"I have a dream." Martin Luther King was a man with a dream, a man that would later die for that same dream. We all have dreams. No matter how small or how large, we all have them. What are my dreams? Well, my dreams run hand in hand with three of our five themes this year. They are "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," "A Chicken in every Pot; a Car in every Garage" and "To the Beat of a Different Drummer." How do my dreams match these that are what so many desire? One is the struggle to love; two is to be successful in both family and career; three is to follow God.
"The Heart is a Lonely Hunter." To what does that refer? Many say that it refers to love and caring. Whether it is the need to feel those emotions, or theneed to supply them. The definition of love is rather simple. "Affection based on admiration or benevolence." "To care is to show one's affection." Without these emotions, a person is but a lonely hunter. Now that the ground work has been laid, where does all this fit into me? My dream is the same as so many people's dream, which in turn falls into the lonely hunter theme. All I wished for was to be loved.
When I thought I had found "true" love, I actually hadn't. Yet about four months ago, true love found me. "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" is all about feeling cared for and loved. When this woman came back into my life after being gone for more than a year, I felt both and gave both. She has become everything to me. The feelings I feel towards her and the feelings she feels towards me are what everyone who falls under the lonely hunter seeks. So some may say my goal is that of "the lonely hunter."
"A Chicken in every Pot; a Car in every Garage." Everyone being equal to some extent, that's part of the American Dream. This dream came out of the time of the Great Depression. It was a goal or a step to reach. Again what does this have to do with my dream? I want a family and I want the best for this family.
The American Dream is a concept elegantly simple and yet peculiarly hard to define. At the root of it is the sense that America was created entirely separate from the Old World; the settlers had escaped from the feudal, fractious and somewhat ossified nations of Europe and been presented with a chance to start anew - "a fresh green breast of the new world." From this blank slate, those first idealistic settlers had created a society where "all men are created equal" and everyone had the chance to do the best for themselves as they could. Let us examine the passage from the Declaration of Independence from which that quote is taken:
The American Dream has always been a driving force in the lives of Americans. It has become a foundation of ideals and hopes for any American or immigrant. Specifically, one of the ideals that always exist is the dream of America free of class distinction. Every American hopes for a society where every person has the opportunity to be whomever he or she desire. Another ideal in the American dream is the drive to improve the quality of life. As one’s idea of the American Dream gets closer and closer, often times political and social ideals of America cause their American Dream to take a turn for the worst.
“The American Dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.” --James Truslow Adams. The phrase “The American Dream” has been expanded upon or refined in various forms, but is essentially based on Truslow Adams’ idea. This concept has been subject to criticism because some people believe that the structure of society prevents such an idealistic goal for everyone. The economy, for instance, can cause poverty-stricken men and women to attain a major disadvantage. Other attributes goes towards inequalities that jeopardizes fairness, as well as apathy through lack of success to obtain the American Dream.
Love as a hunt makes aides in understanding his assertion that he knows where love hides. In this passage of the poem Wyatt writes “HOSO list to hunt, I know where is and hind!”(Wyatt 75). Shakespeare thinks of love as something that two people share and that it is unbreakable and it can be seen in these lines, “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom” (Sonnet 481). Even though both poets do not speak of love and relationships the same terms, one speaks of love in terms of a committed relationship and the other speaks of love as the pursuit of something you cannot have because it belongs to someone
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 American Dream was derived from the United States Declaration of Independence which states that, “All mean are created equal” and that they are “endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (US 1776). This means that every person has equal opportunity
... shining, his golden opportunity…the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and his vision can combine to make him…”(qtd.in The American Dream). A person who “manages” to achieve his or her version of the American Dream is often said to be “living the dream”. However this concept has been subjected to great criticism because some people that the social structure of the U.S. prevents such an idealistic goal for everyone. May critics often allude to various examples of inequality rooted in class, race, ethnicity, and religion, which suggests that the American Dream is not attainable to everyone. The principles of the American Dream are too idealistic. Everyone has dreams and goals, but the American Dream is one that is infinite and endless. It is very difficult to live the dream when so much of it is obscured by the government.
