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The ‘American Dream’, as was once known has ceased to exist in the United States and it could just be something that is not guaranteed anymore. We are merely allowed just the pursuit of happiness, as stated in the Declaration of Independence “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. We are told that all men are created equal and independent of one another, but are we really? In the movie The Pursuit of Happyness Chris Gardner goes from rags to riches displaying what it means to live the ‘American Dream’ as an African-American male in the United States. The story line ultimately suggested that you need to have a certain amount of money and stand in a certain class to be deemed successful in life as an African-American. The Pursuit of Happyness illustrates through the examples of Chris Gardener that anyone has the chance to achieve happiness if they devote a great amount of effort and time. However, in today’s world our socioeconomic factors define our meaning of happiness. Society realizes that the key to happiness is not actually determined by how much money you have, once you finally obtain wealth, money will just keep raising our bar of happiness. On the surface, this dream appears to the best thing people hope for offering the chance to better themselves, and accomplish success despite of some one’s race, religion, or family history. What Chris Gardner went through is a struggle made by socioeconomic factors which played a huge role in his ideal image of the ‘American Dream’. Money meant success to him and this is where my sociological lens becomes significant to my primary text. As an African American male, Chris Gardner, in The Pursuit of Happyness overcomes the socioeconomic factors he faced by defeating the odds and la... ... middle of paper ... ...fines happiness in America for the lower class African-American males. This American dream depicted in film tells people that money is the key to happiness and when they set out to get money they ultimately start to forget about the things that truly make them happy like their families for instance. Everyone is entitled to happiness, but it’s up to you to actually pursue it. I believe America needs to promote a more diverse America Dream. American Dreams those are obtainable for the average American. Movies like the pursuit of happiness can still be displayed but let’s change the story line. Let us show the world that a daycare teacher is living her American dream or a cop that lives to serve and protect America’s citizens. From here on out we should try to kill off the misconceptions of this dream and let the real America shine through film and media.
In 1931 when the American Dream arose, Americans believed that the harder one worked, the more one would prosper (Meacham, 2012). In other words, they strongly believed that the American Dream was gaining a better, richer, happier life. Today, the American Dream is still hoping to earn a college degree, get a good job, buy a house, and start a family, but according to MetLife’s fifth annual survey, 41% of the respondents said it was about personal fulfillment, while most American’s say it is out of reach for many (White, ...
The United states of America was established for one main purpose, " to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity ( US Constitution). The United States of America has been described many different ways, but the most known description is “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement..." noted by James Truslow Adams in 1931. America was painted up to be the "perfect
The concept of the American dream is so rooted in our culture that the Framers of the Declaration of Independence even included in the document that it was a self-evident truth: “All men are created equal” and are “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights,” which include “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (US 1776) While the authors were certainly hopeful in including the phrase in the Declaration, they neglected to define the pursuit of happiness. Instead, when looking deeper into the meaning the phrase the “pursuit of happiness,” it seems the Framers were suggesting that happiness can’t even be achieved, but rather it is a goal, seldom attained. Yet, some seem to have attained happiness through the American dream. In Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, Franklin embodies what many suggest as the portrait of the American dream (Packer-Kinlaw 5). He believed, that in order to achieve financial success and an esteemed place in society one must pursue the virtues of morality, industry, and frugality. Yet, during the turn...
In the summer of 2009, on June 29 the legendary Michael Jackson was announced dead. Michael Jackson was a music genius and prodigy. The King of Pop was the most successful entertainer of all time. For four decades, Michael Jackson changed the way artists all over the world looked at dance, music and fashion, making him a global icon in pop culture. He truly changed the world. Most people would look at him and say he lived the American Dream to the fullest. From the talent to the fame, he had it all. He was successful, rich, famous, and admired all over the world but do these aspects of his life really relate to those of someone who has lived the American Dream? Many people when talking about the idea of the “American Dream” primarily thinking of the romantic aspects of this idea. People think of the key elements of the American Dream such as equality, liberty, independence, hard work and success.These romantic elements of the American Dream are then emphasised in the world. People much like Walt Disney built an empire off of these romantic ideals such as “You can be who you want”, “ If you can dream it, you can do it”, and “Hard work equal success”. These parts of the american dream are the very appealing parts of the american dream characterize. This side talks about the reverse of the romantic ideals. For example, how hard work does not always result in success, there are many other factors that contribute to those that are highly successful. Every American wants to live out the american dream of equality, liberty,hard work equals success but in reality is it very rarely obtained. These ideals from both the romantic and the realistic side of the american dream are strongly expressed in books such as Great Gatsby, The Outlier...
People who work hard enough become successful and build a good life for themselves and their family. Millions of Americans and others who admire America have believed this for generations. However, is this still true? Brandon King debates his interpretation of the American Dream in his published work, “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?” During his essay, the speaker highlights how important the American Dream is to the economy and providing a distance from inequality. The speaker emphasizes his belief that the American Dream is still alive within America and that people must work hard to achieve it. When discussing the American Dream, King will agree that the idea is alive and thriving in the minds of Americans; yet, I argue that the idea is on hold within American society due to lack of upward social independence and economic mobility.
