American Dream An Analysis Paper

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CENTRAL THEME - What is the central theme of American Dream? American Dream chronicles the lives of three women and their children and the struggle they face while on and getting off of welfare. DeParle set out to examine the effects of the landmark welfare law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which effectively ended welfare “as we know it (DeParle, 4).” American Dream brings together the typical clichés of welfare regarding poverty, race and class but also puts a personal face to the stories. DeParle starts the book out by introducing the readers to three women who have moved to the inner-city of Milwaukee for better welfare benefits. He followed these three women for nearly a decade after the law to reform welfare passed. These women, Angie, Jewell and Opal personify the welfare stereotype as being black, single mothers who, between the three of them, have ten kids out of wedlock and have survived off welfare for most of their adult lives. Along with the stereotypes, are the facts that the fathers of the children are absent and drugs and alcohol play a part in all their lives. American Dream shows that the problems of the lower class are not simply just economic but also moral and behavioral. RELEVANCE - Relate the concepts found in American Dream with those from another book we have read to date in the course. If I had to compare American Dream with another book that we have read in this class, the first one to come to mind would be Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change by Elizabeth Kolbert. On the surface, these two books don’t seem to go together at all. American Dream is about welfare and the struggles involved with it and Field Notes is about climate change. They actually have a lot in common, as they are both complex issues that are hard to pinpoint the best solution and
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