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She nodded and smiled to everyone who went by, and somehow she conveyed her dream to everyone who saw her, and everyone who saw her was delighted with her. For some reason I was overwhelmed with a desire to contribute to this sylvan retreat, and so one day when she had stepped inside for a moment, I deposited on her table a potted fern and a little bowl with two goldfish
-adi

chastises this part of american dream and proceeds to contribute to it happily???

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"However, the dream does not die-it just takes another form" (pg 6). Does the American Dream ever die? If it's a dream, do you ever wake up? -Yoomin

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"However, the dream does not die-it just takes another form" (pg 6). Does the American Dream ever die? If it's a dream, do you ever wake up? -Yoomin

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"Americans seem to live and breathe and function by paradox." p.4
I agree with the fact that the ideas of American culture can often contradict itself

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"We are self-reliant and at the same time completely dependent" (2).

I agreed with the idea that humans, or specifically americans, have the tendency to be ironic about our desires

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"... these memories - some of them, at least - can be inherited;"
I want to know how he came up with this theory? Was it because of something that happened to him that made this theory come about or was it a background thought that he elaborated on?

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I agree with "Even in our so-called virtues we are intemperate: a teetotaler is not content to drink- he must stop all the drinking in the world; a vegetarian among us would outlaw the eating of meat," (p. 1).

I have encountered a lot of people like this and I can be guilty of it as well. We all believe our viewpoints are right.

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Page 9: "It is an American dream that we are great hunters, trackers, woodsmen, deadshots with a rifle or a shotgun..."

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Page 9: "It is an American dream that we are great hunters, trackers, woodsmen, deadshots with a rifle or a shotgun..."

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I personally don't think this applies to most Americans today. Most people I know have never fired a gun, and most do not hunt. (Ms. Conlon)

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"The home dream is only one of the deepset American illusions." (12)

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"The home dream is only one of the deepset American illusions." (12)

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Since when did the American dream become an illusion? Does it continue to ilude people? How has the American Dream changed over time, and why?

- Deniz

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Ada Tsui
"We are afraid to be awake, afraid to be alone, afraid to be a moment without the noise and confusion we call entertainment" (4).
I found this to be rather relatable. I do not like confronting my thoughts.

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And in these moral tales, so deepset in us, virtue does not arise out of reason or orderly process of law - it is imposed and maintained by violence. 

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And in these moral tales, so deepset in us, virtue does not arise out of reason or orderly process of law - it is imposed and maintained by violence. 

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I agreed with this idea on how big of a role violence plays in the role of maintaining or upholding virtue despite what we would like to think otherwise.

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"Americans are remarkably kind and hospitable and open with both guests and strangers; yet they will make a wide circle around the man dying on the pavement. Fortunes are spend getting cats out f trees and dogs out of sewer pipes; but a girl screaming for help in the street draws only slammed doors, closed windows, and silence."

I agree with the contradiction of the kindess compared with the disregard of the actual harm of other people.

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"this dream is deeply held by Americans who have never fired a gun or hunted anything larger or more dangerous than a cockroach." (page 9, paragraph 14) with regards to the way America has idolized firearms as a source of power, control, and independence. People often find themselves highly politically involved fighting for gun rights even when they in fact are not personally connected to firearms, only in this sentiment that is deeply embedded in American society.
-Blake

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I wanted to debate how the author argues that most Americans don't live up to their standards of self-sufficiency. ("Our lives as we live them would not function without electricity, but it is a rare man or woman who, when the power goes off, knows how to look for a burned-out fuse and replace it", on page 3). Even if most Americans can't do most of these things, I think most of us can do at least a few of them, and therefore that we are at decently self-sufficient.

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"Our lives as we live them would not function without electricity, but it is a rare man or woman who, when the power goes off, knows how to look for a burned-out fuse and replace it. We believe implicitly that we are the heirs of the pioneers; that we have inherited self-sufficiency and the ability to take care of ourselves, particularly in relation to nature. There isn’t a man among us in ten thousand who knows how to butcher a cow or a pig and cut it up for eating, let alone a wild animal."(3)

I agree with this, as it shows how, as our technology has advanced, we've lost our roots, self-sufficiency, and independence. Most Americans today need to rely on other people to survive/live the way they are living, we have mixed and become one, and no one is truly independent anymore.

