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Ask the Dust
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Introduction
In John Fante’s Ask the Dust, the lives of the working class people in Los Angeles are explored during the 1930’s when the country went through economic hardships. The major characters work in low paying jobs and Arturo Bandini, the protagonist is an aspiring writer who lives in cheap hotels while trying to make a living in writing. While there are wealthy people in the city, they do not interact often with the story’s characters; the characters are immigrants or those with an immigrant background trying to make it like any other American. The American Dream represents freedom and equal opportunities to Americans to achieve success through hard work and determination. Class differences influence how the people interact and are closely intertwined with ethnicity and alienation among those seeking the American Dream.
Class Differences and interactions in Los Angeles
In the first chapter, Bandini’s first stop at Los Angeles while near the Biltmore Hotel, he sees a doorman who looked polished with dignity and he instantly hated him. Then, “and now a black automobile drove to the curb, and a man got out. He looked rich; and then a woman got out”. Bandini saw a rich man step out of the cab and followed by a beautiful woman who was his dream. This sets the story where the contrast between the rich and the poor is stark in LA that even as the working class people aspire for better economic times, they are separated from each other. Bandini’s migration to Los Angeles is characterized with struggles and he chooses LA a place where dreams are made or fail to materialize where the notion of social ascension is common. Despite being of Italian descent Bandini believes that he can make it in the bustling metropolis of L.A. yet the rich people he sees are different from him.
In setting the story in LA, the story draws attention to the differences in the people living in the city from their backgrounds to their economic status. These contrasts with the rural areas that are less diverse and people tend to be familiar with each other. Bandini struggles to reconcile his identity with class standing when he is in a relationship with Camilla, a Mexican waitress (Roszak 2016). “From sand and cactus we Americans have carved an empire. Camilla’s people had had their chance” (Fante 2006). Bandini understands he will likely not be accepted by the rich and yet he seeks acceptance into the ‘white majority culture (Roszak, 2016). The main character’s classist aspirations unfold when in LA where he believes that his dreams and aspirations would finally come true.
Race, class and the American dream
Even as Bandini believes that his quest for assimilation will make it easier to achieve the American Dream, yet he remembers that it is those who harassed him because of his ethnicity that made him to run from Colorado to California. When exploring the relevance of American Dream, the intersection of race and class is apparent in the story as the social relations of the immigrants. Yet, even the dreams of those who shift to live in Los Angeles are not fulfilled when there was war in Europe during World War II while there is apprehension in America about taking in immigrants. Arturo stated that “I was an American and goddamn proud of it. This great city, these mighty pavements and proud buildings, they were the voice of my America” (Fante, 2006). The difficulties the non-white encounter affect how they are able to pursue their aspirations. There are pitfalls to the American Dream that had been ignored where there were those from other states in the U.S. or descendants of immigrants who found it most difficult to succeed in the city of Los Angeles (Mullen & Linkon, 1996). The ‘outcasts’ who move to California take the available jobs, and these poor people were the majority. Fante states “ She was dressed as I saw her the first time, the same clothes and the place was so desolate I knew she had no others.” the protagonist had visited the home of Vera Rivken a Jewish woman who he had relations with, when he was no longer close with Camilla.
The lives of the other characters also represent the differences in the lives of the people who move to California, and not just immigrants, but also those from the U.S. The hierarchy of cultures influences relations and a...