The ideals of freedom and equality, civil rights, and the ability to succeed regardless of ethnic origin and social class form the basis of the American dream. Sherman Alexie’s writings tell the Native Americans’ real stories since the poet was born and raised on the Spokane Indian Reservation. His novels and poems address the issues of poverty, despair, violence, and alcoholism in Native American lives (Alexie, 2017). The first words of the poem Pawn Shop show the unnamed character as being in a struggle with his sense of powerlessness and hopelessness in white American society. In the interpretation of the American dream, particular emphasis is placed on egalitarianism – the universal equality of rights or welfare as a principle of the organization of public life. In contrast, in society, there are prejudices towards the indigenous population.
In the poem Pawn Shop, there is the stereotype that alcoholism, which leads to the premature death of the Native Americans, is everywhere. “So he gives me a beer just for being Indian” (Levine, 2017, p. 1679). The method that the character uses to push against boundaries imposed by society is a memory that shows pride in being born Native American. “Until I walk into a pawn shop, find a single heart beating under glass, and I know who it used to belong to, I know all of them” (Levine, 2017, p. 1679). The unnamed character does not renounce his past but instead emphasizes that he remembers everyone.
Harriet Jacobs was an African-American writer, who was born into slavery in North Carolina. After the landlady’s death, she was sold to a man. She was sexually harassed by her master, so the book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl appeared, which described in detail the sexual exploitation of black slaves (Jacobs, 2018). The author’s main idea in the entire work is the incommensurability of the suffering of men and women in slavery. Jacobs (2018) told that “slavery is terrible for men, but it is far more terrible for women” (p.105). Slavery remained a shared burden for all; moreover, everyone suffered from personal hardships and troubles. Concerning equality, women were deprived of the right to start their own families because of their duty to serve the host family and not be distracted by anything else. “My mistress, like many others, seemed to think that slaves had no right to any family ties of their own; that they were created merely to wait upon the family of the mistress” (Jacobs, 2018, p.57). Jacobs also experienced constant pain at the thought of their social status, because, in her opinion, being a slave was worse than even death.
Harriet Jacobs, in her work, makes family and motherhood the main tools in the fight against slavery. It was caring for children that prompted her to decide to fight for freedom because if she continued to be a slave, she would have lost all rights to children. Slavery deprived her of the simple joys of motherhood and the opportunity to lead a dignified life. While slavery was associated with some severe trials, it could not rob her of the last joy. To sum up, the main idea of her work is that family, kinship, and children help women draw the strength to withstand everything and fight for victory.
References
Alexie, S. (2017). You don’t have to say you love me: A memoir. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.
Jacobs, H. (2018) Incidents in the life of a slave girl: New critical essays. F. S. Foster & R.Yarborough (Eds.). New York, NY: W. W. Norton, Incorporated.
Levine, R. S. (Ed.). (2017) The Norton Anthology of American literature: Ninth shorter edition (Vol. 2). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.