Exploring the Significance of Studying English and the American Dream through Art and Literature
Studying English is essential for honing communication skills, literacy, and securing opportunities in various fields. Meanwhile, the American Dream represents an ethos of achieving prosperity and success through hard work and equal opportunity. This concept has been explored in various forms of art, literature, and cinema, reflecting the complexities of ambition, competition, success, and disillusionment inherent in the pursuit of this ideal.
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Why study English? The art of storytelling. Communication skills. Literacy (spelling, punctuation, grammar). Getting C (5) or above is considered mandatory for most jobs and universities good grades open up greater opportunity. Whilst basic and intermediate English is one of the easiest languages to learn, advanced English is one of the most complex and challenging. Learn persuasive, creative, analytical and interpretative skills. FASCINATING FACTS 55% of the world s websites are in English. English is the second most widely spoken language in the world (after Mandarin). 60 of the world s 196 countries has English as their official language. Around 1.5 billion people speak English worldwide and many nations have English as a second language. English is often referred to as the language of business .
What is The American Dream? The American Dream The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals (democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity, and equality) in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. The American Dream is rooted in the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims that "all men are created equal" with the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence in 1776 renowned phrase We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The American Dream establishes the human right of opportunity but not outcome and many people fail to achieve the American Dream. Hopes Ambitions Goals Vision Aspirations Competition Obstacles Conflict Failure Disillusionment Success Winning Losing
What stories reflect on The American Dream? Film Literature Theatre Good Will Hunting Of Mice and Men The Streetcar Named Desire The Pursuit of Happiness Death of a Salesman Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Citizen Kane The Great Gatsby Hamilton Scarface Revolutionary Road The Book of Mormon Precious Fear and Loathing Las Vegas Long Day s Journey Into Night The Wolf of Wall Street The Audacity of Hope Our Town Rocky American Psycho A Raisin in the Sun Little Miss Sunshine Fight Club Twelve Angry Men Wall Street Breakfast at Tiffany s August: Osage County Glengarry Glen Ross The Grapes of Wrath Fences American Beauty We Are Not Ourselves One Flew Over The Cuckoo s Nest Mulholland Drive The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao This Is Our Youth They Live On The Road A Chorus Line 42nd Street Gone Girl To Kill A Mockingbird The Social Network No Country For Old Men Dreamgirls Taxi Driver The Corrections Bullets Over Broadway The Big Short The Catcher in the Rye All New People Elephant The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
How does The Pursuit of Happiness relate to the American Dream? Synopsis - Based on a true story about a man named Christopher Gardner. Gardner has invested heavily in a device known as a "Bone Density scanner". However, they do not sell as they are marginally better than the current technology at a much higher price. As Gardner tries to figure out how to sell them, his wife leaves him, he loses his house, his bank account, and credit cards. Forced to live out in the streets with his son, Gardner is now desperate to find a steady job; he takes on a job as a stockbroker, but before he can receive pay, he needs to go through 6 months of training on an unpaid internship, and to sell his devices. Reason - Chris Gardner is passionately pursuing success and happiness at all costs he is aware that he may have an opportunity to achieve, but he must work very hard in order to realise it. The Real Chris Gardner s Ten Rules For Success - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDIVHvIVWjM
The Pursuit of Happyness Synopsis In 1981, San Francisco salesman Chris Gardner (Will Smith) invests his entire life savings in portable bone density scanners, which he demonstrates to doctors and pitches as a handy quantum leap over standard X-rays. The scanners play a vital role in Chris's life. While he is able to sell most of them, the time lag between the sales and his growing financial demands enrage his already bitter and alienated wife Linda (Thandie Newton), who works as a hotel maid. The financial instability increasingly erodes their marriage, in spite of them caring for their five-year-old son, Christopher Jr. (Jaden Smith). While downtown trying to sell one of the scanners, Gardner meets Jay Twistle (Brian Howe), a manager for Dean Witter Reynolds and impresses him by solving a Rubik's Cube during a taxi ride. After Jay leaves, Gardner lacks money to pay the fare, and chooses to run, resulting in the driver chasing him into a BART station. Gardner boards a train but loses one of his scanners in the process. His new relationship with Jay earns him the chance to become an intern stockbroker. The day before the interview, Gardner grudgingly agrees to paint his apartment so as to postpone being evicted due to his difficulty in paying the rent. While painting, Gardner is greeted by two policemen at his doorstep, who take him to the station, stating he has to pay for his numerous parking tickets he has accumulated. As part of the sanction, Gardner is ordered to spend the night in jail, complicating his schedule for the interview the next morning. He manages to arrive at Dean Witter's office on time, albeit still in his shabby clothes. Despite his appearance, he impresses the interviewers, and lands an unpaid internship. He would be amongst 20 interns competing for a paid position as a broker. Gardner's unpaid internship does not please Linda, who eventually leaves for New York because she might get a job at her sister's boyfriend's new restaurant. After Gardner bluntly says she is incapable of being a single mom, she agrees that Christopher Jr. will remain with his dad. Gardner is further set back when his bank account is garnished by the IRS for unpaid income taxes, and he and Christopher are evicted. He ends up with less than $22, resulting in them being homeless, and are forced at one point to stay in a restroom at a BART station. Other days, he and Christopher spend nights at a homeless shelter, in BART, or, if he manages to procure cash, at a hotel. Later, Gardner finds the bone scanner that he lost in the BART station and, after repairing it, sells it to a physician, thus completing all his sales of his scanners. Disadvantaged by his limited work hours, and knowing that maximizing his client contacts and profits is the only way to earn the broker position, Gardner develops a number of ways to make phone sales calls more efficiently, including reaching out to potential high value customers, defying protocol. One sympathetic prospect who is a top-level pension fund manager even takes him and his son to a San Francisco 49ers game. Regardless of his challenges, he never reveals his lowly circumstances to his colleagues, even going so far as to lend one of his bosses five dollars for cab fare, a sum that he cannot afford. Concluding his internship, Gardner is called into a meeting with his managers. One of them notes he is wearing a new shirt. Gardner explains it is his last day and thought to dress for the occasion. The manager smiles and says he should wear it again tomorrow, letting him know he has won the coveted full-time position giving him his 5 dollars as he promised. Fighting back tears, Gardner shakes hands with them, then rushes to his son's daycare to embrace Christopher. They walk down the street, joking with each other and are passed by the real Chris Gardner (in a business suit appearance). The epilogue reveals that Gardner went on to form his own multimillion-dollar brokerage firm.
Plenary What have you learned about The American Dream today?
