The American Dream?

In “A Cool Million” West confronts many American ideals in a satirical way. Whether it is optimism, capitalism, or the American dream, he mocked them all mercilessly. I enjoyed the style of the book; it kept me interested and was very blunt. With that said, I don’t know whether the satirical nature of the book made the events worse or more bearable. At first, the casual tone of the horrific events that happen to Pitkin drew me into the novel. As I continued to read it, as the events continued to get worse, I felt almost uncomfortable chuckling at the expense of our poor main character. Nonetheless, for me, the satire overcame the empathy.

Obviously, no one should have to deal with the terrible events that happened to Pitkins. Even so, isn’t there something to say for his naivety and inability to wise-up (or am I just a terrible person)? He experienced abuse, being robbed, being cheated, dismantled body parts, yet he is persistent. So, at the conclusion of the novel I was impressed with his determination, but I couldn’t feel too empathetic. His naivety was a good satire of many naïve Americans. A lot of people I have come across have an optimism that can’t be quenched, mainly stemming from a lack of knowledge of the outside world. West’s novel did a good job mocking this optimism for ideals that don’t exist in many American lives today.

Recently, I was talking with my Russian friend about the American dream. We both have many family friends who immigrated to the states searching for the American dream. As I was thinking about this book and some people’s naïve belief in certain American ideals, I was reminded of our conversation. One thing my friend said stuck out to me; “the American dream died with our ancestors”. This sparked many questions in my head; What exactly is the American dream? Who is eligible to participate in this dream? Did the dream really die with our ancestors? Is this dream salvageable in today’s society? Is the American dream merely a myth? These questions are hard for me to answer because I realized it’s extremely hard for me to even define the American dream anymore. Yet, somehow I can recognize a satire of the American dream- hmm?