18
Domestic three values above other conflicting values in the sprawl debate is an excellent example of the process that must also occur when dealing with the American Dream. In the end, not all of the American values can be equally reflected in the Dream. Rather, the Dream of each generation will be determined by the values that that generation prioritizes above all others. Different generations produce different dreams, prioritizing their values in a way that reflects not only their moral and ethical beliefs but also the technology and economic circumstances of the time. To understand the rapid decentralization of American cities beginning in the 1920s, one must look at the underlying values and technologies that led Americans to first flock to, and then fly from, the cities. Douglas Rae examines this question in his book City: Urbanism and Its End and concludes that between 1840 and 1920 technological and economic circumstances aligned to produce the ideal environment for the growth of cities.³ The agricultural revolution and development of national markets made the existence of new, large cities possible, just as steam-driven manufacturing and a rush of immigration provided fuel for urban growth. Even more significant was a “critical timing gap between the maturation of the rail system (which centralized cities) and the coming automotive and truck transportation (which decentralized them).”4 Americans had every economic and technological incentive to go to the cities and did not yet possess a feasible way to leave the cities while still taking advantage of city facilities and employment. The core values of this period of urbanism conformed to the circumstances described, emphasizing tight-knit, urban communities and socio-economic mobility within those communities. Rae recounts the story of Joe Perfetto, an elderly business owner in New Haven, Connecticut, as an example of how a creative and hardworking youth could succeed in the age of urbanism. The following is an account from Perfetto himself, detailing the events after he quit his first job and decided to work for himself: “I went down to a friend of m-
PUBLIUS ine…He took me over to Commerce Street, to a print shop there, and we had some name cards made up. Monday morning, I went out, passed out some of those cards, telling people I was working for myself now, and if they could use me I’d appreciate it. Would you believe I made $113 the first week working for myself? I didn’t have anything but a tool bag, not a ribbon to sell, not anything.”
dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to a rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight.”
Perfetto’s account parallels with one of a longstanding interpretation of the American Dream: rags-to-riches. The “rags-to-riches” dream focuses not just on “riches” but also on the idea that a person who comes from nothing can build a successful life with hard work, perseverance, and self-reliance. Joe Perfetto followed this Dream, and the potential opportunity to do the same was more than enough to draw millions of immigrants and Americans to the booming cities. The Dream, following a significant pattern, aligned itself with the technological capacities and economic inclinations of the age. In the 1920s, the foundations for the post-World War II explosion of urban sprawl were laid in new technological developments and cultural changes. Rae identifies the growth of General Motors and the dominance of AC electricity as key factors in making sprawl economically feasible.6 Along with the expansion of the highway system throughout the mid-twentieth century7, these technological developments made sprawl possible; however, it was the cultural changes occurring in the same time period that eventually motivated Americans to take advantage of that possibility. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, written in 1925, provides valuable primary source material in examining American attitudes toward these cultural changes as they occurred. In the following passage, Fitzgerald describes the industrial outskirts of the city, which his narrator must pass through to reach downtown: “This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move
Fitzgerald’s Valley of Ashes is a metaphor for purgatory that conveys his negative perception of the city in the 1920s. To journey into the city is like a descent into hell. Fitzgerald’s narrator, Nick Carraway, considers the tragic events in the novel, which begin with his move to New York City. Nick explains the fact that he and the other characters “possessed some deficiency…which made [them] subtly unadaptable” to the urban lives that they attempted to lead. 9 Fitzgerald’s characters use the city and its outskirts as a setting to lie, cheat, and sin, and at the conclusion of the book, Nick decides that the only way to recover from what has occurred is to return home to the country. Fitzgerald’s message concerning urban life is clear: the city breeds corruption and death, not the American Dream; that dream of “the old island here that flowered once for the Dutch sailors’ eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new world,” is forever lost to the past. Fitzgerald’s writings clearly displayed that for many Americans, their perception of the cities and the American Dream in the 1920s was changing. Some u-
