An "American Dream" is something that many people want to accomplish when they come to America for the first time or just when they live here. Someone that has an American Dream can mean that they want freedom, equal rights, a better life, happiness, or overcome poverty. Ruth from The Color of Water by James McBride and Chino from Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quinonez both had a dream. That dream was to give both of their families a better life and to do something better with their lives. Many people have an American dream but only few people succeed with there dream like Ruth and Chino.
In "The Color of Water" by James McBride Ruth struggled through many things Ruth came from Poland with her Jewish family to America. Ruth's family was in seek of a new life but Ruth wanted to make her own life. She wanted to become someone new and escape her familys traditions and rituals. "My real name is Rachel, which in Yiddish is Ruckla, but I used the name Ruth around white folks because it didn't sound to Jewish." [Page 80] Ruth changed her name because she wanted to be accepted to this new world that she had no idea of. She didn't want anyone knowing that she was Jewish. But little did she know that it wasnt going to be that easy. As Ruth made her new life she married twice to two African Americans and had twelve kids. As her kids grew Ruth had many expectations towards them, she wanted them to graduate college and have a better life then she did. Ruth had so many expectations for her kids because she never had the chance to finish school because of her selfish dad who only wanted her to take care of her sick mother and the store they owned.
Ruth never told her kids that she was Jewish or about her family she didnt want them to know she would always ignore the question when her kids would ask her if she was white. Ruth would always tell them mind your business especially to James her 8th child he was always curious and determine to know. That affected her in many ways because even though Ruth left her family to have a better life she still felt lonely and was hungry for love but she was afraid to show it and open up to someone to let them know about her past. You would never trap a bird that flies. Ruth used to sit in a little rocking chair in her room upstairs and watch the birds. [Page 218] This was Ruth way of saying she wish she can be the birds. The birds symbolize a sense of life, freedom and a direction to somewhere in life. Ruth was trapped without love, hope and happiness after her husbands died. Instead she was left with sorrow and pain and the only thing that mattered to her was to raise her twelve children and lead them to a better life.
Ruth struggled a lot not just because she was poor and had twelve children to feed with only some food that she would take from her job to give them. There was also a lot of racism going on in that time period. People looked at her weird and wrong because her kids were dark skin and she was white. But that didnt stop her from pursuing what she wanted the most in her life. They grew up privileged, not deprived because they had mothers, fathers, grandparents, neighbors, church, and a family a system that protected, sheltered and raised them. [Page 264] Ruth stated this because the Caucasians at that time had many opportunities and a stable childhood growing up. Things where handed down to them as oppose to the lifestyle that Ruths kids had as a child or as they grew up. Ruth believed that if the whites kids can then why her kids cant be as successful as them. She wanted everyone to know that her kids were going to be just like the white ones. Ruth never gave up because she had Jesus and as she grew older she got what she wanted all her kids graduated college with a degree and a stable job. Ruth struggled through her whole life to get her kids and her to where theyre now. She never gave up on her American Dream to be free, with a better life for her and her kids, and for over coming poverty.
The book Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quionez Chino is a Puerto Rican boy who grew up and lives in Spanish Harlem with his Christian wife Blanca whos pregnant. Chino and Blanca are struggling because theyre poor and dont have much money to pay for there college classes and for the babys expenses when it arrives. Chino was devasted because he knew that Latin people at that time were considered with no culture, no smart people or no good jobs. Chino wanted to prove to everyone that just because he was Hispanic didnt mean that he couldnt have a good job and support his family that was his dream. But Chinos best friend Sapo introduces Chino to Bodega a man that is the second biggest slumlord after the City of New York. He runs centers with his left hand and sells crack with his right. And he has a dream a revolution ready, college-educated professional Latino class in El Barrio. In exchange for loyalty, he uses drug money to subsidize low income housing, education and start-up funds for fruit stands. Bodega eventually tries to recruit Chino into his illegal ways of getting money. "It's about upward mobility," Bodega's right hand man tells Chino. The temptation is hard to resist. Why not us?" Chino asks himself. "If these dreams...take off, El Barrio would burn like a roman candle, bright and proud." [Page 95] Chino is trapped between two walls because he knows that Bodegas offer will get him all the money he needs and will be able to pay for Blancas and his college classes and also take care of the baby. But he knows that Blanca wont approve of this and he knows its wrong. Chino is confused he doesnt know if this is the way he wants to achieve his dream.
As the story goes on Chino struggles with keeping up with Blanca and doing whats right even though Bodega is always asking him to do favors for him. When Bodega is killed at the end of the book Chino realizes that he doesnt need Bodega or any of his little tricks to get where he wants to be. "Although most of [the Futurists] were, like their leader, Marinetti, from upper-middle-class backgrounds and not from the slums like myself, I liked them because I could relate to their anger. I realized by reinventing culture, they were reinventing themselves. I wanted to reinvent myself too. I no longer wanted the world to be just my neighborhood anymore." [Page 215] Chino wants to reinvent himself he wants a new life that involves his wife Blanca and the baby he doesnt want to associate with thee streets and doing illegal things. Chino wants a better future for his family but he knows that the only way it will feel right is by doing it the right way. At the end of the book Chino learns whats right from wrong he learned that even though Bodega had so much money and so much power at the end it didnt matter because all his dreams were crushed. Chino had many dreams but he had already accomplished one and that was learning who he was but his biggest dream was finding a way to make Spanish Harlem a better neighborhood for the people in it and his family.
Both of these characters in these stories struggled through many things but they never gave up and for those struggles theyre where they at. Ruth and Chino were both strong characters that had American Dreams.
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