The Things They Carried American Dream Analysis
Mantoula Blumenthal January 9th, 2012
Mr. Amster AP English
The Pursuit of the American Dream
The Things They Carried - Log 1
The American Dream is the desire to succeed. Success can be achieved through hard work, and with hard work and success the American Dream can lead to happiness as well. The American Dream is attainable by all. It does not depend on social class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or anything that makes the person an individual. It relies on the ability to work hard and to strive for change. In the novel, The Things They Carried, each character transforms in a unique way. Some characters experience minor changes or barley change at all, whereas other characters undergo extreme dramatic changes that affect them for the rest …show more content…
When Cross is first introduced at the beginning of the novel, he is madly in love with a woman named Martha, who had sent him letters. He knew that they weren’t really love letters, but in his mind, he believed that they were. As First Lieutenant, he had the responsibility of looking after all of his men. He often found this task difficult, because he was constantly consumed with thoughts of Martha, and fantasies of what their life could be like. One day, Cross’s men were on a mission where they needed to blow up a tunnel. In order to do so, one man would have to check to see if the tunnel was empty, then once he was out, they would set off a series of explosives to destroy the tunnel. This day, the solider inside was taking a rather long time, so Cross stood at the end of the tunnel and looked inside. He could not see much, only darkness, so he wondered if maybe the tunnel had collapsed and the man had died. When suddenly, his mind escaped thoughts of the war, and his man in the tunnel, and he found himself again consumed with thoughts of Martha. Although the man in the tunnel came out fine, another one of Jimmy’s
Mr. Amster AP English
The Pursuit of the American Dream
The Things They Carried - Log 1
The American Dream is the desire to succeed. Success can be achieved through hard work, and with hard work and success the American Dream can lead to happiness as well. The American Dream is attainable by all. It does not depend on social class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or anything that makes the person an individual. It relies on the ability to work hard and to strive for change. In the novel, The Things They Carried, each character transforms in a unique way. Some characters experience minor changes or barley change at all, whereas other characters undergo extreme dramatic changes that affect them for the rest …show more content…
When Cross is first introduced at the beginning of the novel, he is madly in love with a woman named Martha, who had sent him letters. He knew that they weren’t really love letters, but in his mind, he believed that they were. As First Lieutenant, he had the responsibility of looking after all of his men. He often found this task difficult, because he was constantly consumed with thoughts of Martha, and fantasies of what their life could be like. One day, Cross’s men were on a mission where they needed to blow up a tunnel. In order to do so, one man would have to check to see if the tunnel was empty, then once he was out, they would set off a series of explosives to destroy the tunnel. This day, the solider inside was taking a rather long time, so Cross stood at the end of the tunnel and looked inside. He could not see much, only darkness, so he wondered if maybe the tunnel had collapsed and the man had died. When suddenly, his mind escaped thoughts of the war, and his man in the tunnel, and he found himself again consumed with thoughts of Martha. Although the man in the tunnel came out fine, another one of Jimmy’s