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Spare Parts By Joshua Davis: An Analysis

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In general, the idea of the American Dream is to achieve prosperity and everlasting success through hard work and dedication. Although this is the norm, many people have their own unique idea of what the American Dream is based on how they were raised and what they believe success is. For one person success could be to live in a mansion, while for others it may be to live in a cardboard box. An example of the general idea is in the novel Spare Parts by Joshua Davis, where four teens are out to chase after the American Dream. While the example in the novel is very general, I have my own vision of what the American Dream is.
My vision of the American Dream is simple. In my vision, I am able to be as independent as I want and am not held back …show more content…

Four boys, named Lorenzo, Christian, Oscar, and Luis, come to the United States (three of them, illegally) in order to try and fulfill their own American Dreams. The American Dream that the boys are chasing is to live in the United States legally and receive the same great opportunities that citizens receive. For the teens trying to achieve their own version of the American Dream, it was “...a lot of hard work, and that appealed to…” (Davis 27) them. Illegally living in the United States caused many problems for three out of four of the teens trying to chase their American Dream. One example of a problem that it caused was when Oscar wanted to enter the military in order to give back for everything the United States had done for him. Oscar was not allowed to enlist in the United State military because “...students who crossed the border illegally were still citizens of their native country and couldn’t join.” (Davis 50). Throughout the entire novel, being illegally in the United States is what held them back from capturing their American Dream.
Both my idea of the American Dream and the boys’ ideas of the American Dream have similarities and differences. The two are comparable because in my vision I don’t want to be held back, just as the boys do not want to be. Although they are comparable on the surface, our circumstances are very different. For me, achieving my vision of the American Dream will be hard work. In contrast, the boys will be forever held back by the fact that they are illegally in the United

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