The So Called American Dream

Teacher’s Page The Great Gatsby THE SO-CALLED AMERICAN DREAM The term “American Dream” has come to mean both less and more than the sum of its words. For some, the simple pursuit of the Dream has lead to excesses. Others see it as unattainable. For the few who have reached the goal, this shining beacon has meant little but disappointment. The previous connotation of the phrase, owning your home, living securely, and giving your children a better life than your parents left you, has faded and been replaced by a fierce and ravenous appetite for Goods. We are no longer “citizens of a free society”; rather, we are primarily rampant consumers, determined to make the Jonses keep up with us. We constantly and futilely chase after things: things we do not need, things that don’t work properly, things that make us oblivious to the pain of others, and things that cost too much and are obsolete or broken before we can use them. From magical elixirs and misanthropic 8-tracks to innumerable, bad movie sequels and five thousand dollar barbecue grills, we have been sold on the concept that new or more or better means success and accomplishment and achievement. Our children, who join us in front of our new 55-inch, flat-screen, picture-in-picture, plasma, digital, remote-controlled TV/home theater/entertainment center, progressively slide into the same swirling vortex of buying, disappointment, discarding, and upgrading. Commercials bombard kids’ minds (and ours) with so many images designed to make us feel inadequate, imbecilic, and impotent that we (and they) seem to have no choice but to outspend our less-fortunate neighbors. What, however, happens to the kids across town, those, with out-of-luck parents, without computers with, simply put, less. Where is their luminescent American Dream? Consumerism forces them into a life of envy, lust, and lowered expectations. It is difficult to stand outside the candy store, mall, or car dealership year after year, if all the fantastic, fabricated goodies inside are unavailable to us. The two-story Colonial in the suburbs becomes less and less a Dream and more a Nightmare. What will happen, though, when the sleepers awaken? © Copyright 2003, Prestwick House, Inc. T - 16 Student’s Page The Great Gatsby Name: ________________________________ Date:_________________ THE SO-CALLED AMERICAN DREAM The term “American Dream” has come to mean both less and more than the sum of its words. For some, the simple pursuit of the Dream has lead to excesses. Others see it as unattainable. For the few who have reached the goal, this shining beacon has meant little but disappointment. The previous connotation of the phrase, owning your home, living securely, and giving your children a better life than your parents left you, has faded and been replaced by a fierce and ravenous appetite for Goods. We are no longer “citizens of a free society”; rather, we are primarily rampant consumers, determined to make the Jonses keep up with us. We constantly and futilely chase after things: things we do not need, things that don’t work properly, things that make us oblivious to the pain of others, and things that cost too much and are obsolete or broken before we can use them. From magical elixirs and misanthropic 8-tracks to innumerable, bad movie sequels and five thousand dollar barbecue grills, we have been sold on the concept that new or more or better means success and accomplishment and achievement. Our children, who join us in front of our new 55-inch, flat-screen, picture-in-picture, plasma, digital, remote-controlled TV/home theater/entertainment center, progressively slide into the same swirling vortex of buying, disappointment, discarding, and upgrading. Commercials bombard kids’ minds (and ours) with so many images designed to make us feel inadequate, imbecilic, and impotent that we (and they) seem to have no choice but to outspend our less-fortunate neighbors. What, however, happens to the kids across town, those, with out-of-luck parents, without computers with, simply put, less. Where is their luminescent American Dream? Consumerism forces them into a life of envy, lust, and lowered expectations. It is difficult to stand outside the candy store, mall, or car dealership year after year, if all the fantastic, fabricated goodies inside are unavailable to us. The two-story Colonial in the suburbs becomes less and less a Dream and more a Nightmare. What will happen, though, when the sleepers awaken? S - 17 Reproducible Student Worksheet