THE CONTINUOUS DAWN OF THE AMERICAN DREAM
THE CONTINUOUS DAWN OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

Summary/Abstract: The present paper aims at highlighting the evolution of the syntagm "The American Dream" in the American national mentality, from a historical point of view with all its changes. In an interdisciplinary approach, we correlate the cultural and political studies with the linguistic studies and try to prove that the American Dream never changed its content, despite the promoted ideology behind the expression. Even if the ideological content correlates to democratic values, the American dream may sometimes appear as utopic as any political ideology. Trying to find a reason for the persistence of the metaphor in discourses, we go toward the therapeutic metaphor and propose the concept of national therapeutic metaphor, with two main roles: prevention and healing of collective mentality.

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