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"We bridle and buck under failure, and we go mad with dissatisfaction in the face of success. We spend our time searching for security, and hate it when we get it." (1)

I agreed with his take that Americans are never satisfied with what they have and always crave more, even if they already have enough. Once they obtain what they want, they are once again dissatisfied and the cycle continues.

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Now there is a set of generalities for you, each of them canceled out by another generality. Americans seem to live and breathe and function by paradox; but in nothing we are so paradoxical as in our passionate belief in our own myths.

Nate

I thought this quote provided a very insightful perspective on the true identity of Americans. Here the author challenges the images one might think of when they think of the stereotypical American Dream, establishing their opinion clearly

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with the idea of home ownership myth of since although "many thousands of these homes are built every year; built, planted, advertised, and sold -- and yet, the American faimly rarly stays in one place for more than five years... Right away the home is not big enough, or in the poor neighborhood" (5).

I think that the idea of home ownership in America is no longer just the idea of "safety" but also now, in general, shows your wealth and status. The idea of "outgrowing" your home is fairly common, and most of the time, Americans move in order to scale up, rarely to scale down.

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"We trample friends, relatives, and strangers who get in the way of our achieving it,..."
I feel that yet there are some people who may do this, but it is a very small percentage compared to the amount of people who are more reserved or thankful for the opportunity to rise up higher than they were

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"Fortunes are spent getting cats out of trees and dogs out of sewer pipes; but a girl screaming for help in the street draws only slammed doors, closed windows, and silence." P.3

Unfortunately that is as relevant as it was then as it is now. Luckily a bit more attention is being given to this situation. But as a nation we tend to have our priorities put in the wrong place, in terms of things like this.

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"One of the generalities most often noted about Americans is that we are a restless, a dissatisfied, a searching people." (1)

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"One of the generalities most often noted about Americans is that we are a restless, a dissatisfied, a searching people." (1)

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I agree with this being one of the biggest generalities about Americans. Furthermore, I believe it has become truer over time. Americans seem to have an insatiable hunger for success, discovery, and power.
- Deniz

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"All boy with reverance toward the American Way of Life, although each one would look puzzled and angry if he were asked to define it."

I feel like although it is true that many American systems may have flaws that make it hard to succeed, I don't think it is true that people who believe in the "American Way of Life" can't find any reason to support it or are trapped in a delusion about America. I think there are still a lot of things in America that promote opportunity and hard work, and while there are many flaws there are also a lot of things made easier in America that should be considered despite the challenges.

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It occurs to me that all dreams, waking and sleeping, are powerful and prominent memories of something real, something that really happened. (7)

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It occurs to me that all dreams, waking and sleeping, are powerful and prominent memories of something real, something that really happened. (7)

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I don't quite agree with this as while we base most of our dreams from reality, most of us dream of things we've never experienced, or dream of things that haven't happened yet. Does he mean that we reshape our memories into new dreams? (Annabelle)

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Paragraph 12 talks about how Americans have a unique pattern of thinking and feeling as a result of some sort of collective memory. I don't agree with the end, "it never comes to the immigrants themselves ... birth on American soil seems to be required." I actually think that this way of thinking comes from the fact that most of our ancestors are immigrants. Immigrants, especially, come to the US working towards the "American Dream"; this dream of stability, independence, and productivity, I believe, is a result of immigrants in search of a more ideal life. Thus, this idea of "national character" does not exclude immigrants, if anything, it stems from them.

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"There is no question that American life is in the process of changing, but, as always in human history, it carries some of the past along with it" (6)

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"There is no question that American life is in the process of changing, but, as always in human history, it carries some of the past along with it" (6)

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Our lives always change - the world we live in now is definitely different from the world that we lived in before. But, there are still parts of the past that are carried along in our lives and our opinions. History comes in patterns and that is partly why we study history. I also think that we try to idealize the past for the American dream.

-Athena

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"Americans are remarkably kind and hospitable and open with both guests and stranger; and yet they will make a wide circle around the man dying on the pavement." (Steinbeck 3)

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"Americans are remarkably kind and hospitable and open with both guests and stranger; and yet they will make a wide circle around the man dying on the pavement." (Steinbeck 3)

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Me personally...I wouldn't fully agree with this from my personal experience living in America, but i'm curious to see what other people thought of this
-tobe

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"... the dream does not die - it just takes another form."

