Amelia Rogers Assignment 1

            A theme found in the poem, “Inventing My Parents” by Susan Ludvigson is that the American Dream is seemingly good, but the façade of the ideal is disguising the flaws underneath. The poem focuses on the couple that is seemingly living the “American Dream,” out late at night, talking and laughing, where they seem to be safe and happy. However, this happiness and security is a thin veil over the war, a very present danger that could take their American dream away. Ludvigson uses the couple in her poem to represent the American dream, seemingly good on the surface, but a flawed pursuit underneath, because it could be gone at almost any time.

            Ludvigson heightens this theme with the allusion to writer Kay Boyle, whom the couple is discussing in the café. Boyle was an American political writer and social activist. She seemed to be a model of the American dream, someone who successfully pursued her creative talent, and was a champion of free speech and equal rights. However, during the early 1950s red scare, Boyle was removed from her position at The New Yorker, ostracized for her political views, and blacklisted by most major magazines. Her ability to pursue the American dream was taken away from her by the very system that should have upheld it.

            By alluding to Kay Boyle, Ludvigson deepens the meaning of her poem, connecting her picture of a flawed American ideal to a perfect example of such flaws. Even with the short name drop, this allusion helps Ludvigson convey the theme of disillusionment with the American Dream.