W. Ralph. “ Self Reliance.” Anthology of American Literature. Ed. McMichael George. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan, 1947. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Truslow_Adams http://thinkexist.com/quotation/ http://www.great-quotes.com/attitude_quotes.htm http://voices.washingtonpost.com Wilder Thornton. Our Town. New York: HarperCollins, 2003