The Viability of the American Dream

Jende and Neni come to the United States with high hopes of creating a successful life for themselves and for their children. However, as the novel progresses they start to lose hope in their dream. While Neni keeps faith in the American Dream until the end of the novel, Jende loses it and decides that life as an immigrant is not worth the suffering for a goal that he may never achieve. At the beginning of the novel, Jende is invested in his dream and has an unwaveringly optimistic view of the United States. When questioned about why he immigrated, he tells Clark that “I stay in my country, I would have become nothing. My son will grow up and be poor like me, just like I was poor like my father. But in America, sir? I can become something. I...