Topic recap sheet n°3 : The American Dream & how to climb the social ladder Content / Documents : Pictures : Freedom from want (N. Rockwell) / Migrant Mother (D. Lange) Audio : the American dream today Info graphics : How Americans set priorities Text : The crooked ladder (a criminal’s guide to social mobility) + Peaky Blinders : crime to climb the social ladder Civilisation / Culture : the American work ethic / social “Darwinism” 2014 SOTU (Mad Men Reference) + Last State of the Union Address (make America great again)
Picture(s) (description & meaning) Description : Woman worried and thoughtful. Deep expression of grief : she’s suffering. She’s got her eyes on the horizon. Meaning : She thinks about her future. Safety/Protection for the children. Strong woman. It evokes war time and deprivation. The photo was shot during the Great Depression. (1936)
Description : It’s a well-off family, they have smiling faces. There is a turkey on the table. Meaning : Thanksgiving dinner. It represents the affluent society. It’s a kind of idealized version of American affluence. The painting is dated 1942 (attack on Pearl Harbor, the US joins the Allied forces and enters WWII)
Graph (description & meaning) This graph shows how to live the American Dream, according to the American population. The top priority for the American is to have personal freedom, with 78% of the votes. Very next comes the fact to provide to your own life and your own aim. There is also the idea of freetime, harmony with nature, and at last, with only 23 %, being rich (cf Wolf of Wall Street with Leonardo’s speech). So the American Dream means having a cozy life for American people, not becoming a “fat cat”. It is surprising that being rich comes only at the end of the top 6, because non-American people, who migrate to America, still see the US as an opportunity to strike gold.
Vocabulary : English
French
English
French
American values The faith The crooked ladder Loan-sharking Hard-work Unemployment
Les valeurs américaines
A moo-moo To migrate The Great Depression Old Glory To defer Like many a young couple Set a standard
Un marcel
Hope / hopeful Religious duty optimistic To be right The fat cats To do away with The aim
Espoir / plein d’espoir
Obama-care (or Affordable Care Act) Welfare Struggle Hardship To Wear black To feel in jeopardy So far To roam
La foi Un ascenseur détourné Prêt à haut taux d’intérêt Travailler dur Le chômage accès à une couverture maladie universelle pour tout américain en faisant la demande Allocation chômage Une lutte Privation Porter le deuil (Se) sentir en danger Jusqu’ici, jusqu’à maintenant Parcourir
Migrer La crise des années 30 Le drapeau américain Repousser (au lendemain) Comme beaucoup de jeunes couples Montrer l’exemple
Un devoir religieux Optimiste Avoir raison Les gros bourges (familier) Se débarasser de Le but
Recent events, historical & cultural references mentioned in the documents: o
Irish migration to the USA because of starvation. (Potato Famine in the 19th century) The US was a land of opportunity, and of abundance.
o
Martin Luther King “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”
o
After the Great Depression, there was an emancipation of all the American citizens Roosevelt Presidency, the New Deal, Four Freedoms beginning of the Civil Rights movement (an American Dream for everyone)
o
the Silicon Valley (Microsoft, Apple, Google,…) : self-made men, who started from scratch.
o
President Obama’s last state of the Union Address (make America great again)
Key expressions (grammar, syntax, translation…) - “From Rags to Riches” - “Gods helps those who help themselves” - “The pursuit of happiness” - “Freedom of speech/worship” / “Freedom from want/fear” - “Social Darwinism” See social inequalities as a natural difference ( “Survival of the fittest” ) - “Life is a struggle of the fittest against the weakest” - “A wolf in sheep’s clothing” Un loup déguisé en agneau - “What happens to a dream deferred?” Qu’arrive-t-il à un rêve remis à plus tard ? - “The American Dream for the average man doesn't exist anymore.” - “It is time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a Mad Men episode” Women are either housewives or secretaries in the series Mad Men “A woman deserves equal pay for equal work” - “Because I believe when women succeed, America succeeds.” Document prepared with great care by :
Mathilde Rabiet, Samuel Froussart, Ophelie Civet, Marie Hardy, Eugenie Gianoncelli, Manon Crecy.
