The American Dream
What The American Dream means in English Literature A-Level, as defined for OCR, Pearson Edexcel.
Definitions of The American Dream
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Reference: OCR
Something deconstructed by George and Martha's bitter psychological games, and whose failure is presented through their relationship as a microcosm.
The closing commands complicate the American dream with the burdens of commerce and migration, seeking values older and stronger than commerce.
A vision whose contrasting forms can be compared when My Ántonia is set against core texts such as The Great Gatsby or The Grapes of Wrath.
Students must explore contrasting manifestations of the American Dream when comparing this novel with core texts.
The ideal that Fitzgerald critiques in the novel, presented as inherently corrupted during the 1920s Jazz Age.
A concept whose failure Steinbeck exposes, and which is compared with other texts from the 1880–1940 period.
Topics that use The American Dream
- 5d. Component 02 – Comparative and contextual study core and suggested set texts - Core set texts for Comparative and contextual study: American Literature 1880–1940 (OCR A-Level)
- 5d. Component 02 – Comparative and contextual study core and suggested set texts - Suggested set texts for Comparative and contextual study: American Literature 1880–1940 (OCR A-Level)
- 5e. Literature post-1900 (Non-exam assessment component) suggested texts - RELATIONSHIPS AND CHANGE (OCR A-Level)
- Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Post-1900 – The Movement – The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse, editor Philip Larkin with foreword by Andrew Motion (OUP, 1973) (Pearson Edexcel A-Level)
Related terms
- Bureaucracy and control
- Capitalism and exploitation
- Childhood and Memory
- Commerce and labour
- Consumerism
- Cultural decay
- Death and ambiguous renewal
- Death and bodily identity
Using The American Dream in the exam
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