What is the
dream? If we try to answer this question in no connection to any particular
person, we will encounter an insuperable problem. Everything is likely to have a
definition, but evidently the definiton of this term differs from one person to
another. Our dreams cannot but express our personality. In one way or another they
reflect our background, character, family upbringing, education, social status.
Against a background of the incompatible differences 'dreams' have
definitely one thing in common: lack for
something. We dream of something we don't have, but we want to.
In 'Letter to my son' Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates, an
american writer journalist, and educator, discloses
his dream:
It is
perfect houses with nice lawns. It is Memorial Day cookouts, block
associations,and driveways. The Dream is tree houses and the Cub Scouts. And
for so long I have wanted to escape into the Dream, to fold my country over my
head like a blanket. But this has never been an option, because the Dream rests
on our backs, the bedding made from our bodies. (Coates)
Earlier
I mentioned that a dream can say pretty much about a person this dream belongs to.
What does Coates's dream reveal? It is not likely to characterise a Ta-Nehisi
as an individual, but it reveals again one of the most problematic
issues-racism. The symbol of 'black and white bodies' goes through the whole
piece of writing. The author dreams of enjoying normal and ordinary things of
everyday life but in 'another body', in
'a white body'.
The 'dream' of Ta-Nehisi
Paul Coates reminds me of Martin Luther King's speech ''A Have a Dream'', made
54 years ago.For such a long period of time African
Americans
were denied equality and suffered hatred because of the color of their skin. The
presidency of Barack Obama in the USA serves as a significant index of the
progress made toward a more equal and fair society without discrimination since
1944. But
numerous cases of police arbitrariness towards black Americans, that served one
of the reasons of writing ''Letter to my son'', show that our society is far
from destroying racist views in our minds. And afterhalf a century African
Americans still continue to dream of racial justice, freedom, equality.
In spite of the fact that officially everyone
gets access to
the 'dream' independent on skin color or other physical or mental features, in
reality black Americans regularly encounter racial unjustice that proves that
the 'dream' is not applicable to African Americans to full extent. The dramatic
conclusion and a piece of advice that Ta-Nehisi gives to his son: except the things
as they are and try to live with that prove the lack of equal treatment,
justice, lack of 'access to the dream'.
