The American Dream
Response to painting by Alex Torres
This painting is by Joseph Kaliher from Italy and it is called the American Dream. You have to question it as a symbol of the American Dream when you take a good look at what it is showing. In this painting you see good things and bad things happening that have created what America is today. You see slavery, the bombing of 9/11, the Nazis with their cruel religious beliefs, a skull of a Native American that used to live on this land until they were confined to reservations, the fast foods that are destroying our health, and the government running our system and hiding top secret information. Actually, this painting shows the American Nightmare and how it has become what it is today. Since the artist is Italian it makes me think that this is how the world sees our American Dream, and it isn't pretty.
Response to painting by Alex Torres
This painting is by Joseph Kaliher from Italy and it is called the American Dream. You have to question it as a symbol of the American Dream when you take a good look at what it is showing. In this painting you see good things and bad things happening that have created what America is today. You see slavery, the bombing of 9/11, the Nazis with their cruel religious beliefs, a skull of a Native American that used to live on this land until they were confined to reservations, the fast foods that are destroying our health, and the government running our system and hiding top secret information. Actually, this painting shows the American Nightmare and how it has become what it is today. Since the artist is Italian it makes me think that this is how the world sees our American Dream, and it isn't pretty.
“Let America Be America Again”
by Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
Response to poem by Alex Torres
During the 1930s Langston Hughes helped the African Americans find their voice to speak out against the discrimination and racism that was keeping the African Americans from achieving their goals of reaching the American Dream. This took a lot of courage because people believed that African Americans weren’t actually equal. In his poem, “Let America Be America Again” Langston Hughes talks about how America isn’t what people describe it as and it never was. There is no freedom in the home of the free and there has never been any equality in this land. Most people have tried to live the American Dream that they have been promised but it has been difficult with all the lies. A lot of the less privileged people had to work back breaking jobs to get through their lives and be able to put food on the table for their families. This sounds a lot like today for more than just the African Americans. More and more families have to work more than one job to make ends meet and they surely can’t afford to buy their own homes. The rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer and the two Americas are so divided that it is like different places now.
by Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
Response to poem by Alex Torres
During the 1930s Langston Hughes helped the African Americans find their voice to speak out against the discrimination and racism that was keeping the African Americans from achieving their goals of reaching the American Dream. This took a lot of courage because people believed that African Americans weren’t actually equal. In his poem, “Let America Be America Again” Langston Hughes talks about how America isn’t what people describe it as and it never was. There is no freedom in the home of the free and there has never been any equality in this land. Most people have tried to live the American Dream that they have been promised but it has been difficult with all the lies. A lot of the less privileged people had to work back breaking jobs to get through their lives and be able to put food on the table for their families. This sounds a lot like today for more than just the African Americans. More and more families have to work more than one job to make ends meet and they surely can’t afford to buy their own homes. The rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer and the two Americas are so divided that it is like different places now.
JACKSON BROWNE
For America Lyrics
As if I really didn't understand
That I was just another part of their plan
I went off looking for the promise
Believing in the Motherland
And from the comfort of a dreamer's bed
And the safety of my own head
I went on speaking of the future
While other people fought and bled
The kid I was when I first left home
Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own
But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet
When the truth was known
I have prayed for America
I was made for America
It's in my blood and in my bones
By the dawn's early light
By all I know is right
We're going to reap what we have sown
As if freedom was a question of might
As if loyalty was black and white
You hear people say it all the time-
"My country wrong or right"
I want to know what that's got to do
With what it takes to find out what's true
With everyone from the President on down
Trying to keep it from you
The thing I wonder about the Dads and Moms
Who send their sons to the Vietnams
Will they really think their way of life
Has been protected as the next war comes?
I have prayed for America
I was made for America
Her shining dream plays in my mind
By the rockets red glare
A generation's blank stare
We better wake her up this time
The kid I was when I first left home
Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own
But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet
When the truth was known
I have prayed for America
I was made for America
I can't let go till she comes around
Until the land of the free
Is awake and can see
And until her conscience has been foundthese lyrics are last corrected by PrincessC
Songwriter(s):Jackson Browne
Copyright:Swallow Turn Music
For America Lyrics
As if I really didn't understand
That I was just another part of their plan
I went off looking for the promise
Believing in the Motherland
And from the comfort of a dreamer's bed
And the safety of my own head
I went on speaking of the future
While other people fought and bled
The kid I was when I first left home
Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own
But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet
When the truth was known
I have prayed for America
I was made for America
It's in my blood and in my bones
By the dawn's early light
By all I know is right
We're going to reap what we have sown
As if freedom was a question of might
As if loyalty was black and white
You hear people say it all the time-
"My country wrong or right"
I want to know what that's got to do
With what it takes to find out what's true
With everyone from the President on down
Trying to keep it from you
The thing I wonder about the Dads and Moms
Who send their sons to the Vietnams
Will they really think their way of life
Has been protected as the next war comes?
