The American Dream

The American Dream is an integral concept that gives hope to people living within the United States that anything is possible. While the typical definition of the American Dream deals largely with materialistic objects such as a big house, nice car, etc., the true definition is based largely on perspective. Before beginning to write this post I asked my mom what her definition of the American Dream was. She replied by simply stating, "equitable freedom". Listening to her response fortified the idea that perspective plays a large role in the American Dream as I never really thought about freedom being a part of this dream considering America is supposed to be, "the land of the free". Now hearing my mom's definition, I understand why she would say this considering everyone isn't equally free. Different groups of people, whether it's based on race, gender, sexual orientation, etc, have certain limitations that push them further from equality and true freedom. 

Taking all of these points into consideration, my definition of the American dream would be happiness. To me, this combines freedom, equal opportunity, economic prosperity, family, etc. To aspire to be truly happy is what I personally think the American dream is. Happiness should be the motivator rather than solely materialistic objects like the typical definition of the American Dream. Personally, a big house and things of that nature do make me happy but it would be significantly less appealing without family and friends. 

Wealth is also an interesting concept to think about and to define. The first things that pops into my head is economic wealth considering when someone says that they are wealthy they typically mean rich. However wealth has a variety of other meanings such as self-wealth(confidence, assurance, etc.) and social wealth(friends, family etc.). So when thinking about the true definition of wealth, I would say it's a combination of all three types: Economic, self, and social. As far as the most important, I definitely think it's self, social, and then economic even though all three are important. My attitude towards wealth is that a balance should be created between the three, making self and social the most important. Loving yourself and having a strong confidence combined with being surrounded by people that make you happy and uplift you, is  truly a powerful thing as it leads you closer to the "American Dream"--Happiness. 

I definitely feel as though Americans' attitudes towards wealth deal strictly with economic wealth. Whether it's in music or advertisements, people are always influencing others to get more "stuff". The media makes it seem as though the richer you are, the more happy you are. We are constantly being bombarded by images of people in nice cars and giant homes smiling and laughing and looking as if they don't have a care in the world. These images are then ingrained in the minds of the American people as they see this and aspire to be like them. People in these high, influential positions should spread images of other types of wealth so that we Americans can become more well rounded, and self loving individuals. 

Poverty is another issue that is extremely prevalent in American society. To me, it seems as though everyone looks up to those who are wealthy, but seem to ignore those who are in poverty. We are so ready to take away programs such as food stamps, and universal healthcare without coming up with other practical solutions. Not to mention, I find it ironic how we have people in congress who have never been in low poverty situations making decisions about crucial government support programs. It's so easy for people who have never been in those types of situations to say things like "work harder" or "try harder" when they've never been in these predicaments. Also, without solving the key issue of education disparities within low income neighborhoods, poverty will continue to be an ongoing cycle that will become harder and harder to escape. 

The Danger in Translation 

Translations: 

#1:As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

• Lack of punctuation
• Longer sentence with added adjectives
• "As" makes it sound less harsh...eases the reader into what is about to occur
• Use of transformed- gives an image of a complete and drastic change also has positive connotations
• Use of "awoke"- more formal

#2:Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.

• Noun at the front of the sentence introduces character to the audience in an abrupt fashion
• woke/awoke- the use of "woke" makes the mood less uptight and formal
• Use of "changed"- sounds odd to the reader...alters the flow of the sentence
• "bug"- less specific, gets the audience questioning what type of bug. However, it still provides a similar image within the minds of the audience while not being as focused as the first
• bug vs. insect- "bug" has more negative connotations than insect

#3:When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.

• Gregor/Gregory- Gregor sounds like more of a foreign name vs. Gregory which is a typical name in America
• "Troubled"- this has more negative connotations that uneasy
• With the use of  the phrase "he had found" it makes it sound like more of a surprise
• Enormous- provides imagery for the audience

#4:One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

• "One morning"- The beginnings of a fairytale or fable, makes the reader believe the story will begin in a positive manner
• "agitated dreams"- doesn't have the same negative connotations as the rest of the adjectives used to describe the dreams he had
• Use of punctuation- alters the readers pace/more choppy/ overuse of punctuation creates lengthy sentence...more drawn out
• "monstrous"- roots word: monster: negative connotations
• vermin- completely different meaning from the translations above....more of a negative connotation. 
• Intense imagery created

By evaluating each of the translated texts, it is clear that syntax, diction, punctuation, etc, largely impact the meaning as it alters the imagery, and overall tone and mood. There was a complete lack of punctuation in the first three translations which created a steady cadence for the reader, as well as sped up the overall rhythm which ultimately leaves the audience more surprised or caught off guard as a result of finding out that Samsa turned into a bug. In addition, by having no punctuation, there isn't a sense of suspense created which ultimately takes away from the drama of the sentence. Furthermore, word choice played a great part in the creation of meaning which could be shown by evaluating the four texts. Specifically the adjectives used to describe the type of dream Samsa had reveal a lot about tone as well as mood. For example, "uneasy dream" sounds a lot less serious than "troubled dream". The difference then allows the audience to feel more sympathy towards a character who had a "troubled" dream thus impacting the mood and setting a much darker tone 

Personally, I feel as though translation #4 is the most effective as it combines strong word choice, syntax, and imagery. By beginning the sentence with "One morning" and a comma,  it seem as though this story is a mere fairytale or that it will begin in a light and uplifting manor considering all the audience initially reads is this phrase before taking a pause. This irony is one of the reasons that this sentence is the best as it caused the mood to be abruptly shifted from hopeful and optimistic to surprised and disgusted. Word choice was also key in this sentence as the use of the phrase "monstrous vermin" created the most foul image within the audience's minds in relation to the other sentences. While there is a slight change in meaning from insect or bug to vermin, I think that vermin holds a lot more negative connotations than the other two nouns used which helps to add to the repulsive nature of the text. 

When reading each translated sentence, there are definitely dangers in translation as the overall message might have been similar in all four, but the tone and mood is drastically different. Specifically speaking, text 2 is immensely different from text 4, as 2 seems a lot more lighthearted considering the character only had "uneasy" dreams and turned into a "giant bug" versus "troubled dreams" and "monstrous vermin" which have a lot more negative and dark connotations. These differences are substantial and blatantly show the dangers of translation and how the perspective of the translator can greatly impact the the end result and how this end result is perceived from varying audiences.