The American Dream Theme Analysis

An important part of American ideology, the “American Dream” is the idea that the United States is a uniquely egalitarian society in which opportunity and upward mobility are accessible to anyone who works hard. Barracoon is a story of American society; however, the protagonist Cudjo’s life is largely a story of downward mobility. In telling his narrative, Cudjo emphasizes the abundance and tranquility of his upbringing in West Africa, comparing it to the suffering and instability he experiences as a slave and later a free man in Alabama. While the achievements of his life—founding a town that preserves his native culture, forming a happy marriage, and raising six children—are significant, Cudjo focuses on the impossibility of attaining equality or acceptance within a discriminatory American society, retaining strong emotional ties to Africa and frequently stating his wish to return. His lasting dissatisfaction with America and the downward trajectory he describes are a powerful critique of the American Dream, ultimately arguing that it is an essentially fallacious idea that attempts to justify the dominance of white men through presumptions of equity that, practically speaking, do not exist.

While the American Dream stresses the potential to improve one’s life, Cudjo’s life deteriorates as a result of contact with America. Cudjo nostalgically describes his childhood as taking place within a fairly ideal society. Even though his family is not wealthy (he modestly states that he’s only the son of a second wife), his material and emotional needs are met by the community. As a teenager, he looks forward to being trained as a soldier and getting married. Instead, he’s snatched away from his tribe and taken to America, where he endures years of slavery and a lifetime of racial discrimination—an outcome markedly worse than his expectations as a boy.

It’s important that even after his liberation during the Civil War, Cudjo is not able to access the equality promised to all Americans. Notably, the American Dream often centers around the abundance of land in America and the ability of any individual to become an independent landowner; however, when Cudjo asks the brother of his former owner to give him a piece of land, Tim Meaher dismisses him instantly. His reaction, and the difficulty with which Cudjo and the villagers eventually acquire land, show that these promises apply mainly to white men, whose dream of landownership and wealth often requires slaves to come to fruition.

While Cudjo lives a remarkable life in America, his continuous longing for his homeland shows his strong sense of the limitations he faces in America and argues against the veracity of the “American Dream.” As the founder of a town, sexton of a church, and father of several children, Cudjo is a distinguished member of his community. When Hurston meets him, he takes pride and satisfaction from his garden and the grandchildren who often visit.

However, even in these accomplishments he communicates his desire to return to Africa. He and his comrades only build a town after concluding it’s impossible to go back to Africa; they name their village Africatown, signaling their love for their homeland and reluctance to be absorbed into a society that disenfranchises them. Cudjo gives all his children names in his native language, and is grateful and proud when Hurston addresses him by his original name, Kossula. Throughout his narrative, he constantly describes feeling homesick for Africa. At the end of the book, Hurston asks permission to take Cudjo’s photograph; the elderly man takes off his shoes, saying, “I want to look lak I in Affica, ‘cause dat where I want to be.” This final image aligns Cudjo again with Africa and emphasizes the extent to which American society prevents his assimilation.

Cudjo’s clear dissatisfaction with America and frequent evocations of Africa demonstrate that the American Dream is completely inaccessible to him, and in fact empowers other people at his expense. Rather than taking advantage of America’s theoretical opportunities, Cudjo has to liberate himself from its injustices, which he does by surrounding himself with West African culture as much as possible.