The Nightmare of the American Dream Essay Example for Free

The Nightmare of the American Dream Essay The â€Å"American Dream†, an idea that success, freedom and equality exists according to each mans capabilities regardless of social status and ethnicity, is one that appeals to every American from all walks of life. After the Great Depression, the importance of realizing success, freedom and equality became a priority in the lives of many, including the Native Americans. The belief in the â€Å"American Dream† was deeply embedded in their hearts in a quest to dispel stereotypes about their community such as being poverty- stricken and primitive warriors who belonged in the jungles as they began to assimilate into the urban culture of a white dominated society. However, as one examines the American society today, such stereotypes still exists and may have been influential in the opportunities presented to the Native American communities or the lack thereof. In the story â€Å"The Red Convertible†, Louise Erdrich employs images associated with freedom as ironies in order to argue that the â€Å"American Dream† is a farce as the stereotypes attached to individual communities, in this case, the Native American communities will never be broken and the believe in such dreams will eventually lead to life-altering and undesirable outcomes. Erdrich consistently uses the image of the convertible that the brothers bought which would usually represent freedom and status connected with the ownership of an automobile in an ironical manner to show that the brothers will never be free and revered in society as a result of their ethnicity. Its colour, â€Å"of course it was red† (1-2), is a reminder of how Native American communities have lived with the stigma of being call Red Indians for centuries thus suggesting they will never be free of such derogatory labels. The brothers bought the car â€Å"reposed, calm and gleaming† (34) just as they bought into the promising idea of equality in the â€Å"American Dream†. Paralleling the journey of the gleaming car to Henry who had to leave for the war as many Native Americans were drafted to fight on the frontline, Lyman â€Å"had it up on blocks in the yard or half taken apart, because the long trip did a hard job on it† just as light-hearted Henry returns from the war a broken man, needing â€Å"repairs†. The ultimate irony is in the tragic ending of the convertible sinking into the river, representing the crushed dreams of equality and success as Henry returns to the same poverty-stricken life of the reservation which he assumed would change at the end of the war. To further illustrate the irony of the â€Å"American Dream†, Erdrich compares Henry to the rabbit which is essentially an animal that exists freely in the wild but who exists to be preyed just as Native Americans believing that they were equals in society but were actually preyed upon the stereotype that they were brave, natural warriors who would have skills to fight ruthlessly in the war. When Henry came back from the war, he was â€Å"jumpy and mean† (123) and when he was still, â€Å"it was the kind of stillness that you see in a rabbit when it freezes before it will bolt† (128-130). Henry was used as a prey in the war based on a stereotype without any regard for his humanity, now would bolt to protect himself as he realizes that the dream of equality he believed in was a lie which exploited his ethnicity instead of protecting it. As Lyman narrated another stereotype of Native Indians in the story: â€Å"We liked to tease him that they really wanted him for his Indian nose† (91-92), has more truth to it as many Native Americans were made to fight in the front line during the war resulting in an alarming rate of deaths. Lastly, Erdrich ironically uses imagery of nature as embodiments of hope and new beginnings and juxtaposed them against the brothers dreams of a better life which was tragically crushed. Lyman describes of the day when Henry suggests to take the car out for a spin after he fixed it: It was spring. The sun was shining very bright. My only sister, Bonita, who was just eleven years old came out and made us stand together for a picture. (194-196) The imagery of springtime which symbolizes hope and life and the Sun which symbolizes a gleaming future is what the brothers had believed in as they bought into the idea of the â€Å"American Dream† as a means of escaping their poverty stricken lives in the reservations. However, after  Henry â€Å"squint against the glare† (212) of the Sun in the photo as he could no longer believe in the dream after being exploited in the war. As Lyman later examines the picture, he realizes that Henry â€Å"might have drawn back , because the shadows on his face are deep as holes† (214-215) suggests that Henry will never again be the person that he was even in the hopeful time of Spring, he will always be a victim of the war and stereotypes hence unable to pursue forward to achieve success as promised in the â€Å"American Dream† he had believed earlier. In the later part of the story, Erdrich uses the image of the sun again, only this time in a deference to the tragedy of Henrys drowning as he is unable to live the life of poverty and despair as well as to the failure of the American dream which did not deliver its promise of equality and freedom as â€Å"the sun is down†(294). The ironical use of images of freedom in â€Å"The Red Convertible† shows that the â€Å"American Dream† did not deliver its promise of equality regardless of social status and ethnicity as stereotypes regarding the Native Americans continue to exist and such stereotypes not only has the ability to hurt an individual but can also have tragic consequences such as deaths of Native Americans in alarming numbers in the war as well as the death of Henry as he no longer believed in the dream.