NCwall3reflection

Wall 3 Reflection and References

Are we capable of change? Alexis De Tocqueville questions not only our ability to change, but whether or not we will ever be able to maintain the right mindset to want to instill change. De Tocqueville generalizes Americans by their oblivion and complacency- that they are too satisfied with the superficial sense of equality and opportunity in America. He says that Americans don’t want to take a risk to make a fundamental change, either. But how about those who don’t have that sense of American opportunity and equality, those who ARE willing to take that risk? The poverty-stricken Americans are the ones who can instigate a fundamental change in our society, as evidenced by the migrant community in John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath.” The Joads and their fellow migrants take the risk of leaving their homes in the deep south to travel to the state of opportunity- California. The migrants defy De Tocqueville’s expectations, and transition of individually oriented to community oriented as a result of their fundamental change, inspiring the makers of change in future generations.

Steinbeck, John. //The The Grapes of Wrath//. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Tocqueville, Alexis de. //Democracy in America.// Edited by J. P. Mayer, translated by George Lawrence. Garden City, N.Y.: HarperPerennial, 1969.

Wall 1: Puritanism Wall 2: Individual expression in nature Wall 3: The foundation's transition to becoming community oriented Wall 4: The American Future: where dreams may or may not come true