the american dream
Post on 02-Jan-2016
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The American Dream
Americans are
obsessed with being “original”
From your own experience of the way people talk about our country on television, online, and in print, take five minutes to write down what you think
that means.
This book is called
The American
AdamAnswer these questions below
your previous response:• Of what famous person does
that title remind you?• How was Adam an original?• Does original have more than one meaning? Explain.
Our Paradox
We always WANT TO BE new.(present)
But we simultaneously WANT TO HAVE
BEEN first.(present perfect)
Every Era is both a Reaction and a
Revision
Puritans and Separatists
Romantics
Realists
Modernists
Postmodernists
Contemporaries
So while each is usually different
from the “parent” era, each is also
usually reminiscent of
the “grandparent”
era.
The World Changes Very Quickly
Look at How Quickly Innovation Occurs
Space Invaders – Atari - 1978
Super Mario Bros. 1 – NES - 1985
Mortal Kombat – Sega Genesis - 1993
Goldeneye – N64 - 1997
Heavy Rain – PS3 - 2010
The Last of Us – PS3 - 2013
Cell Phones!
Cars!
Computers!
Clothing!
Books!
America itself has changed over time
Early Settlers viewed America as a New Eden –
a God-Given Blessing
Later Colonists planned for a Democratic Utopia
In the early 1920s, Americans hoped for a Never-Ending Party…
The American Dream has meant different things to different people. Whose
dreams are these?
How does innovation reflect the desire to be
“original”?
Is this the American Dream today?
I Hear America Singing
By Walt Whitman(1860)
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands, The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
America
By Claude McKay(1921)
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth,Stealing my breath of life, I will confessI love this cultured hell that tests my youth!Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,Giving me strength erect against her hate.Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,I stand within her walls with not a shredOf terror, malice, not a word of jeer.Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,And see her might and granite wonders there,Beneath the touch of Time's unerring hand,Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.
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