Part 2 Amber The Ethnocentrism in The American Dream

The Ethnocentrism in The American Dream

The American Dream is always said to be that in America, there's an equal chance for everyone who works hard to succeed. However, the truth behind the charming appearance is the inequality towards people from the lower class. To them, the American Dream is a lie told by the government. Nowadays, the unjust is even more severe because of the ethnocentrism of the American. They refuse to accept more refugees and are getting more restricted with the immigrants when they ignore the fact that the immigrants were those people who helped bring the country to a better economy in the first place. All these new policies based on American's sense of superiority lead to one thing, the inequality in the term of the American dream.

Speaking of who can represent the thought of superiority of old money in The Great Gatsby, Tom Buchanan is the right person. Tom is a character created with arrogant and completely self-centered personality. The background of Tom becomes one of the reasons why he has a sense of superiority over the new money, the poor or anyone else in the society. Tom was born in a super-rich family which taught him that they were always better than others because they had inherited wealth and had always been the upper class in the society. At the very beginning of the novel, when Tom was first introduced to the readers at the dinner, he gave a small speech about his opinion over other races which revealed the racism of him.

At the dinner where Nick, Daisy, Jordan, and Tom sit together to have that awkward conversation, Tom talked about a book which is about "the colored empires." He said that "It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control things." From this quotation we can tell the racism of Tom is rooted in his heart and maybe he was born with that because he was convinced that white people have a higher level than any other races.

The same thing happens when he is faced with the poor. "Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!" shouted Mrs. Wilson. "I'll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai –– " Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand. Tom felt disgusted and offended when Myrtle keeps speaking of Daisy. In Tom's mind, the poor shouldn't be allowed to say Daisy's name because of their status is quite low. Tom can represent a group of people who regard their status in the society as important as their life and refuse to accept people from 'lower' class. Tom's opinion towards other races and other classes in the society haven't changed even after so many years. It still appears when a bunch of American has the sense of superiority over people from other areas. The refuse towards the refugees and other immigrants is the best example of the arrogance's inherited.

As the time past, the old money still seems to have a high status in the society. Donald Trump, which is the current American resident, is also known as an extremely wealthy businessman. After he has taken the charge of America, the official published the new policies which have been argued a lot because of the government's decision over the acceptance of the refugees. The new leader of America is just like Tom who is aggressive and arrogant and also shares the same sense of superiority when he determined to make 'America' great again by not letting the immigrants in. He chooses to ignore what benefits the immigrants had brought to the country and enlarge the problems around them. "Let us be part of the American dream" has become an ironic slogan since the American dream is said to be fair to everyone but at the first place, the government refuses to give everyone the entry ticket to their American dreams.



I commented Haley's Part 2.