Abstract

Steve Tesich appears as just one of many contemporary authors who explore cultural practices that make violence, war and cruelty inevitable. The purpose of this essay is to explore the consequences of such cultural practice within Western culture in which the crippling of human potentials goes on and on unchecked and to examine if it is possible for Western culture to return to the teaching of Socrates and Pelagius - the teaching based on complete self-knowledge and the belief in and affirmation of the goodness of man. The question posed by all the authors I examine is whether it is possible for one to realize his or her American Dream and, at the same time, remain loyal to one's inner self