Christ in Concrete

Embedded throughout the book is the concept of the American dream, which is often espoused by immigrants who dream that their children will be able to climb the American ladder of success and escape the backbreaking labor that they must suffer as first-generation immigrants: “I tell you, son of Geremio shall never lay bricks!” (10). Geremio has high hopes for his son Paul. He wants him to study well and become a great builder—likely an architect. He believes his children will adopt American customs and come to be accepted as Americans in mainstream society, instead of facing the poverty and discrimination that they encountered as first-generation immigrants. As Geremio tells Annunziata: “Our children will dance for us…in the American style someday” (7). Geremio even puts a payment on a house—the fruit of his 20 years of labor—in hopes of providing a permanent home and achieving a core marker of success according to the American ideal. However, with Geremio’s death, this dream comes to a crashing halt. Paul will stubbornly hold onto the idea of the American dream for years to come and tells Louis that he considers America “the best country in the world” (124).