American Dream Dbq

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Jason Thompson Ms. Tinberg Period 1 14, April, 24 Comparative Analysis Essay The American Dream, a concept that has been said and written a countless number of times in American culture since the United States declared its independence in 1776. And with a concept as old as the American Dream comes several different views and interpretations throughout its lengthy history. So how did the concept that the Founding Fathers originally created stack up to reality? The Founding Fathers originally believed that “The American Dream” opens the door for people to break through class barriers; reality partly agrees with this statement, while also revealing how people still have to make sacrifices for this dream, opportunities are still not accessible to …show more content…

In summary, the Founding Fathers viewed American citizens as all of them working to achieve the same goals, while Whitman views them as all working to achieve their own goals. While everyone is able to achieve their own “American Dream”, it requires sacrifices to be made and one isn’t handed opportunities just because they want it. “The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole and made them happy,” (Paine 29-30). Paine is telling the American soldiers that they cannot give up on the war now, because their children will hold disdain towards them if they do, and all of the soldiers’ sacrifice to win their freedom will be for nothing. When describing the backstory of the great Jay Gatsby, Fitzgerald writes, “James Gatz- that was really, or at least legally, his name,” (Fitzgerald 94). James Gatz grew up poor, and would over time become a wealthy man, along with changing his name and evolving to be the person that he created in his mind, realizing his “American

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