Jeb Brumley Assignment 1

In her poem, "Inventing My Parents," Ludvigson makes allusions to the American Dream. The poem starts out as a description of the author's parents sitting in a cafe discussing how a "war will change them." This shows that people during this time period felt uneasy about how the war would affect them and if it would be of the good. They wanted to believe that the war may actually help them in some way. Then, Ludvigson mentions the "American Dream." The thought of the American Dream gave hope to people like the author's parents that were living through a world in war. As the two continue talking, the sad and somewhat depressing tone reminds us of the constant uncertainty that the world lived through during the war. Ludvigson's poem uses this allusion to drag us through the piece will the many emotions that people all over the world felt during World War II.