The American Dream is so important to our country and especially for our generation to take seriously. The American Dream is the opportunity to reach the goals one sets for themselves. It is about having your dream job and life you have always fantasized about. The dream is also about having freedom and equality. The American Dream was much easier to attain a few decades ago compared to today. However, it is still possible. The economy was better fifty years ago than it is today. People are in greater debt now and the United States is in higher debt than it was fifty years ago. The American Dream is still possible despite the lack of improvement within social mobility in American society over the past years. The American dream is achievable by being able to live a middle-class lifestyle and that lifestyle is obtainable through hard work and perseverance, even in light of obstacles such as racism. “The American Dream is still achievable, however, the good news is that people at the bottom are just as likely to move up the income ladder today as they were 50 years ago” (O’Brien 1). The ability to attain the American Dream is hindered by race, the middle class, and giving up facing adversity.
... The more research that took place during this research paper made it more evident that the realisticity of people with color being able to achieve the American Dream is very scarce. With the numbers and data that certain researchers have collected, it proved that the achievement of the American Dream among people of color was indeed less due to certain obstacles and complications that others do not overcome. From jobs to home locations, the people of African American descendants always got the “left-overs” of the Americans and statistics support this claim. Although education could be an escape from poverty, the people of color rarely have access to good schools or education systems. All of these factors are evidently confirmations that the realisticity of a colored person to achieve the American Dream in today’s society is not impossible, however very difficult.
Money, fame, and promiscuity are the three main components of the American Dream, and what better way to get to that level than through music? The truth is, almost any other profession has a higher statistical chance of achieving this goal. Musicianship is a nearly impossible career plan to survive with. An artist will spend incalculable hours learning and mastering their craft, only to be oppressed by the community. No matter how much time or money a musician spends on his/her creations, the world will typically find a way to avert their success.
I am influenced to believe that the American Dream is still present today and continues to be achievable. The American Dream was embodied in important historical events that have positively affected our nation to this day. Without the mention of the American Dream in these articles, no one would posses the concept of how we are supposed to be living as American Citizens.
The American Dream. This concept is well known as the picture perfect family, nice house and the white picket fence. As well as succeeding and excelling in life and making the future generations lives better than the current one. This concept has contributed much of the immigration from as early as 1931 to present day. However, many immigrants immigrate to the United States in order to escape oppression as well as uprising and turmoil which may reside in their home country. Though society often places people none the less immigrants into categories from social class, heritage, and prejudice they share a common thread of hope as well as facing obstacles in their journeys and once they arrive to the states. An example of this common thread of escaping their homeland in order to pursue new experiences and hopeful new life yet experiencing different hardships are shown when looking at both the Mexicans and the Irish.
To do what makes oneself happy. The American Dream is represented in many different ways and every person lives and chases a different version of the American Dream. Chris McCandless lived his American dream by walking alone into the wilderness of Alaska. The song written by Toby Keith, “American Soldier”, shows the price some pay for their dreams and ours to come true. Jay Gatsby died trying to acheive his dream and get the girl he loved, but died happy because he had pursued her until his death. The band All Time Low wrote a song called “The Reckless and The Brave” that brings a new light to how we go about achieving our dreams. So I believe that the American Dream is all about doing what will make you the happiest in the end.
A writer, George Monbiot, once said, “If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire”. John Steinbeck’s views on the American Dream in his novella Of Mice and Men agrees with Monbiot because Steinbeck expresses the American Dream as obtainable, but not for everyone. In his novella, the characters George Milton and Lennie Small acquire a job at a ranch in the Salinas Valley during the Great Depression. These men have their own American Dream that they work towards, yet don’t achieve. Through these characters, Curley’s wife, and Crooks, Steinbeck illustrates that even through hard work and the drive to succeed, people may not always achieve their own American Dream.
The American Dream, it’s something as old as America itself and continues to live on. However, what is the “American Dream” exactly? It’s something that has changed over and over, and has been disputed over for centuries. First, it was to become the perfect society and person through God as defined by the Puritans (the first settlers in America), the it shifted to being the peak of moral and intellectual perfection with the Rationalists, who were revolutionaries such as Benjamin Franklin. The Transcendentalists are a group undefined by an era in time, for they were present in all stages of America’s history, and continue to be present. They had more modern views such as self reliance, and individualism; a continual theme we see today in what people describe as the American Dream. Besides that however, one wouldn’t see much resemblance to our country’s past ideals. Today the American Dream is all about money. As a nation we idolize people who have seemingly overcome huge life obstacles by themselves in rags-to-riches stories, and then we question why we can’t do the same. We ask ours...
With America actually being seen as the land of assurance, the American dream is usually associated with the freedom and opportunity of gaining prosperity, recognition, power, triumph, and contentment. On the surface, this dream appears virtually delighted, offering individuals the exceptional hope of accomplishing success despite of one’s race, religion, or family history. The American Dream is accurately what it seems to be the chance of perfect lying nearby the corner. However, the actual nature of this dream prohibit the pleasure of the victory one has earned, as the desire is always demanding one to work a slight harder and gain a slightly more.
Baldwin shows that although the nation was celebrating freedom and independence, African Africans still faced racism and did not get the same opportunities as Caucasians (Baldwin 1). Today, this unequal opportunity is seen through many Americans especially ones of low social status. Many Americans seek economic opportunity that can raise them to success, but many countries fare better than America in social mobility such as Denmark (Wilkinson 3). Baldwin’s message still resonates in modern day society as many people, because of their economic status, lack the ability of economic and social mobility and better opportunity for themselves and family. The American Dream is seen as hard work and initiative will ultimately lead to financial wealth. This “rags to riches” ideal is becoming more of a dream as the U.S. is dealing with less opportunity for people of low economic and social status. While the American Dream is difficult to obtain for people of low socioeconomic status, it is easier to obtain for people of higher socioeconomic status and