The American Dream In Fae Myenne Ng's Bone

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What is the American Dream? Many people want to pursue the American Dream, the idea of having fortune, a successful career, having high standards and overall happiness. Most immigrants come to the United States to achieve the American dream, but because of their expectations of how great this country is, it gives them disappointment after experiencing how difficult life is for immigrant. Similarly, the novel, Bone, by Fae Myenne Ng, is about an immigrant family, the Leong’s, whose parents Mah and Leon, came to America for greater opportunities. The story depicts the lives of several individual’s including the three sisters Leila, Ona, and Nina living in San Francisco’s Chinatown and struggling with cultural and generational conflicts. For…show more content…
Leila, the first born child of Mah, narrates their lives while living in Chinatown San Francisco. Leon is a paper son of Grandpa Leong, who sponsored his entry to America for the price five thousand dollars. He marries Mah and has two beautiful daughters named Ona and Nina chasing their own American Dream. Leon strives to have a successful life and with the help of his partner Luc, they put up the business named Ong and Leong Laundry shop at McAllister Street. However, the business didn’t do well, Leila states that, “Luc kept the books…the evidence notices or the unpaid utility bills” (166). Leon work hard for the laundry shop to be successful, but Luc left and stole all the money. The dream that Leon aims to have has suddenly disappeared for he trusted the Ong family, but he ended up losing everything that he earned in his business. When Grandpa Leong died, “Leon worried about the restless bones…losing a job, losing the bid for the takeout joint…—Leon blamed the bones” (47). Leon creates the idea of the family’s bad luck; he blames himself for the rejections from jobs because of the promise that he broke to send Grandpa Leong’s bones back to China. Leila tells us, “finally he blamed all of America for making big promises and breaking every one” (100). He keeps on blaming the country for creating the image of American dream that doesn’t exists and calls it as “this lie of a country” (100). Leon lost hope that he can have an american dream just like what the land promise him to

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