The idea of the “American Dream” creates an identity crisis on individuals according to Kevin Jennings. He deduces this idea based on his past experiences in life which he describes in his (book/article) the American Dream. Growing up in the southern part of America, Jennings claimed that the media was responsible for his skewed thinking of the “hillbilly” figures negatively portrayed upon southerners like himself. By trying to defy the negative stereotype, he tried losing his accent and becoming more intellectual and hardworking: “Throughout high school, I was determined to make it, determined to show my mother—and myself—that the American Dream really could come true” (Maasik and Solomon 687). However, Jennings came across another setback,
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However, as one tries to pursue this illusion of the true dream, one is blindly falling to conformity, rather than emerging to become individuals. Television shows also display the struggle of trying to live up to expectations of this dream. In an episode of Glee, a football player was constantly picking on the characters that were openly homosexual, when he himself was. He tried to continue to deny his identity and when he came to terms with the fact that he was different, he attempted to commit suicide, as Jennings, himself had done. Believing he would only be accepted by the public if he were a heterosexual is just another example of falling to conformity. This gets into the question of whether or not this idea of the “American Dream” is an illusion of identity. Individuals will try so hard to break the stereotypes going against the dream, but fail to realize they are promoting the stereotype of the false identity, and that to achieve the “American Dream” one must fulfill its “requirements”. This incepted idea negatively shapes an individual’s identity and the identity is believed to be created, but what is created is the promotion of another stereotype, and the promotion of the stereotype drops into a vicious cycle of
However, as one tries to pursue this illusion of the true dream, one is blindly falling to conformity, rather than emerging to become individuals. Television shows also display the struggle of trying to live up to expectations of this dream. In an episode of Glee, a football player was constantly picking on the characters that were openly homosexual, when he himself was. He tried to continue to deny his identity and when he came to terms with the fact that he was different, he attempted to commit suicide, as Jennings, himself had done. Believing he would only be accepted by the public if he were a heterosexual is just another example of falling to conformity. This gets into the question of whether or not this idea of the “American Dream” is an illusion of identity. Individuals will try so hard to break the stereotypes going against the dream, but fail to realize they are promoting the stereotype of the false identity, and that to achieve the “American Dream” one must fulfill its “requirements”. This incepted idea negatively shapes an individual’s identity and the identity is believed to be created, but what is created is the promotion of another stereotype, and the promotion of the stereotype drops into a vicious cycle of