discuss the american dream its tenuous nature and how families sacrifice to achieve it during the gilded age in my antonia

Unlike what we'd imagine, the American Dream, as visualized in this novel in not what we would expect. Cather's character's aren't looking for fortune or materialistic possessions; they're looking to be succesful and comfortable. The dream of happy marriages and homes filled with children. Throughout the novel, Cather portrays what can happen when poor choices are made; she shows the destruction that sometimes occurs in repsonse to bad decisions. In My Antonia, the American Dream is filled with memories of what did or could have happened.