Analysis Of Walt Whitman's Idea Of The American Dream

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Walt Whitman’s idea of the American Dream cannot be summarized into one sentence. It in its entirety is more complicated than that. Although complicated, Whitman’s American Dream still exists in today’s society. Whitman views the American Dream as a call to arms, a mandatory action that Americans must take. He tells us, “For we cannot tarry here, We must march my darlings…all the rest on us depend.” (4-6). He is telling us in order to achieve progression as a nation, we must venture forward, or in this case, westward. Whitman calls us to pick up where our forefathers, the pilgrims, left off. “Have the elder races halted? Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied, over there beyond the seas? We take up the task eternal, and the burden, and …show more content…
The path that we were to follow traversed “Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountain steep.” By completing this journey, we would be helping our country because, “All the rest on us depend…”. While on the trip, here would be no grand feasts, or long rests. The food available to eat would not be great and we would have to sleep on the ground. Again, Whitman explained this in his poem. “Do the feasters gluttonous feast? Do the corpulent sleepers sleep? have they lock’d and bolted doors? Still be ours the diet hard, and the blanket on the ground.” Taking part in this expedition would not be a simple task, which is why it carries a grand reward.
Whitman’s American Dream applies to all people, regardless of age, race, gender, or social status. He calls people from Nebraska to Arkansas, he calls all daughters and mothers, he calls prisoners and slaves, he calls seamen and landsmen. In America, freedom and equality are essential to society, which is why Whitman calls all people to join in what he believes to be the American
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He wanted everyone to move out west together as one. People were able to move out west and become successful. Las Vegas was set up as a rest stop and a marketplace for travelers during the mid 1800’s. Today it stands as one of America’s trademarks. When Whitman wrote this poem, people had already completed the move out west and he describes how they lefty their mark. “We primeval forests felling, We the rivers stemming, vexing we, and piercing deep the mines within, We the surface broad surveying, we the virgin soil upheaving.” Unfortunately, “All the pulses of the world…” did not beat as one, but we did work together to expand America

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