Bread and Roses

The American Dream The United States of America has for a while been referred to as “the melting pot”. In the city of New York, there are many nationalities which may be cannot be compared with any other part of the world. Many of these people left their motherlands in search for better life in the American soil considered the land of the free. Well, writers have in the past shown interest and have in fact written about the issues people fought with in America both in the past and in modern days. Good writers have ensured a constant supply of good reading material. This is particularly such like pushes that make better the craft of the writer. Bruce Watson’s Bread and Roses certainly is among this category of books. The exposition of the American Dream by Watson is meant to be a learning lesson. There is an old saying that states that there is a likely to repeat history only because they did not learn the lessons of history. There are many people who have ruined their lives in pursuit of happiness and the American Dream. In this critique of Bruce Watson’s Bread and Roses book, I will discuss the plight of individuals chasing the American dream. The book, Bread and Roses by Watson gives an account of the 1912 textile workers, the strike of the workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. This is an excellent piece of work that captures the labor history of America that many people seem to ignore. It gives an account of the plight of workers in the textiles. It shows a hard working group of masses who are ready to do whatever it takes to live better lives; to make sure they are economically stable and get whatever they want. This is all in the pursuit of the American Dream. However, the Watson shows the results of such expectations in the American Dream which are humiliating at some point. The workers in the mills are frustrated by the twist of events in the work place. Some are not willing to work and go on strike. The people’s ambitions and high expectations are met

Cited: Watson, Bruce. Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream New York: Viking, 2005, chapter 1, pp. 73-74