At first glance, Banksy’s stencil looks morbid and discouraging. Some would think that he is urging his audience to stop chasing their dreams. There was a lot of backlash when this street art popped up in Chinatown, Boston in 2010. However, upon further inspection, a different meaning can be divulged.

Before beginning this piece, Banksy white washed the wall; in order to provide a contrast to the dirty gray he used to portray the man. The man is dressed as if he is lower class, living during the great depression era, which serves as a comparison of the modern economic situation to that of the 1930’s. Although the grunt worker is simply the messenger, the fact that it is he, is disturbing. He is working to cancel other’s dreams, as he himself is not living his dream. He is obviously unhappy, so why does he continue living his life this way? I believe he has become resigned; he is just doing what is expected of him at this point.

Banksy is sending a message to the American public about the so-called “American Dream.” As children, we are commonly told to “Follow Our Dreams.” But in today’s society, it seems as though the American Dream has died. We are met by so many obstacles, which prevent us from following our dreams. Let’s be honest, what is the likelihood of a child born in the lowest economic class to climb the economic ladder of success? I would love for the answer to be “if a person works hard, they can achieve anything they put their mind to.” But that is simply not true. As stated by Huffington Post, a child born in the bottom fifth of the income ladder has a 4.5% chance of moving to the top fifth of the ladder. It was formerly believed that America was the land of equal opportunity. Although this is what we hope for, in reality, some children will not have the opportunities that are given to that of children in a stable economic household.

Banksy’s use of red paint for the stamp-like “cancelled” portion of the stencil, suggests the announcement is due to a forceful authoritative act. In this way, Banksy could be commenting on the political situation in America. His deep-rooted dislike of authority is apparent throughout all of his work. After all, the medium he chooses to convey his ideas with, graffiti, is illegal.

I believe this stencil of Banksy’s is a call to action, a call to continue fighting for change. It is so forcefully engrained in our heads that America is the land of the free. But sometimes, we forget that there are areas of our own human nature and society that still need work. We need to continue working in order to keep America the land of the free. This message becomes obvious to us only after Banksy points it out. Banksy’s ideas are fundamentally simple, which is why they resonate with so many people. He takes things that we accept blindly as facts and puts them under a spotlight to be observed. He challenges us to ask questions that those in authority may not want us to ask. He is challenging us to think, rather than just simply accept.

Berman, Jillian. “Where The American Dream Is Dead And Buried.” The      Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 14 Sept. 2015.