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Eyes wide dreaming : a look at the American dream through Chinese-American writing
Author
Frank, Sky
Supervisor
Wong, Patricia May-Lynn
Abstract
There is no theme more dominant or prominent in United States culture and American politics than that of the American Dream. As Jim Cullen puts it, the great thing about dreaming in America is that Americans can feel justified in doing so because what makes the American Dream American is the fact that Americans live in a country constituted of Dreams. But what is the American Dream? Did it exist before there was a Constitution, a Declaration, or a United States of America? The seeds of the concept of the American Dream can be found in James Truslow Adams’ The Epic of America. Adams envisioned a dream of a land where life is richer and better for everyone, a land which offers opportunity according to ability or achievement. This notion of a land of equality was built upon by the authors of the United States’ Declaration of Independence who held certain truths to be self-evident: that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights and that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. These promises formed the foundation of the American Dream and saw their articulation in many facets of American life. For example, the abolishment of slavery, the arrival of immigrants searching for their American Dream and the country’s election of its first African - American president whose political appeal embodies the Dream itself.
The appeal and persistence of the American Dream is clearly evident simply because in a sense, the Dream as a cultural phenomenon provides optimism and social cohesion in difficult times. However, the key question is whether the American Dream is attainable by all Americans. Another question is whether there is only one American Dream. This dissertation attempts to examine the American Dream (with specific reference to a particular group of immigrants –the Chinese in America) in order to question the assumption that the Dream is for all. By examining the American Dream, I also attempt to illustrate that there is no one American Dream but many American Dreams and that the experience of the American Dream is dependent on human agency. Finally, this dissertation also posits the complexity of the American Dream through Chinese-American writing. It reveals the different dimensions of the Dream - its material reality (the treatment of happiness as a concrete objective through the pursuit and acquisition of wealth and social advancement), the Dream itself (the die-hard optimism that one will succeed and advance) and the invention of new American Dreams.
The appeal and persistence of the American Dream is clearly evident simply because in a sense, the Dream as a cultural phenomenon provides optimism and social cohesion in difficult times. However, the key question is whether the American Dream is attainable by all Americans. Another question is whether there is only one American Dream. This dissertation attempts to examine the American Dream (with specific reference to a particular group of immigrants –the Chinese in America) in order to question the assumption that the Dream is for all. By examining the American Dream, I also attempt to illustrate that there is no one American Dream but many American Dreams and that the experience of the American Dream is dependent on human agency. Finally, this dissertation also posits the complexity of the American Dream through Chinese-American writing. It reveals the different dimensions of the Dream - its material reality (the treatment of happiness as a concrete objective through the pursuit and acquisition of wealth and social advancement), the Dream itself (the die-hard optimism that one will succeed and advance) and the invention of new American Dreams.
Date Issued
2014
Call Number
PS153.C45 Fra
Date Submitted
2014