What's a holistic theme that can connect "The Great Figure" by William Carlos Williams and its corresponding "The Figure 5 in Gold" painting by...

These works all comment on the viability of the American Dream--the idea that anyone in America can achieve success through effort alone. "The Great Figure" by William Carlos Williams and the corresponding painting, "The Figure 5 in Gold" by Demuth, paint a bold and exciting view of America as a land of promise and progress, as the figure 5 William Carlos Williams sees painted on the side of the truck is bold and shines out...

These works all comment on the viability of the American Dream--the idea that anyone in America can achieve success through effort alone. "The Great Figure" by William Carlos Williams and the corresponding painting, "The Figure 5 in Gold" by Demuth, paint a bold and exciting view of America as a land of promise and progress, as the figure 5 William Carlos Williams sees painted on the side of the truck is bold and shines out like a beacon of progress in the rain. 

On the other hand, The Great Gatsby, The Invisible Man, and FDR's First Inaugural Address are all commentaries on the inability of people to achieve the American Dream. Gatsby constructs an opulent house and wants to marry Daisy, who is from the upper class; however, he dies friendless and without Daisy. In The Invisible Man, the unnamed narrator faces racism and realizes the futility of the Brotherhood (a socialist or communist group) in helping the African-American community. FDR gave his First Inaugural Address in the midst of the Great Depression, when the American economy seemed on the brink of collapse. These works, literary and historic, comment on the way in which the promise of the American Dream is at times illusory.