Over the last couple of posts, I have been looking at the illusion of the American Dream in Ann Petry’s The Street. Today, I want to continue that discussion by finishing my examination of Lutie’s first visit to the Junto in the novel. During her time at the Junto, the illusion of the space, a space that provides an escape from the oppression of … Read More The American Dream in Ann Petry’s “The Street”: Part III
Last post, I started talking about the ways that Ann Petry confronts the mythological American Dream in her novel The Street. Today, I want to continue that discussion, specifically focusing on chapter six when Lutie goes to the Junto Bar & Grill. In this chapter, the Junto, as it does throughout the novel, serves as an escape from the crushing poverty and oppression that … Read More The American Dream in Ann Petry’s “The Street”: Part II
+ african american literature, american dream, ann petry, lutie johnson, social protest novel, the street
Like a lot of the texts that I teach in my classes, I hadn’t read Ann Petry’s The Street before I assigned it in this semester’s Multicultural American Literature course. The only work, up to this point, that I had read from Petry was her short story “Like a Winding Sheet.” A few years back, Keith Clark started talking to me about The Street, … Read More The American Dream in Ann Petry’s “The Street”: Part I
+ african american literature, american dream, american literature, big walter younger, lena younger, liesl tommy, Literature, lorraine hansberry, ruth younger, walter lee younger
Throughout Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, one character hovers over the entire play as a specter of the past. This character is Big Walter, Lena’s husband and Benetha and Walter Lee’s father. Even though he does not appear on stage in the script, he exists as an important part of the narrative. His death, which we do not see, causes the action … Read More Big Walter in Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun”
+ african american literature, american dream, american history, american literature, benjamin franklin, early american literature, Literature, louisiana literature, mississippi literature, southern literature, syllabus, thomas jefferson
Whenever I teach an American literature survey course, the topic of the American Dream inevitably comes up. Typically, I ask students to define this mythological term and they reply with the standard answer, “The American Dream means happiness and success.” I elaborate upon this response by pointing them back, first to the Declaration of Independence, then to other texts. The Declaration states that “life, … Read More African American Literature and the American Dream Syllabus
Interminable Rambling 