I have prayed for America
I was made for America
Her shining dream plays in my mind
By the rockets red glare
A generation's blank stare
We better wake her up this time
The kid I was when I first left home
Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own
But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet
When the truth was known
I have prayed for America
I was made for America
I can't let go till she comes around
Until the land of the free
Is awake and can see
And until her conscience has been foundthese lyrics are last corrected by PrincessC
Songwriter(s):Jackson Browne
Copyright:Swallow Turn Music
Response to lyrics by Alex Torres
This song is about someone our age who is innocent and goes out into the world and his eyes are opened to what is wrong with the world. He is proud to be an American but now sees all the harm America has caused and knows it will backfire on us. He also says we are walking around being ignorant and believing that whatever the people in power do is okay "my country right or wrong." He feels we need to find out the truth and do whats right. Does going to war over seas really protect our way of life here? No, we need to wake up and pay attention and worry about the future of the kids that shouldn't grow up to see a cold cruel world that is all about discrimination and violence. We need to change and take the time to see what we need to do to better our country. We need to make life safer not violent so that the next generation can make life easier for the rest of us because the kids are not only the future of this country (America) but the whole world.
This song is about someone our age who is innocent and goes out into the world and his eyes are opened to what is wrong with the world. He is proud to be an American but now sees all the harm America has caused and knows it will backfire on us. He also says we are walking around being ignorant and believing that whatever the people in power do is okay "my country right or wrong." He feels we need to find out the truth and do whats right. Does going to war over seas really protect our way of life here? No, we need to wake up and pay attention and worry about the future of the kids that shouldn't grow up to see a cold cruel world that is all about discrimination and violence. We need to change and take the time to see what we need to do to better our country. We need to make life safer not violent so that the next generation can make life easier for the rest of us because the kids are not only the future of this country (America) but the whole world.
Response to The Price of the American Dream movie by Alex Torres
Around the 1980s or 1990s many immigrants that moved to America came here thinking everything was going to be easier for them and their families. But as I watched this movie The Price of the American Dream many people from Mexico came to the U.S. and they faced a lot of gang violence, discrimination, families having to go through seeing their kids dying, women being abused and drugs. A lot of the Latinos would be raised to fight and kill for the street or color that he claims. Some chose to steal because they didn't want to work back breaking jobs like their fathers and they wanted the money, women, and cars. They would be on the run from being criminals and couldn't come out or else they would be arrested and locked up in jail. Most mothers would see their sons or daughters die from being in a gang. In one scene a little girl gets shot in the head because she was around a drive by and a pregnant woman got shot and lost her kid. Families would be destroyed and lots of families were broken up. Most women would be taken advantage of and be pregnant at very young ages like 15 years old or older. Women would be raped or they would be put on drugs so that they could take advantage of them. But some women would try to ignore that life style by educating themselves but some teachers would make it tougher for them to get an education. There would also be discrimination against Latinos. The police or the whites would be racist and make their lives tougher. The American Dream is hard to reach for most beause most have to go through tougher obstacles and they live in really bad environments that makes life harder but I think that the America Dream is reachable it just takes that hard work and pain for the success to be paid off. It is a shame these people have to face so many obstacles here just to get ahead.
Around the 1980s or 1990s many immigrants that moved to America came here thinking everything was going to be easier for them and their families. But as I watched this movie The Price of the American Dream many people from Mexico came to the U.S. and they faced a lot of gang violence, discrimination, families having to go through seeing their kids dying, women being abused and drugs. A lot of the Latinos would be raised to fight and kill for the street or color that he claims. Some chose to steal because they didn't want to work back breaking jobs like their fathers and they wanted the money, women, and cars. They would be on the run from being criminals and couldn't come out or else they would be arrested and locked up in jail. Most mothers would see their sons or daughters die from being in a gang. In one scene a little girl gets shot in the head because she was around a drive by and a pregnant woman got shot and lost her kid. Families would be destroyed and lots of families were broken up. Most women would be taken advantage of and be pregnant at very young ages like 15 years old or older. Women would be raped or they would be put on drugs so that they could take advantage of them. But some women would try to ignore that life style by educating themselves but some teachers would make it tougher for them to get an education. There would also be discrimination against Latinos. The police or the whites would be racist and make their lives tougher. The American Dream is hard to reach for most beause most have to go through tougher obstacles and they live in really bad environments that makes life harder but I think that the America Dream is reachable it just takes that hard work and pain for the success to be paid off. It is a shame these people have to face so many obstacles here just to get ahead.
