Jane Eseosa OSARUMWENSE

This study examines the representation of social class and the American Dream in Richard Wright's Native Son (1940) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah (2013). The research analyzes how both authors critique the accessibility of the American Dream for marginalized communities across different historical periods. Through comparative literary analysis, this study explores how Wright's portrayal of Bigger Thomas in Depression-era Chicago and Adichie's depiction of Ifemelu's contemporary immigrant experience reveal persistent class-based barriers to social mobility in American society.Despite being written over seventy years apart, both novels demonstrate a striking continuity in how economic inequality shapes individual destinies in America. Wright's unflinching examination of systemic racism and poverty in 1930s Chicago finds unexpected resonance in Adichie's nuanced portrayal of a Nigerian immigrant navigating contemporary American class structures. While Ifemelu's middle- class background and education afford her opportunities that remain tragically out of reach for Bigger Thomas, both characters encounter institutional barriers that challenge the fundamental promise of American meritocracy.The study reveals how each author employs different narrative strategies to expose these inequalities. Wright's naturalistic approach places Bigger within an almost deterministic cycle of poverty and violence, while Adichie's more satirical lens dissects the subtle ways class distinctions persist even within seemingly progressive spaces. Both works ultimately question whether the American Dream functions as a genuine pathway to advancement or merely as a compelling mythology that obscures deeper structural inequities.Through close textual analysis and historical contextualization, this research contributes to ongoing scholarly conversations about literature's role in documenting and critiquing social stratification. The findings suggest that while the specific manifestations of class barriers have evolved significantly between the 1940s and 2010s, the fundamental tension between American ideals of equality and the reality of economic stratification remains largely unchanged. This comparative approach illuminates how literary representations of class can both reflect and shape our understanding of social mobility across different eras of American history