American Dreams Lost and Found (1980)

The first interview that i read was with Vine Deloria, a 45 year old Native American author and teacher.  He grew up as a Sioux Indian and currently teaches political science at the university of Arizona.  During the beginning of the interview Deloria commented on how his upbringing with the Sioux was during the time when Native Americans around the country were transitioning into white culture.  Common values of respecting the elders seemed to have faded away.  The problem that Deloria pointed out was that Americans kept wanting to be young and never grow up which caused controversy among many Native Tribes.  This is because their own culture and values were slowly being diminished.  They were being destroyed by the whites because as Deloria pointed out, "when the whites came to the new world they were full of fear. Of nature and animals alike."  This quote is saying that the whites tried to rid this fear not by overcoming but by taking it away.  Something very powerful i feel that he said was that the American Dream is always looking to the future but never focusing on the present.  I agreed because even after manifest destiny no one stopped to appreciate that they achieved the American Dream. Instead they looked ahead to achieve the next step without enjoying the one they just reached.  Deloria concluded  that because of this, only a small percentage of Americans have meaningful lives. this is because the rest keep trying to achieve an unreachable utopia.  Something else that was intriguing was Deloria said that Americans are always trying to forget their dark past whether it was slavery or discrimination and i feel that due to these past events, Americans feel that they always must be better to prove to themselves and to the world that they are changed and are dominant.

The second interview that i read was with Finnish immigrant Andy Johnson.  Andy was born in Finland and came to America in 1906 to escape the Russo-Japanese war.  He said early on "the poor came to America because they had no opportunity back home." He also talked about how many immigrants go "Kuume" or the American Fever which is thinking that America is the land of wealth and opportunity.  This was true because of the many labor jobs offered and people from all cultures came to America for this.  This was the American Dream that immigrants had in mind. Coming to a new world with jobs and hope for their families.  Andy's father had jumped from job to job though which gave Andy the idea that even though there were jobs, none of them were favorable or promoted happiness.  Later they most west and got free land from the government.  This was truly the American Dream because it gave immigrants the taste of manifest destiny and having their own land.  The American Dream wasn't as high and mighty as talked about today.  Just how today there is the 99% protesting against the 1% of elites in America, the same held true back then.  Today getting rich and living in a big house are high goals for some but due to the corruption of elites during the early 1900's, America turned into a system of classes closely resembling nobles in European countries.  It was a rank that could not be achieved but could only be received which made the dream of Americans just above survival because of the this truth.  Survival of the fittest was the term that guided society and Andy concluded that because of this system, "Americans were going straight to hell.