What American Dream?

There were many stories in the film we've been watching in class, but the one that affected me most was definitely Tammy's story. It was devastating! She'd grown up in a completely different world than the one we (those of us in the Stevenson bubble) are used to. She had twenty-one siblings! And now she lives in a trailer with her children in the middle of nowhere. Her life has not changed since she was a child - it's a cycle and it seems that she'll never be able to get out. Like Sal said, most of us would love to get the chance to talk to her and "fix" her, but where would we start? I thought about this quite a lot and couldn't come up with an answer. Tammy is willing to work: she walks ten miles to her job everyday! So she has the will. She has no car or means of transportation. She literally lives in the middle of a field. That way of living will be ingrained into her children as well. One of her sons wants to go to college and move up in society, but even then she was calling him "preppy" and saying that "he thinks he's better than [them]". All that does is make her son feel bad about wanting to improve his lifestyle. Her other son seemed more than happy to sit in front of the television all day and do nothing. So there's really nowhere to start with improvements. She literally can't get a job to raise her above poverty level. She has no opportunities. She is trying her very best and is barely keeping her head above water. What does this say about America? A parent can't provide for their family and is forced to live in the conditions Tammy and her family live in - it's sickening! People in the suburbs (like Stevenson) are worried about getting the latest gadgets and Tammy's worried about what she can afford for the next meal. The extremities in America really make it a two-class system! The rich are getting richer and the poor and getting poorer and the middle-class is virtually non-existent. But as much as this bothers people, if you honestly stop to think about it, what can we do?