During the time period of the civil rights movement, there is a disagreement on what the American dream should be. The African Americans from “The Secret Life of Bees” seem to strongly agree with James Truslow Adams idea of the American Dream. Although most of the white people have a different perspective on the American dream, Zach, along with all of the other African Americans dream of equal opportunity for everyone, to be judged as a person and not their race or by how much money they have, and to be able to achieve their best.
While the white people believed that they were superior to the black and deserved more opportunities, the blacks were fighting for the ability to have the same opportunities that everyone else around them had. When …show more content…
After the death of May, Police Hazelwurst comes by and questions Lily, and ends their conversation with something Lily doesn’t want to hear: “’Take my advice and call your aunt and tell her to come on and get you, even if she isn’t a hundred percent well. These are colored people here. You understand what I’m saying?... I’m just saying it’s not natural, that you shouldn’t be…well lowering yourself…I’m gonna come back soon, and I better not find you still here’” (198). Because the Boatwrights are black, Officer Hazelwurst never took the time to figure out what their characters were, and just skipped to judging them by their skin color. If he would have explored their characters he would have known that they were equal to Lily and himself, and that she was safe staying with them. Knowing their situation, Zach wants to find hope. As Lily wishes she was black so that she could find love with Zach, he tells her, “’We can’t think of changing our skin,’ he said. ‘Change the world—that’s how we gotta think’” (216). Instead of thinking about the things you can’t change, people need to look past the outside and see inside of a person because that is who a person really is. Zach is dreaming of the day where skin color no longer matters, and he can be accepted for who he is along with the rest of the African Americans. Not only does he want …show more content…
Truslow Adams shares a common dream with the African American community, to be able to show and achieve their best work. The white community doesn’t picture African Americans obtaining a real job, they just stereotype. “’Why is it sports is the only thing white people see us being successful at?’” (120). While the whites do find blacks successful at sports, during the time of the civil rights movement, playing sports was no way to make a living. The whites believe that the best that they can achieve is playing a sport, but they never took the time to look for the potential in them because they don’t want to picture a black with a higher position than they do. The whites don’t want to seem inferior to the African Americans. Not letting the white people’s opinions affect him, Zach knows that he can achieve much more than playing sports. He tells Lily, “’I don’t want to play football,’ he said. ‘I wanna be a lawyer’” (121). Even though Zach knows that no one is expecting him to be successful, he is pushing to do what he wants for a living to prove everyone wrong, and to achieve the American Dream to be the best he can without anyone looking down upon him. In order to achieve this dream of achieving, the other aspects of the American Dream must come true as well. In order to be the best they can be, they must be given an equal opportunity to do
While the white people believed that they were superior to the black and deserved more opportunities, the blacks were fighting for the ability to have the same opportunities that everyone else around them had. When …show more content…
After the death of May, Police Hazelwurst comes by and questions Lily, and ends their conversation with something Lily doesn’t want to hear: “’Take my advice and call your aunt and tell her to come on and get you, even if she isn’t a hundred percent well. These are colored people here. You understand what I’m saying?... I’m just saying it’s not natural, that you shouldn’t be…well lowering yourself…I’m gonna come back soon, and I better not find you still here’” (198). Because the Boatwrights are black, Officer Hazelwurst never took the time to figure out what their characters were, and just skipped to judging them by their skin color. If he would have explored their characters he would have known that they were equal to Lily and himself, and that she was safe staying with them. Knowing their situation, Zach wants to find hope. As Lily wishes she was black so that she could find love with Zach, he tells her, “’We can’t think of changing our skin,’ he said. ‘Change the world—that’s how we gotta think’” (216). Instead of thinking about the things you can’t change, people need to look past the outside and see inside of a person because that is who a person really is. Zach is dreaming of the day where skin color no longer matters, and he can be accepted for who he is along with the rest of the African Americans. Not only does he want …show more content…
Truslow Adams shares a common dream with the African American community, to be able to show and achieve their best work. The white community doesn’t picture African Americans obtaining a real job, they just stereotype. “’Why is it sports is the only thing white people see us being successful at?’” (120). While the whites do find blacks successful at sports, during the time of the civil rights movement, playing sports was no way to make a living. The whites believe that the best that they can achieve is playing a sport, but they never took the time to look for the potential in them because they don’t want to picture a black with a higher position than they do. The whites don’t want to seem inferior to the African Americans. Not letting the white people’s opinions affect him, Zach knows that he can achieve much more than playing sports. He tells Lily, “’I don’t want to play football,’ he said. ‘I wanna be a lawyer’” (121). Even though Zach knows that no one is expecting him to be successful, he is pushing to do what he wants for a living to prove everyone wrong, and to achieve the American Dream to be the best he can without anyone looking down upon him. In order to achieve this dream of achieving, the other aspects of the American Dream must come true as well. In order to be the best they can be, they must be given an equal opportunity to do