The American dream is the general belief that American Citizens all have an equal opportunity to succeed socially and economically, regardless of any predating circumstances. This idea has been accepted as possible by the majority of citizens in this country. This “dream” cannot be true, as there are multiple discriminations in this country, which make it impossible for everyone to have the same chance to succeed. Biases against racial minorities, women, and citizens from lower social classes are examples of just a few reasons that everyone does not have the same chance to succeed in our current economic and social system in America, resulting in unequal chances to achieve “the American Dream.”
The American Dream is known to be a hope for a better, richer, happier life for all citizens of every class. For almost all Americans, this entails earning a college degree, gaining a good job, buying a house, and starting a family. Although this seems wonderful, a large amount of the American population believes that the Dream has changed immensely because of increased prices in today’s society, the price of tuition being highly unaffordable, as well as the unemployment rate skyrocketing and weaker job growth. While some American citizens believe it has changed, others believe that the American Dream has not changed, but point out it is harder to obtain.
American Dream: what is your definition of it? Does it involve money? Does it involve love? Does it involve healthiness? People have different definitions of what they would want in their "American Dream." First of all, let's define American Dream. American Dream is what you would consider a "perfect life." It can be full of happiness, money, love, food, cars, whatever you desire; everyone has a different opinion. One person?s American Dream may be totally different from someone else?s; that is what makes us all individuals. Robert Wuthnow writes about different people?s American Dream in his essay "Having It All." Throughout Wuthnow's essay, it seems that not too many people are truly living out their American Dream. Many complain about having to work to much, not enough time with the family, not enough pay, and so on. My American Dream would include a good job and lots of money, spare time for my family and I, and most importantly, healthiness.
"The American Dream" is that dream of a nation in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with options for each according to capacity or accomplishments. It is a dream of social stability in which each man and each woman shall be able to achieve to the fullest distinction of which they are essentially competent, and be distinguish by others for what they are, despite of the incidental conditions of birth or stance. The American Dream is often something that humanity wonders about. What is the American dream? Many people discover success in a range of things. There are many different definitions of the American Dream. However, the American Dream embraces prosperity, personal safety, and personal liberty. The American dream is a continually fluctuating set of ideals, reflecting the ideas of an era.
What is the American Dream, and who are the people most likely to pursue its often elusive fulfillment? Indeed, the American Dream has come to represent the attainment of myriad of goals that are specific to each individual. While one person might consider a purchased home with a white picket fence her version of the American Dream, another might regard it as the financial ability to operate his own business. Clearly, there is no cut and dried definition of the American Dream as long as any two people hold a different meaning. What it does universally represent, however, it the opportunity for people to seek out their individual and collective desires under a political umbrella of democracy.
When the term ‘American Dream’ was first mentioned in 1931 by James Truslow Adams, he described it as “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.” (Clark). When Adams mentioned the term, it had much more of an idealistic meaning, rather than the materialistic meaning it has in modern society. At the time of it’s mention, the dream meant that prosperity was available to everyone. In the beginning, the American Dream simply promised a country in which people had the chance to work their way up through their own labor and hard work (Kiger). Throughout history, the basis of the dream has always been the same for each individual person. It
As we begin this next chapter of our lives, my desire is to live life to the fullest or as John Eldredge more eloquently states “I want to love with more abandon and stop waiting for others to love me first.
Great feelings like partnership, remembrance, and parenthood can accompany love, but feelings like heartbreak, torment, and grief can also accompany love. “A strong affection for another” is not an all-encompassing definition for love. Love is happiness and fairytales but is also pain and sadness. No dictionary could truly define human emotion, as words are to simple to convey the overlapping complexity of the feelings we experience. Love is what builds us up and what breaks us down, but most importantly, it is what makes us