Synthesis Paper Rough Draft

How a story ends itself can make or break a story. Many people, especially Americans, will overlook the majority of the story if the resolution results in a negative fashion. Now questions of why Americans are obsessed with happy endings began to arise. There may be no sure answer why, but a series of past events and mindsets could contribute to the preoccupation. Those past events and mindsets could range from the Revolutionary War to the famous American Dream.
The Revolutionary War was one of the most influential events in American history. Our founding fathers and ancestors rose up together in one voice and decided to secede from the British Empire. Now at the time the British Empire was the premier power of its day. Its culture and technology were vast and superior to almost every country it had encountered on the globe. No empire had ever reached the size or power the British Empire had managed to acquire; in fact, it was said that, “His Majesty's dominions, on which the sun never sets” to demonstrate how large that empire was (John Wilson). In Layman’s terms, “The sun never sets on the British Empire” (John Wilson). Yet even though Britain had all the resources of thirty million square miles of land and one fourth of world’s population, America still had the courage to fight against it. Then once America gained its independence from the empire, it solidified the American sense of patriotism and stubborn defense of the American way of life. That defense would not let Europeans interfere with what Americans believed to be right and repelled them from the western hemisphere. Free from European cultural influences, America could begin to form its own culture. This newfound freedom would be the stepping stones for other events that would shape the Land of the Free.
Now skip one hundred and sixty years into the future into the mid 1930’s America stricken by the Great Depression. Imagine yourself standing among a shanty town that has risen out of Central Park in New York City that has turned it into an eyesore. The homes, if they can be called homes, are little more than scrapes of left over materials of tin and wood that provide minimal protection against the cold. You note that filth and disease run rampant throughout as you venture deeper into the makeshift town. Also, the shanty town looks deserted and devoid of life when you finally reach what you think to be the center of this town, but then you hear it, a the sound of a radio being drowned out by a chorus of laughter. As you approach the noise, you ask yourself, “What could these people possibly being laughing at occupying while in this poverty?” Finally, you reach a group of people crowded along a radio roaring with laughter over CBS’s radio personality, Joe Penner. That was a scene common throughout America as the Depression drew on. Entertainment began to reflect on America’s need to escape from the cold hard reality. For example, The Wizard of Oz is a key example of the positive role Hollywood began to undertake. The Wizard of Oz provided escapism by providing a magical world that made the viewer forget the poverty and the tension at home. In addition, The Wizard of Oz contained that all important happy ending that would later be adopted by a majority of modern films. Another great film from the Great Depression as was Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was phenomenon that radically changed the idea that cartoons could become movies, but more importantly it would be the first of a long series of movies by Walt that would end in a positive manner. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was resolved when the prince awakened Snow White from her poisoned induced slumber by kissing her and they ended with getting married and all ending well. It would help influence certain fades in future films, such as the protagonist repeatedly defeating the antagonist and always finding some kind of love. In short, motion picture films that were born from the bleak and gloom of the Great Depression would pass on its optimism onto to its future predecessors.
This country has a rich and proud history, but it has the unique and vital social views and perspectives that make happy endings an American obsession. The American Dream is an essential part in what America is, yet it is hard to define what the Dream really is. However, we know it be real because immigrants come to America from all corners of the world upon hearing rumors of the American Dream, and how the poor rose from rags to the upper echelons of the wealthy. They hear the tales of how men like John Rockefeller, who was the world’s first billionaire, and how Andrew Carnegie earned one hundred and twenty billion dollars. After hearing these stories, they rightly believed they could come to America and create a better life for their families. This is what makes America so great is that a person could be down and out of luck, but still have the opportunity get back up to find that happy ending. To put all that together, the American Dream is the opportunity to work through the ranks in order to achieve a comfortable life style that does not have to extravagant, but is very fair when compared to other parts of the world. Another factor in American’s obsession with happy endings is the “Can Do” attitude that enables the American society, despite its flaws, to accomplish some truly amazing feats. The space race between the Soviet Union and United States of America is a great example of this. Much of the resources and great scientific minds of both countries were devoted to conquering the great unknown of space. When the American public was watching the Apollo Mission they did not know how the mission would end, but they knew that the mission would be a success. It is those combinations of American perspectives that make them so preoccupied with a fair resolution. They could not imagine putting in the work and effort, only to have it crash down on top of them. No, they would not believe that no matter how the odds are stacked against.
Another interesting spigot that reveals the American obsession has taken place in the present during this years Winter Olympics. Now with advances in technology that allow information, such as the results of Olympic events that take place hours before they televised, to be sent instantly across the world. That was a major reason why this years ratings on NBC was so popular because viewers could watch their country compete knowing that their country will end up taking gold home. NPR’s Frank DeFord believed that American’s really did prefer this and had this to say about it, “What was so revealing about this [ratings] victory [over American Idol] was that the feature attraction was Lindsey Vonn’s victory in the downhill — which, of course, had happened hours beforehand and was thus, in this Internet world, already known to most viewers. Evidently, we would now rather revel in an assured triumph than suffer through a live competition with a problematic outcomePerhaps this suggests that at this time when there is so little good news in America, when we do not enjoy the everyday success we used to rather expect, when we are so at loggerheads as a people, that there is something comforting about us coming together to watch a beautiful young woman, struggling with injury, secure in our knowledge that she will raise Old Glory on high” (mediate.com). American’s might like this form of viewing the Olympics because it ensures that agony of defeat is not experienced after watching their country’s athlete endure a loss. Instead, the viewers can skip forward to the bliss of watching how their athlete won his or hers gold medal with the guarantee that the agony of loss will not be experienced. That skip forward is also pleasing to Americans because they live in a society where their needs and wants can be fulfilled almost instantly with little or no effort. Yet this is not so for all of the citizens of America, as most know, America is in a recession where news of companies cutting employees and services are common place. The lovely media, only reporting on the worse of the worse, makes Americans believe that world is full of negativity and the simple security of hearing some good news is extremely gratifying.
American is preoccupied with their happy resolutions for a number of reasons that involve the American Revolutionary War to the bleak and hopeless Great Depression. The ends Americans will go to ensure a fairy tale ending is proof alone that they need a story to end happily, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, one must experience a failure or unhappy ending to avoid being entirely ignorant what happens in the real world. Not everything ends will and people need to accept that fact, but that doesn’t necessarily mean to given in. It means that people should try harder and put forth more effort to insure the security of their happy ending because everything eventually comes to an end, whether it wants to or not.