...How can the masses permit themselves to be exploited by the few. The answer is by being persuaded to identify with them. Carrying his newspaper with your [Evelyn Nesbit's] picture the laborer goes home to his wife, an exhausted workhorse with the veins standing out in her legs, and he dreams not of justice but of being rich.Well there is our American Dream, dealing with poor circumstances now in the hope (possible or not) that we'll be able to reap the rewards later. At first I found Ragtime kind of jarring the way it constantly moves between plot lines, but as more stories connect and weave in facets of American society, it's becoming easier to follow.
12 September 2011
The Elusive American Dream
From page 83 of Ragtime:
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You've heard me talk about how I think the American Dream has been suffering in times of late. Based on this quote one could argue that the American dream hasn't really been anything other than a facade from the beginning. Do you think that's true?
ReplyDeleteooh, Oooh! Or maybe the American Dream has just always solely been about making money.
One my teachers, an American historian, has suggested that the promise of "a chicken in every pot and a car in every driveway" is what accounts to the lack of a strong labor movement in the USA. That and the hope that each one with obtain that. Goldman, in Ragtime, seems to suggest something similar. LDL
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