De Crèvecœur’s Ideas in Contemporary America

“Go thou, and work, and till; thou shalt prosper, provided thou be just, grateful, and industrious.” Chapter 3: What is an American? P.66

This quote highlights the main ideologies of the American Dream; where by working hard, you will be rewarded and ‘prosper’. This ideal is one of the main attributes to being American as it shows determination and this vision of America still survives today.

My example of this is the ‘rags to riches’ story of Chris Gardner. The term ‘rags to riches’ is the idea of coming from nothing but being able to become successful. Chris Gardner came from an underprivileged African American background which saw him being kicked out of his house at a young age. After joining and leaving the navy, he became a salesman, but was not very successful. He then, through working hard went on to become a broker and entrepreneur, and is now a millionaire.

This example shows that De Crèvecœur’s vision of American still survives today because Chris Gardner worked hard and unpaid for several weeks as an intern. At several points he found himself homeless and slept in shelters, on buses and even in a public toilet. Despite this, he still managed to continue to work hard and eventually got a job as a broker for a prestigious firm.

His story appears to follow everything De Crèvecœur talked about, to a t, as he [Chris Gardner] did indeed become prosperous. In numerous interviews Gardner has mention how he was grateful to the reverend who allowed him to stay at the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church; this is in direct link to when De Crèvecœur says 'be [...] grateful'. Gardner was also the first to arrive at work, the last to leave and was able to make over 200 phone calls a day; this is also in direct link to when De Crèvecœur says 'be [...] industrious'. Through all of these things (eg. being grateful, industrious and working hard), it can be argued that Gardner is a contemporary example of De Crèvecœur's vision of what it means to be an American, and that his idea survives in America today.

His story was immortalised with his 2006 autobiography, 'The Pursuit of Happyness' and then by the film based on the autobiography of the same name in late 2006.

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-rags-to-riches-stories.php