House Of Earth, By Woody Guthrie And The Jungle By Upton...

House of Earth, by Woody Guthrie and The Jungle by Upton Sinclair have a powerful view of the United States’ claim for freedom. Guthrie and Sinclair present different situations because the works were written in different time periods, but the similarities between the characters, conditions and consequences of living in the United States are significant. In these novels, the main characters experience different journeys, but they endure the hope and disappointment that leads them to recognize that their dreams, which the stereotype of the American dream has shaped, are unreachable because of systemic restrictions. Guthrie and Sinclair use their works to show us that the United States lacks the freedom it claims to have by presenting Tike†¦show more content†¦They were no more than hardworking renters, now. That was the lowest Tike had ever been but he had not reached the rock bottom of the farming industry, so the hope of owning land was still there. Therefore, when a government brochure, for the farming population, presented the idea of a safe, sanitary, and inexpensive house of earth, the dream of building this house was formed. The house of earth brochure included instructions on how to build it and the fact that it was â€Å"free material. Just take a lot of labor an’ backbendin’† (13) was an advantage for Tike because of his background as a working man. But that dream was taken away from Tike when he went to the bank to renew his lease and was denied. Tike told Ella May, â€Å"He said that the only way he’d let us live on it was, ahh, on the shares† (66). Sharecropping was the lowest of lows to Tike. He prided himself on being a hardworking man and making a living. However, sharecropping became lower than rock bottom because Ella May grew up being wealthy and Tike wanted to give her everything he could. At this point in his life, the freedom that this country claims to have was never something Tike was able to experience, and he felt guilty that he was preventing Ella May from ever experiencing it again. However, Ella May was the voice of hope and the voice of reality. At the end of the book, her true spirit comes