The American Dream: A Literary Analysis

The journey of man, the Age of exploration, driven not only by pursuits of wealth, glory, and freedom; but also of human curiosity. An ambitious endeavor; a path filled with peril and failures, leading to fulfilment of dreams. A dream in which each man conquers the world around them, accounting for their experience of success, perseverance, obstacles, and failures which in a multitude of ways reflects the ideas of the American Dream: a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as a man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in older civilizations. These men embark on speculations of the New World, in search of riches, freedoms, creeds, and sciences.
In an effort to fill the void of greed in their minds, and achieve a new, more extravagant lifestyle, a man may risk their own existence. They may hold high hopes of opportunity, as the explorers, and the majority of people, leading only to disappointment; or possibly, not. The risk itself may not even display favorable for the taker, however, the simplistic possibility, is what drives them. The riches in which a man searches may vary vastly in each instance, which results in different stories such as “fabled cities of Asia” (60), the difficulties of any endeavor (77), “with the lord” (81). It is even explicitly stated as a
motive of Columbus to “acquire gold” (64). They use their previous knowledge of their world in order to form an achievable desire in which they may pursue to fill the common void of man.
The right to liberty of all man, and therefore the ability of equal opportunity and discovery, in which every man holds the potential and is given the opportunity to succeed or fail; resulting in the better of mankind, and the man himself.
Columbus, Smith, and Bradford attempt a pursuit of happiness: whether they chose to believe as acts of god, to understand has their true nature, or to become a model of their society. Each and every one of these men achieve their desire by exercising their freedoms given to them by the world. “I shall determine” (64) exemplifies Columbus’ efforts to exhort and document that what he achieved through free will and
determination.
Guisay (64) is referenced as an element of faith, for their faith in which they follow, the explorers mention that they have a motive of faith. “God hath delivered” (77) the will of man to accomplish such brilliant success in his name, and “the will of God” (79) all display statements in which the men hold as a motive of their entire lives. They see their lord as a guide to how they should choose to live their lives, but they trust the control of their own will, which they also use to partly justify their experiences, whether or not they perceive them as positive or negative. This belief all of the explorer hold unconditionally is the most moral and sincere reason they set out on the course of a lifetime.
The pure nature of man embodies the desire of discovery, acquisition of knowledge, and study of sciences. The nature of human curiosity factors into the quest of exploration, freedom, or establishment. “Valuable specimens” (63) in which Columbus values purely by personal interest. He believes such specimens of the New World to hold value, and it is purely based upon his own tuition and nature of man.