American Dream - Revolt Against Strict Rules

In questo appunto di inglese viene descritto che cosa sia il sogno americano in lingua inglese. Il sogno americano è noto a tutti come American Dream e presenta gli aspetti principali di questo aspetto relativo al Paese degli Stati Uniti d’America. Si prendono in esame gli eventi storici che si sono verificati negli Stati Uniti nel corso della seconda del Novecento, citando anche personaggi letterari molto importanti come per esempio lo scrittore statunitense Francis Scott Fitzgerald che ha realizzato uno dei romanzi più importanti della letteratura americana: The Greath Gatsby, in cui si descrivono gli Stati Uniti degli anni ruggenti, dove si erano affermati dei principali aspetti relativi al periodo del cosiddetto sogno americano. Si descrivono anche le opere di scrittori importanti come per esempio gli scrittori della Beat Generation, come ad esempio Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs e infine Neal Cassady.

What is the American dream?

The corruption of the American dream is a recurring theme in American Literature. The dream that arose in the Colonial Period and developed in the following century was based on the belief that the individual could succeed in life, thanks to her or his ability, intelligence and effort.
In The Great Gatsby (1925) Francis Scott Fitzgerald investigates ho these old values, with their strict morality and integrity, are sometimes cast aside and instead another dream tends to prevail: the individual's crazy pursuit of power and wealth. John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath (1939) would seem to offer a possible antidote to such selfishness by stressing the necessity of community values over individual needs.

Others aspects

In the post-war period American fiction continued to explore the individual's sometimes difficult relationship to society. In J.D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (1951), the lead character, Holden Caulfield, is disenchanted with the hypocrisy, corruption and selfishness he sees everywhere. The vein search for love and understanding on the part of this sensitive young man touched a chord with many readers, and the novel proved a huge success in America and elsewhere. Instead, the writers of the Beat Generation - Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Neal Cassady - believed in a very unconventional lifestyle. In Kerouac's On the Road (1951), Sal Paradise embarks on an adventurous trip across America, during which he keeps meeting friends who are likewise drifting around the country. These people share the same dream: a revolt against the strict rules of previous generations. In their search for something new, they invent a culture, including a different way of speaking, dressing and behaving. Instead, Nicholas Ray's well-known film, Rebel without a Cause (1955), explores the dilemma of seventeen-year-old Jim Stark who is fed up with the way of life and values of his parents' generation, but does not have a clear idea of what he wants out of life.