It is the American Dream
What we all strive for and imagine In double-wide trailers to double-wide mansions In sprouting lakes of fake fish. Nothing captures its essence Unbound by time or dust or rot The things we cherish still are lovingly patted And brought through the centuries. It is more than a dream now It's a reality that the million shave made Our heart and soul builds the heaven on earth. A refuge for the sick, And a shelter for the needy, It is everything we desire. In the cherry trucks and laughing children To indolent teenagers with smoke circling We see our dream and the actuality It may not be perfect, but it is our heaven And so disillusioned we conjure forth our hope. In the picket fences we see our childhood In the sky we see our adulthood And in the middle we see our life. Suspended, but not contained, It is the dream that wakes within us all. |
I, Too
I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table When company comes. Nobody’ll dare Say to me, “Eat in the kitchen,” Then. Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed-- I, too, am America. |
Troy Maxson is the embodiment of an African-American generation, growing up in the post-World War II era, that finds itself finally able to realize the American ideal of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Troy has become more successful than his father, who remained a poor sharecropper and never owned his own land or property but, instead, paid all his wages and his life to an unjust land owner. Troy has bought his own house (though he feels guilty about the methods of payment). And in his sexual relationships he has embodied the freedom of a man to follow his own desires in a pursuit of happiness. Troy Maxson embraces his desire to be an individual.
This pursuit of the American Dream, however, is not without conflict. Troy cannot envision a generation doing more than his own accomplished. He cannot imagine his son achieving an even greater dream, and he cannot imagine a life unburdened by responsibility to family. In this way, Troy remains chained to his expectations of what a man can accomplish in the world.
This pursuit of the American Dream, however, is not without conflict. Troy cannot envision a generation doing more than his own accomplished. He cannot imagine his son achieving an even greater dream, and he cannot imagine a life unburdened by responsibility to family. In this way, Troy remains chained to his expectations of what a man can accomplish in the world.