The American Dream In The Egg By Sherwood Anderson

‘The Egg’ by Sherwood Anderson portrays the many themes like we have the theme of aspiration, surrendering, disappointment and finally happiness. The narration of the story is in the first person, where an unnamed narrator is recollecting some of the aspects of his life when he was ten years old.
Later on in the story the narrator exclaims to his readers that, “Something happened to the two people. They became ambitious. The American passion for getting up in the world took possession of them.” (Anderson, Sherwood)Here, the narrator wants his readers to understand that his parents also had started following the American dream and brings into picture the theme of ambitiousness. The actualization of the fact that the narrator’s father emerges …show more content…
The narrator may want to suggest that through the continuous chasing of the American dream, the person can break down just like the breaking of the egg. ‘The chicken farm’ that is run by the narrator’s father may also have a certain significance in the story. “I am a gloomy man inclined to see the darker side of life, I attribute it to the fact that what should have been for me the happy joyous days of childhood were spent on a chicken farm.”(Anderson, Sherwood), the narrator may wanted to have imply to the grave experience of him losing the innocence of his youth days because of his parent’s aspiration of achieving the American …show more content…
The narrator’s father was unsuccessful in all his accomplishments after he left the job he had as a farm labourer leaves his job as a farm hand; like he tried running the restaurant, the chicken farm but failed miserably and also was unsuccessful in amusing or entertaining Joe Kane with his magic tricks. The irony lies in the fact that , the narrator’s father’s magic tricks failed miserably because all of it involved eggs which signifies the American dream. Anderson further puts into limelight the failure faced by the narrator’s father in his chase for the American dream The piece of evidence that Kane understands the narrator’s father as an insane may symbolically signify that, the quest for the American dream leads to the madness overpowering him.
At the end of the story, the narrator can still notice on the table, ‘the egg’ which is very fascinating because it portrays the sustaining chase of the American Dream not only by the father of the narrator but also by the narrator himself. Regardless of the fact that the narrator and his family were aware of the “complete and final triumph of the egg” (Anderson, Sherwood) they did not discontinue their hunting for the American Dream which cost nothing, but the happiness of the narrator and his