Push - American Dream or Despair?

                Is the story of Precious in the novel Push by Sapphire an example of the American Dream or is it on of utter and complete despair? While I find myself wanting to say that there is hope for Precious and that perhaps her story does in fact body that dream I just cannot bring myself to overlook the undue hardship Precious had to overcome.  

                The dictionary describes the American Dream as “a life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the U.S.”

It would be silly to claim that Precious ever achieved this and indeed twisted to think that her story could be an interpretation of the American Dream of which all aspire to. Growing up in a violent home, being raped by your parents, being ignored and cast aside by the majority of societal institutions, giving birth to not one but two children of incest, and to top it all off you find out you have HIV after all that. That is not what I would call a happy ending.

                While it is possible to make that argument that her overcoming of illiteracy in spite of all these things is quite inspiring and while they may enable her son to have shot at achieving the American Dream for himself. It is important to remember that this is no sure thing especially when you consider that if he were to placed into the custody of Precious’ mother or grandmother thereby becoming stuck in the same vicious cycle Precious was subject to. However, this does not make her the embodiment of the American Dream. While part of the dream is to overcome personal strife there is also a financial element of which she has never achieved. To give an example, Carnegie who came to this country a pauper with only the shirt on his back and through hard work, perhaps a fair amount of luck as well, was able to become a billionaire and an icon of his day. Precious and Carnegie both overcame their personal troubles to varying degrees however although no fault of Precious’, she will never achieve her potential. During this time in the AIDs epidemic patients were not living long like they do today, she will most likely struggle to keep herself and her son afloat before she will succumb to her disease and leaving her son to either foster care or thrusting back into the viscous cycle of abuse perpetrated by her family.