The American Dream in James Truslow Adams’ The Epic of America (1931)

Aziz, Rabéa; Guendouzi, Amar

الممارسات اللّغويّة
Volume 10, Numéro 1, Pages 269-288
2019-03-31

The American Dream In James Truslow Adams’ The Epic Of America (1931)

Authors : Aziz Rabéa . Guendouzi Amar .

Abstract

This article foregrounds James Truslow Adams’ ideological discourse in his historical document The Epic of America (1931), in which the concept of “the American Dream” has first been introduced to the terminology of the American history. In this book, which traces the history of the American Dream from the early English settlements in America until the date of its publication, Adams defends American Liberalism, manifested in the free enterprise and the equality of success opportunity, as the basis of the American Dream. Reading the history of the American Dream in the light of Adams’ book, we come to the conclusion that, as any American, he defines the concept according to his circumstances of birth, class and age; synthesized in a Liberal ideology that emphasizes the specificity of the American nation.