Gish Jen's Novel Typical American A mother drives her three children to soccer practice in a Ford minivan while her husband stays at the office, rushing to finish a report. Meanwhile, a young woman prays that her son will get home from the local grocery store without being cornered by the local gang. Nearby, an immigrant finishes another 14-hour shift at the auto parts factory, trying to provide for his wife and son, struggling to make his way in a new land. Later, a city girl takes a taxi to meet her friends at their favorite club to celebrate her new promotion over the Cosmopolitans. These people – the suburban soccer mom, the tired immigrant, the worried neighborhood mother, and the successful city girl – each represent different realities or fantasies that exist in American society. They are all living or working towards what they believe to be the coveted American dream. Some of these people are similar to the Chinese immigrant, Ralph, in Gish Jen's novel Typical American. However, everyone is confused about what the American dream really is and whether the dream is real or not. Ralph embarks for America without knowing “where or what America is,” but almost immediately upon arriving in the United States he is confronted with the reality of being a Chinese immigrant (Jen 3). Spotting the coast at the end of his journey across the Pacific, Ralph is entranced by the Golden Gate Bridge; “What splendor! That splendor... an image of freedom and hope" (Gen 7). Furthermore, upon his arrival in New York City, Ralph notes that “the idea of ​​the city still shone then…a place that promised to be remembered as an era…He was impressed…even the mundane details of life they were impressive... only he saw these things" (Gen 8). Ralph'... in the center of the paper... many realities that exist in American society and that in most cases do not fit into the typical American dream those people who achieve some success, as Ralph did, are often plagued by personal problems that outweigh any measure of wealth or reputation. The lie of the American dream is that it promises to solve humanity's problems with material gains – it promises happiness from things that they are unable to provide. And so, the followers are all left unsatisfied by the great American dream, left with a reality that is very different from the one that was so easily guaranteed to be the reality that everyone experiences, be it the soccer mom suburbanite or tired immigrant, is that the dream is mostly unattainable. The reality we think exists is just a myth: a true mythological reality. Works Cited Jen, Gish. Typical American. New York: Penguin Group, 1992.