Dream Narratives: What has changed?

Name: Professor’s Name: Course: Due Date: Dream Narratives For Sylvia Plath and Kevin Jennings, the American Dream is almost the same. There are some differences in how the eras lived and what mattered but the American Dream somehow remains the same. Much has been said about the American Dream and what it entails. However, from these readings, in the end, the American Dream is more like a mirage and not something to be grasped. At any one time, a person finds themselves short of the ‘minimum’ requirements. Both Plath and Jennings struggled at some point with conformity but as will be explained later, the former succumbed to conformity while the latter found freedom in their independence. What has changed? In the two eras, a lot has changed. Plath notes that nothing mattered as long as one believed in the American Dream. She notes “Our accents, our money, our parents didn’t matter” (Plath, 53). At the time, people were all trying to achieve the same dream. Nothing mattered as long as one shared and believed in the American Dream. However, in Jennings’ story, certain things mattered. A good example is one’s accent. Having come from North Carolina, Jennings spoke in a certain way and this alienated him. Even though he shared in the dream, the way he spoke cast him aside. He writes that he had to assume a different accent and become a different person altogether. “I deliberately erased my accent and aped the false monotone of television newscasters” (Jennings, 688). He assumed what to him felt like the ideal personality of a person who relishes in the American Dream. However, as Plath notes, during her time, these things did not matter. The American Dream was for everybody who dared to strive and show some resolve. What hasn’t? As indicated before, a lot of things have not changed in both eras. First of all, the American Dream is described by both authors as something that is achieved through hard work. It is the idea that a person can be whoever they wish to be if they work hard enough. Plath describes it quite vividly noting “After all, we could be anybody. If we worked. If we studied hard enough” (53). It was a dream that was not set aside for a particular kind of people. “Did not lawyers rise from the loins of coalheavers, doctors from the bins of dustmen?” (53). These words indicate that the American Dream was indeed for those who were willing to put in the work. Almost 50 years later, Jennings comes up with the same statement. He writes that he was willing to showcase to everyone around him, especial...