Post by tmehta on Feb 7, 2016 2:11:17 GMT
With February being Black History Month, and after our in-class discussions regarding Langston Hughes’s poems I, Too and Let America be America Again, I decided to talk about African American’s and other races’ experiences with the American Dream. I finally got around to watching the movie 42 a couple of weeks ago, which I think perfectly exemplifies such experiences. The movie details Jackie Robinson’s struggles but eventual rise to success as the first black man to play in the all-white Major League Baseball.
Robinson was your typical American trying to achieve the Dream: he grew up in poverty and showed his skill in the Negro leagues, but he was dissatisfied. Robinson faced incredible hardships because he was a black man in the 1940s, but because of his talent on the field he eventually made it big, signing to the Brooklyn Dodgers and playing with them for the next 10 years. Jackie became Rookie of the Year in 1947 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
Oxford Dictionaries defines the American Dream as “the ideal that every U.S. citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” I believe that Jackie did work hard and had determination and initiative, but he didn’t have that same opportunity to achieve success and prosperity as a white man would have. Bombarded by racial slurs and numerous death threats, Robinson fought to keep his place on his team, one he deserved as much as, if not more than, his teammates did. Soon everyone on the Dodgers realized that this was a normal guy who wanted to play baseball like the next guy, but hotels would still refuse the entire team, teams would refuse to play the Dodgers, and every Dodgers player would receive horrible letters, all just because one player had darker skin than the rest.
At the same time, however, I think the filmmakers did a great job of highlighting the beauty of the American Dream. Through this movie we see that the American Dream is still alive and well. There is an inherently optimistic message saying that you can achieve your dream if you persevere, and if you have ability and potential, you will succeed. The Dream is achievable, but different people have different barriers, so for some it’s harder than others. In the end, though, the Dream is what you do, not who you are.
Robinson was your typical American trying to achieve the Dream: he grew up in poverty and showed his skill in the Negro leagues, but he was dissatisfied. Robinson faced incredible hardships because he was a black man in the 1940s, but because of his talent on the field he eventually made it big, signing to the Brooklyn Dodgers and playing with them for the next 10 years. Jackie became Rookie of the Year in 1947 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
Oxford Dictionaries defines the American Dream as “the ideal that every U.S. citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” I believe that Jackie did work hard and had determination and initiative, but he didn’t have that same opportunity to achieve success and prosperity as a white man would have. Bombarded by racial slurs and numerous death threats, Robinson fought to keep his place on his team, one he deserved as much as, if not more than, his teammates did. Soon everyone on the Dodgers realized that this was a normal guy who wanted to play baseball like the next guy, but hotels would still refuse the entire team, teams would refuse to play the Dodgers, and every Dodgers player would receive horrible letters, all just because one player had darker skin than the rest.
At the same time, however, I think the filmmakers did a great job of highlighting the beauty of the American Dream. Through this movie we see that the American Dream is still alive and well. There is an inherently optimistic message saying that you can achieve your dream if you persevere, and if you have ability and potential, you will succeed. The Dream is achievable, but different people have different barriers, so for some it’s harder than others. In the end, though, the Dream is what you do, not who you are.
