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I never understood the American Dream until my mom took me away to the Dominican Republic. I was 7 years old when my life changed completely. I would have to live In a new country, new house, and attend a new school. Everything was different from what I was used to. And although my mom spoke Spanish, when I arrived to the DR I barely knew any. I was In second grade and I was the only one In my class who did not know how to write In spanish, or In script. It was a process for me to adjust to the new life I was given. However since the moment I arrived In the Dominican Republic I wanted to come back to the States. I missed everything, from my friends, to the city, to McDonald's happy meals. “Why don't you like living In DR?” people would ask
and the answer would always be the same, “Because there Is no McDonald's at my reach,” people would laugh not taking me serious, but I was serious. At the time, I was 8 so I actually only cared about the accessibility I had to acquire a new toy or a happy meal while living In the U.S. However when I turned 14, I began to take In the gravity of the situation. I always Imagined myself attending college and succeeding In my career choice living In the US. I never, ever, Imagined myself spending the rest of my life In the Dominican Republic. Don’t get me wrong, the place Is beautiful and the people are lovely. But this Is a place where people’s dreams are as broken as the streets. Not everyone could afford for college, and those who were privileged enough to graduate from one were not always as lucky when It came to finding jobs. My mother, for example, had obtained a law degree In DR. A LAW DEGREE, something that here In the US Is a huge deal. However DR being the small country that It Is, did not provide enough jobs for the people. My mother couldn't find jobs because there was already more lawyers than needed, and the few cases she received were not enough to sustain a household of 3. Not only did my mom serve as an example, but I met doctors, nurses, and other lawyers who had to struggle to pay the bills. I didn't want this for myself, I wanted a future In where my fundamental concern was focused on what would be the next step In my career. I wanted the opportunities America provided for people. I wanted the American Dream. My mother eventually began to perceive this herself and decided to move back to the U.S. Since I arrived here my main priority was to do well In school, to take advantage of everything this great country had to offer. I adapted to the school curriculum from here quite fast. English was the subject In which I had the most trouble, Just because writing essays was something that was new for me, and I was not as fluent as the others with the English language. However I worked twice as hard as everyone else. I took all of AP courses my school had to offer because I wanted to challenge myself, and bring out the best I knew I could do. I did not let the obstacles bring me down, I enjoyed jumping them. And the more I jumped, the higher they got, and the more I enjoyed them. I was, and I am still determined to make my American Dream possible. Today I am applying to college, I'm closer to achieving my goal.
To me the American Dream comes right back to being stable in a financial aspect. I hate to think in a mind set that everything Is about money but that’s how I view The American Dream. Since I was a little girl I have always had the American Dream drawn up in my mind. This was far before I knew how I would have the means to support it such as a college degree and the job after graduation. Both things that I am still seeking but closer and closer to achieving every day. My America Dream has always looked like a large white house, newly build on a corner lot. The garage will be on the side of the house and a long drive-way which will include my black Land
I was born in Guatemala in a city called, called Guatemala City. Life in Guatemala is hard which is why my parents brought me into the United States when I was eight months old. Some of the things that makes life in Guatemala hard is the violence. However, Guatemala has plenty of hard working men, women, and children who usually get forced to begin working as soon as they are able to walk. However, unlike many other countries, Guatemala has a huge crime rate. I care about the innocent hard working people that live in Guatemala and receive letters, threatening to be killed if they do not pay a certain amount of money at a certain amount of time.
On the other hand, this article relates more to the cultural and economic surroundings of an individual, both of these aspects can interfere with the American dream. Culture plays a part because it is something that a lot of people don’t understand and in America people are not as open about culture as they should be. The dream used to be something that people aspired to have, which is why America was the place to be but due to economic and other factors people who range from 18-35 have a different perception. People who fall into this category have actually witnessed the dream being something that either
The American Dream has been a fantasy for many people around the world. It has
The American Dream has multiple meanings or definitions that have been developed and are passionately believed throughout the world. Throughout time these meanings have changed and adapted to modern culture.
