The Contemporary American Dream Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Contemporary American Dream - Essay Example The development of suburbia ‘starts’ with a farewell to Rosie Riveter as transition from World War II to the suburbs of the 1950s. The female factory worker needed to be sucked back into the home to make way in the factories for the returning soldiers. This is brilliantly portrayed through the innovation of the television set, which played a large role in reinforcing to women the concept that their proper roles were those of wife and mother. Rosie is sucked into the screen, losing her wrench while the well-manicured lawns and white orderly house fronts of the suburbs can be seen below her as she is overwhelmed by the messages of TV advertisements and popular shows such as Leave it to Beaver. To be sure this point isn’t lost by the mural viewer, the stereotypical white suburban family can be seen standing behind the television. The rows of suburban houses are divided in the middle by a column of moving trucks, presumably bringing more blonde, blue-eyed suburban per fect families away from the distant city to the white-washed neighborhoods. Finally, a deep ditch separates these perfect neighborhoods from the poor, rural black people that pass by heading in the opposite direction in broken down cars and on bare feet heading into the city. They are allowed to look, but not to stop or stay. While the American Dream is being defined for and realized by the white people, the only hope of achieving it for the black people is to head into the inner city slums in the hopes of finding work.