Book Summary: Scratch Beginnings



Book Summary: Scratch Beginnings

Introduction

In the book “Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream”, the author Adam Shepard, narrated his experience of one year long project. Shepherd, after finishing his college took $25, a sleeping bag and some clothes and went out in the country to discover that is it possible for a young homeless person in America to find the American dream or not. The story remains very captivating for the readers, as the author has narrated his own success story, instead of relying on some piece of fiction. This paper briefly summarizes the book.

Summary

“Scratch beginning” is a non-fiction novel, based on the famous American dream. The title of the book itself is very interesting as it sums up the entire story, by using few words. Adam Shepard wanted to figure out that whether or not it was possible for a young and homeless American man to find the American dream. Adam actually wanted to prove the argument made by Barbara Ehrenreich, who stated that only government intervention could improve the life style of poor. The book highlights the difficulties involved in living a life of low socio-economic level. Generally, it was believed that American dream only existed in imagination of the people, through this novel; Shepard gave a chance to the readers to be in shoes of someone who was in search of this dream. The book narrates journey of the author during which he attempted to transform from a very ordinary man to financially stable. In addition to his own experience and journey, Adam has also included stories of other people whom he met during the journey.

Interestingly, in true search of American dream, Adam imposed several conditions on himself at the start of project. He decided that he would not beg for money, nor would he borrow or credit; he would not be involved in any illegal activity; he would not sleep in the street; he would not use any previous friend or contact for assistance during the project; he would not rely on any agenda; and the most crucial one was that he would not use his education or the university degree for finding any employment. It is to be noted that Adam has already completed his degree in business management and Spanish form Merrimack College. These conditions actually make the story more interesting and the task of achieving American dream much more difficult for Adam. For example, if he would have used his college degree for searching a white collar job, it would have been much easier for him to achieve his set goals. However, the conditions make the project more real, as American dream is meant for an ordinary man who does not have any resources; in short, a person has to start from scratch.

Adam was frustrated with the general sense of entitlement found in his generation and with the worse conditions of people who belonged from the working ...