I was born in the Dominican Republic, November 2, 1982. I lived and grew up in a countryside where everybody knew each other. My childhood years were full of wonderful experiences where I felt loved by my parents and my family. I went to school around 6 years old. I had to walk around 30 minutes to get there from my house. My father was a farmer who had to work long hours in order to sustain our big family. My mother was a housewife; she was in charge of taking care of us. I have five siblings, three boys and two girls. I remember that at that time we did not have many things in our house. We did not have electricity and also we did not have a service of water. I remembered that my father had to go to the river to get water for the necessities of the house. At that time my family was very poor, but my
I see the American Dream as being happy and content with your life and where you are at and the successes you have made but if you do not put in the effort to achieve that dream is the American dream actually what people portray it to be. Anthony DePalma contrasts the experiences of two generations of illegal immigrants to the United States in his essay “Fifteen Years on the Bottom Rung”. He explains the lifestyles of the immigrants and how they made it in the United States, both immigrants have different views on what the American dream means to them. “Starting over in the same working class neighborhood, Peralta and Zannikos quickly learned that “New York was full of opportunities and obstacles often in equal measure”(DePalma 356). “They
For me, the American Dream includes a feeling of pride in knowing I am free to live my life as I choose. It the sound of the fife and drum in the Fourth of July parade, which makes the heart of every American swell with pride. It is the Stars and Stripes of our flag. It’s the red, white and blue that are known around the world to represent a nation that keeps the light on until everyone is
Every American has a different definition of the American Dream, and what has been at the root of the American Dream differs between each individual. A popular myth about the American Dream is that every citizen has an equal chance to achieve success and wealth with ease. An immigrant may have a different idea of what the American Dream means to them, whereas an American that was born in the states may not entirely see it in the same light. The same goes for Americans who had to claim refugee status to enter the country and for those who became Americans through forced migration. Some Americans may not believe the American Dream is tangible, while others may think the American Dream is denied to them and actively
It may be hard to imagine a person dropping everything in his or her life, leaving behind many possessions, friends, and family, only to start again in a new country. Imagine a person coming to America with only the clothes on his or her back and whatever that person could carry. If one can overcome these hardships, like many immigrants to America had to experience, and make a name for himself or herself, that is experiencing the American Dream. The American Dream, a stereotypical viewpoint of one being able to move to America with nothing and become successful. This success is achieved through a gradual process of an adoption of the American culture by drowning the past and receiving an education for the future.
First, what is the American dream? According to David Wallechinsky, “the traditional American Dream is based on the belief that hardworking citizens can improve their lives, pay their monthly bill without worry, give their children a start to an even better life, and still save enough to live comfortably after they retire” (1). “The American Dream” states, “It has always represented the possibility for individuals to succeed and live a life of wealth and comfort, made possible by both the political and economic attitudes in the USA and the individual’s own hard work” (1). Daniella Nicole adds that “in years past, chasing the American Dream meant the sky was the limit. . .” (1). “At the core of the concept is the individual’s responsibility to aim for and achieve the American dream by working hard and taking advantage of the freedom offered to them by the country” (“The American Dream” 1). “A recent nationwide survey from LearnVest found that 43 percent of Americans today feel the dream is attainable for everyone - and about the same percentage feels that it’s within their grasp, personally,” notes Camille Noe Pagan. “For American Dreamers today,” states Nicole, ...
John Steinbeck once said, “People who are most afraid of their dreams convince themselves they don’t dream at all.” For various individuals, there are different kinds of meanings of the American Dream. To Lennie, from Of Mice and Men, it was tending rabbits and owning a farm with George. To someone in a war-torn country, it is to obtain freedom. Although many believe that the American Dream is unachievable, the truth is it is accomplishable because there are numerous opportunities, all it takes is determination, and to obtain an education.
Never being one of those kids that had many friends seemed like a challenge; I have always felt like I had all I needed. For me, it’s special, that the people who I consider my friends, know so much about me. This past summer, I traveled to the place that gave birth to me, the Dominican Republic, where I was put in an environment where I had no prior knowledge of the people who I was going to encounter doing the things that I was interested in doing, like community service and traveling to certain parts of the country that I had never visited before. Being able to bond with the individuals from my trip while working on mountainsides, digging ditches to help install Black Water Treatments that would help a local community, participating in beach cleanups that belonged to a national park, made me feel that I was growing and expanding my horizons on what I could make a reality.
The American Dream, recognized as being the earning of a college degree, the owning of one 's own home, taking vacations and experiencing upward social mobility, is a very important belief that helped create the success that America is today. Many people believe that anyone who works hard and has determination can achieve this American Dream. In this day and age, experiencing the American Dream is believed to no longer be as available to Americans as it once was. The economy and corporate America have had a strong impact on the availability to reach this state of success. Everyone wants to live the American Dream, whether they know it or not. I have never met a person who did not want to become successful. Even I had a strong belief that the
At first, my very first experience in the United States is so bored, depressed, and hopeless. It was a new journey for me, I learn a language that I had never learned before, I get bullied just because I am the only one Asian who do not speak English. However, my life has become better when I realized that the “American Dream” is possible. Well, for me, the term “American Dream” is fitting for the one who attends at school, who has confidence and hard work. It might be a dream for my generation but not my parents. I saw my parents struggle to keep my brother and I fed. They worked more than two jobs, just to help us finish our education, paying our rent, and everything. I saw them suffer in tears, to sacrificed their future to let my brother and me to get a better education and opportunities to