I definitely agree with this, as it is very hard for a dream or a goal to not change over time, especially if you are growing up during that time or have a major (or minor) change in a period of time.
I think that if someone has a dream that disappears it will stay in the back of their mind until it can come forward again, such as playing at a certain level but not being about to due to injury, but the goal or dream coming back once you are in a better physical state .
The culture of having these huge goals and dreams in America is true, as is the fact that they change constantly in peoples lives and may not always be attainable, or on the other hand bay be reached but in any case everyone has these dreams for the future, good or bad, large or small.

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Page 5: "Many thousands of these homes are built every year; built, planted, advertised, and sold-and yet, the American family rarely stays in one place for more than 5 years. The home and its equipment are purchased on time and are heavily mortgaged."

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Page 5: "Many thousands of these homes are built every year; built, planted, advertised, and sold-and yet, the American family rarely stays in one place for more than 5 years. The home and its equipment are purchased on time and are heavily mortgaged."

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I agree with the idea that the home in america, while something to aspire to, is nearly impossible to obtain in theory. While owning a roof over one's head is attainable (sometimes), Americans are never able to attain a place they feel is satisfactory and suits their needs. As the passage states, the rich can't get a house big enough and the poor struggle to even find a suitable house. As a result, however, in America we mortgage our homes, which means that we are effectively trapping ourselves in eternal misery.

- Aditya Rao

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"The partcipators in the dream need not have descended phyically from the people to whom the reality happened. This pattern of though and conduct which is the national  charcter is absored even by the children of immigrants born in America, but it never comes to the immigrant tmeselves, no matter how they way wish it; birth on American soil seems to be required"(8).

I doubt this people I feel that many immigrants chase after the dream and though few succeed, some do. Also, I question the notion of "birth of American soil". I feel that from personal experiences and from observations from around me (what if the immigrants were already wealthy) that chasing after the American is an universal of all people who live in America.

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This article reminded me of Steinbeck's critique of our greedy/depressing lifestyle as the impetus for a trip to the analyst's couch.

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Opinion | Mental Health Is Political (Published 2022)

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Many in power would prefer to kick questions like "What caused the mental health crisis?" and "Who benefits?" out of sight. Don't let them.

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"Americans are remarkably kind and hospitable and open with both guests and strangers; and yet they will make a wide circle around the man dying on the pavement" (2).

Couldn't you attribute this to just human nature/mob mentality? What in this quote specifically outlines being "American"?

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"Many thousands of these homes are built every year; built, plated, advertised and sold - and yet, the American Family rarely stays in one place for more than five years."(5)
I agree with this, in a broader sense especially. I think that this supports the idea that Americans never really live in the moment, but rather work towards the future. And once what they are working for is achieved, they work towards something else. These people always want more and more. This connects to the American obsession of consumerism.

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I don't have a specific article for this, but the author's statement in paragraph 9, "old and faithful employees are decreasing all the time," reminded of the recent discussion around "quiet-quitting." This part of the article feels so pertinent even now. - Radhika

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Throughout much of "Paradox and Dream", Steinbeck generalizes and makes rather extreme statements about how Americans live their life. I get an air of criticism, especially towards the beginning and middle, as if there was absolutely nothing to be proud of as an American. In the third section (pg. 2), Steinbeck writes, "Americans overindulge their children; the children in turn are overly dependent on their parents". I wrote this as an annotation, but I strongly disagree with this major generalization made. In a lot of cases, the exact opposite is true: parents may neglect and fail to indulge their children, resulting in a further independent or troubled life later on. I had to remind myself several times throughout that the piece was written in the sixties, helping me to understand what Steinbeck might have been observing about America at the time. Another area of debate is perhaps the last line of paragraph 7 (pg. 4): "We detest abstract art and produce more of it than all the rest of the world put together." I wrote in the margins, "Who is we? Every American citizen? This is untrue and yet another generalization. I wonder if Steinbeck thought to consider why abstract art is produced in that amount. Perhaps because of the high demand...." Although this is something more minor comparing to the central idea of the text, details like these made it difficult for me to respect and understand Steinbeck.