Introduction

=The American Dream in American Literature =

The American Dream is based upon the components of achieving success, wealth, and power. It is an ideology about patriotism, an "ideal family", and the expansion of the West. The American Dream embodies an archetypal rages to riches story. It is being able to have the freedom and the option to make something "better" out of one's life. This dream is ultimately about an individual's view of what they believe success to be, even if others view it as a failure or less significant. In a broad range of American literary works you can find references and connections to the American Dream. In each of these works the authors has a different story to tell and a different way of incorporating the American Dream and what it means to them.