Comparing The American Dream In Sula And The Round House
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The American Dream is the idea of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American. It is the pursuit of prosperity and opportunity that drives people to push their own limits and preserve in order to lead successful lives and achieve whatever goals they set. In the books Sula by Toni Morrison, Out of This Furnace by Thomas Bell and The Round House by Louise Erdrich, the authors feature the idea of the American Dream through the perspective of the characters by using varying, ages, genders, ethnicity, race, and class. These authors take a realistic view to the American Dream, depicting characters struggling to attain their dreams in the face of difficulties. In the book Sula, by Toni Morrison, the American…show more content… The book starts out about how he has the perfect life. He has a great family who gets along and spends much time together. Not many people can have the perfect family which is a part of many others American Dream. When Joe, the main character, finds out his mom has been raped, he wants nothing more than to find the attacker and kill him. His mom soon becomes depressed and is not the same as she used to be. She sits in her room, doesn’t eat and won’t talk much. When Joe has the opportunity, he decides to kill the attacker so his family can have their perfect life back. Despite his age, this is his American Dream throughout the book. Although once the attacker is dead, he learns that he has to deal with the guilt of murder. Even when his parents are happy and his mom starts to act normal again, Joe doesn’t feel the sense that he is living the American Dream like he did at the beginning of the book. The author, Erdrich, is proving the point that the American Dream is not as easy to achieve as it seems. She is also showing that when you do whatever it takes to achieve your dreams, it may not be a great as you thought it would