Page 32 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 32
šolsko polje, letnik xxviii, številka 3–4
by alluding to a vision, we need to ask: What is the history of the narra-
tive? Who are the main storytellers, and to what ends do they tell the tale?
When we ask these questions, the American Dream seems a very white
dream, one that does not recognize how the dream rested on exploitation
of indigenous peoples, the black slave economy, and a corporate America
that increasingly squeezes wealth from the American people and exploits
cheap labor elsewhere in developing countries. While it is based on an ide-
al of inclusiveness, it never offered indigenous peoples or African-Ameri-
cans much hope.
“The Epic of America”
James Truslow Adams was the historian who first coined the term “Amer-
ican Dream” in “The Epic of America,” published in 1931, significantly at a
time when America was suffering the early years of the Great Depression.
He chose his title well. The term “epic” refers to a long, narrative poem de-
tailing the heroic deeds and events significant to a culture, tribe or nation.
In archaic Greek style, these poems followed a certain format, exhibiting
set literary conventions that described a heroic quest, normally beginning
with an invocation to the muse, where genealogies are given and the val-
ues of a civilization are heralded.
Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey” are classic examples that begin the
Western tradition. These epics were often long national poems that de-
scribed and embroidered the development of episodes or events important
to the history of a nation or race, and were told in an elevated style. It is a
form that persists through the medieval into the modern era.
To describe America as an epic is to make an appeal to noble senti-
ments, and Adams was aware of this; especially in the context of the 1930s,
he wanted to highlight and romanticize the ethic of equality – and in par-
ticular, equality of opportunity and equality before the law. He also want-
ed to use these ideals and principles to describe a country based on the
conscious development of a secular social order that found its origins in
the Declaration of Independence, which holds certain truths to be self-ev-
ident, “that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Cre-
ator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty
and the Pursuit of Happiness.” But do epics make good history? And is
the American Dream is still an attainable and serviceable ideal?
Adams depicted a dream of a land in which life should be better
and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according
to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper
classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown
weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wag-
30
by alluding to a vision, we need to ask: What is the history of the narra-
tive? Who are the main storytellers, and to what ends do they tell the tale?
When we ask these questions, the American Dream seems a very white
dream, one that does not recognize how the dream rested on exploitation
of indigenous peoples, the black slave economy, and a corporate America
that increasingly squeezes wealth from the American people and exploits
cheap labor elsewhere in developing countries. While it is based on an ide-
al of inclusiveness, it never offered indigenous peoples or African-Ameri-
cans much hope.
“The Epic of America”
James Truslow Adams was the historian who first coined the term “Amer-
ican Dream” in “The Epic of America,” published in 1931, significantly at a
time when America was suffering the early years of the Great Depression.
He chose his title well. The term “epic” refers to a long, narrative poem de-
tailing the heroic deeds and events significant to a culture, tribe or nation.
In archaic Greek style, these poems followed a certain format, exhibiting
set literary conventions that described a heroic quest, normally beginning
with an invocation to the muse, where genealogies are given and the val-
ues of a civilization are heralded.
Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey” are classic examples that begin the
Western tradition. These epics were often long national poems that de-
scribed and embroidered the development of episodes or events important
to the history of a nation or race, and were told in an elevated style. It is a
form that persists through the medieval into the modern era.
To describe America as an epic is to make an appeal to noble senti-
ments, and Adams was aware of this; especially in the context of the 1930s,
he wanted to highlight and romanticize the ethic of equality – and in par-
ticular, equality of opportunity and equality before the law. He also want-
ed to use these ideals and principles to describe a country based on the
conscious development of a secular social order that found its origins in
the Declaration of Independence, which holds certain truths to be self-ev-
ident, “that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Cre-
ator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty
and the Pursuit of Happiness.” But do epics make good history? And is
the American Dream is still an attainable and serviceable ideal?
Adams depicted a dream of a land in which life should be better
and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according
to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper
classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown
weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wag-
30
