A rags to riches story

When reading through the materials and thinking about rags to riches narratives, I had to explore this one. The film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) is certainly a tale of rags to riches, and also a narrative, perhaps a warning, of the evils of excess.

This story centers around Charlie Bucket, a boy who lives at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. He is being raised by a single mother, his home is falling apart, they are food insecure, and they have elders in the home to care for. Charlie walks by the Wonka factory every day, dreaming about what must be going on inside.

Wonka creates a massive demand for his bars by hiding 5 golden tickets in bars around the world. The promise is an experience and prize beyond their wildest dreams if they are the lucky winner. Winning would mean fame and a rise in status. The first 4 winners do so from the efforts of their parents who want them to win. They are upper-middle and upper-class families who have the income to support the purchase of a massive amount of candy. Their children are coddled, spoiled, gluttonous, and disrespectful...and yet they still go to great lengths to make them happy under the premise of wanting them to have a better life than they did.

Charlie's story is only different in where he comes from. His mother still wants the best for him. In this song for him, she's using powerful imagery surrounding the American Dream. She states "the world is still your toy" and "look up Charlie, you'll see a star. Just follow it and keep your dream in view." Charlie has a newspaper route to help his family. He works hard and yearns for the life he sees that others have around him. This is evident in the scene where he walks by the candy shop and watches all the other kids having fun inside.

Once at the factory, Mr. Wonka sets out to find the person he deems worthy to win his ultimate prize. The kids are eliminated one by one due to their greed. Though Charlie and Grandpa Joe breaks the rules, they can find a solution and help themselves. (Ingenuity leads to success). Mr. Wonka starts to throw them out even though Charlie is the last child left. After an argument, Charlie makes the decision to be honest and return the "everlasting gobstopper" instead of giving it to the competition. This honesty changes Mr. Wonka's heart and he gives Charlie the factory (Honesty and being a good person leads to success.)

Beyond being a rag to riches story, this film highlights morality. In the time of sex. drugs, and rock&roll this movie shows the dangers of "sin". Clearly depicted in the winning children are sloth, greed, gluttony, and pride. Though it is portrayed comedically, the "how to be a better person" lesson is there. The Oompa Loompa songs articulate the lessons.

Three Lives by Gertrude Stein – Novel

Three Lives by Gertrude Stein – Novel

“Three lives” is a novel written by Gertrude Stein and it talks about three separate stories, which are focused on three working class women and the story takes place in the fictional city of Bridgepoint. The novel contains in three different parts, it talks about the three women lives and how are those lives are different from one another. The first part of the novel, it is about a German girl named Anna “The Good Anna”, which describes her life as working women that came to America with her mother, who eventually dies of tuberculosis. Anna’s life goal is to help other; she is a hard-working housekeeper, is a good friend and very generous. Anna worked herself out until she dies during an operation. The second part of the novel named “Melanctha”, is about the life of a young black women who was born to mixed-race parents.  Melanctha is a very beautiful girl and well-educated as well. She was raised with violence and was abused when she was a child by her own father. Melanctha fails to find the happiness she always looked for and she fails to create a life she always dreamed about, and all this was as a consequence of her mental illness – depression from the traumas she had since a child. Eventually Melanctha dies alone from depression and tuberculosis. The third part of the novel, “The Gentle Lena”, describes the life of another German girl who came as an immigrant in America with her family when she was a child. Just like Anna, Lena also worked as a housekeeper. She always dreamed of a love marriage, but instead she was forced to marry a man against her will. Lena gives birth to three children, but still she was unhappy. Unfortunately, Lena dies while giving birth to her fourth child.

As reading this novel, I could see how American dream had different point of views from the three girls. Each one of them had different aspects of the American Dream. The concept of American dream comes as a belief that anyone, despite their class, nationality can be successful in a society where everything could be possible for anyone. It is seen as something easy, but instead the American dream is reached through hard work, sacrifice, chance but sometimes it just can’t be reached at all. The three working women came to America with the idea of a better life, with the idea to reach the American dream, each one of them with different perspectives and ideas. I can see how class has a great impact on your life. The three working women has been through a lot of things, such as working hard did not get them to reach the dream. Anna was happy, was working hard to help other and to see the American ream, even thought it was really hard to do so, until she dies. Melanctha is shown in the novel with complex racial, gender, sexual constructs and leaves room for interpretation, and her condition took her to death. Lastly, Lena the immigrant German that came to America to reach the dream, she turns out to see the American Dream as a personal nightmare that leads her to her death at the end.

As a knew knowledge and from another point of view I see that being a working class and being a women is hard to reach the American Dream and all these elements from class, gender, race impact the journey to reach the American dream, which can be seen differently from anyone’s perspective and can have different consequences and outcomes. My parents and I came to America five years ago with the idea of we were going to live the American Dream, but little did we know what we were going to face. Every one of us had to work super hard for us to be able to survive and then to start and build a live. And I know it is not easy, especially from the class you come from, the nationality and what identity you have.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Lives_(book)#"The_Good_Anna"