The Disillusion Of American Dream In Social Mobility

Jack London was an outstanding American Naturalist. He created many works in his lifetime. Martin Eden, The Call of the Wild, Love of Life are his famous works. Many scholars have studied on Martin Eden mainly from the perspectives of social-historical criticism and autobiographical novel. Some scholars hold the opinion that Martin Eden is an example of the disillusion of American dream. And other scholars have studied the social mobility of the protagonist. However, there are few scholars who deeply research the relationship between social mobility and the disillusion of American dream of the protagonist.Social mobility was first put forward by American sociologist P. A. Sorokin in his book Social Mobility in 1927. He believes that social mobility is the population exchange between two groups. In broad sense, social mobility refers to the mobility of geographical space and the change of social status. In narrow sense, social mobility refers to the change of occupational status. Adams refers to the notion of American dream in The Epic of America.That is liberty, democracy, equality and success in which the values of success, equal opportunity and freedom encourage American people to realize their social mobility through hard work and also make them realize the contradiction between this ideal pursuit and social reality.Using the concept of social mobility and the relationship between social mobility and the American dream, this thesis reexamines the relationship between social mobility and the disillusion of American dream of the protagonist from the perspective of cultural criticism.And this thesis also discusses the effects of the values of American dream on social mobility,and also explores the contradiction between American dream and social reality. To be more specific, this thesis analyzes the effects of the three values of American dream—success, equal opportunity and freedom—on the occupational, class and spatial mobility of Martin Eden. It is with these values that Eden realizes social mobility. However, he also realizes the disillusion of the American dream and the contradiction between American dream and social reality. And finally leads to the disillusion of his American dream.This thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter mainly analyses the effects of the value of American dream: success on Martin Eden’s occupational mobility, pointing outthat success promotes the upward occupational mobility of the protagonist. However, this value puts much emphasis on material wealth also lets the protagonist feel spiritual emptiness.The second chapter mainly explores the effects of the value of American dream: equal opportunity on class mobility, holding that equal opportunity promotes the upward class mobility of the protagonist, however, he realizes the contradiction between equal opportunity and the inequality of social reality after he realizes class mobility. The third chapter mainly digs up the effects of the American dream: freedom on Eden’s spatial mobility, thinking that freedom promotes the spatial mobility of the protagonist. But after he succeeds in living in city, he realizes that freedom is restricted by social status and material wealth. The collapse of love and metamorphosis of family affection make him feel emotional void.The conclusion points out that with the promotion of American dream, Eden realizes social mobility. But he also fully feels the contradiction between the values of American dream and social reality. And this contradiction is the root cause of the disillusion of American dream. By Martin Eden, Jack London highlights the realistic significance by fully demonstrating the promoting function of American dream on social mobility, and by revealing the disillusion of American dream and the contradiction between American dream and social reality.