Beyond the American Dream

The American Dream is alive and well and available to anyone. But is it, really? What does it mean when we hear that someone has “achieved the American Dream”? What belief systems are we reinforcing? What assumptions are at work? This course will draw upon fiction, memoir, essays, poetry, and comics (with authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Elizabeth Acevedo, Kamala Khan, and Amanda Gorman, as well as artists from the Harlem Renaissance) to question the limits of the American Dream. We will consider the role that gender, race, sexuality and other identifiers play in our access to the American Dream. Questions we will explore include: What is the myth of the American Dream? How do elements of our identities influence our definition of and access to the American Dream? Is the American Dream an attainable—or even worthwhile—pursuit? Students will complete a range of assignments—analytical essays, personal reflection, narrative writing, poetry, and presentations—as they grapple with these questions. One of the goals of the course is to think critically about the systems of power and privilege at work in any conversation about the American Dream.