Being able to be whoever one wishes to be – that is the American Dream. The American Dream is the promise of opportunity, achievement, and fortune that American society was built upon. This Dream is supposedly facilitated by capitalism, a market system where industry and trade are driven by profit, and supposedly any person could make this coveted profit. But there is an issue with the American Dream; it supposedly allows each American equal opportunity to achieve their wealth and happiness. This is not the case for Americans today and for Americans during the market revolution of the early nineteenth century, including the Niagara Falls-jumping daredevil Sam Patch. His life was one determined by “circumstances existing already, given and transmitted …show more content…
Sam Patch was introduced to the world of monotonous mill work as a child when his family moved from Marblehead to the mill village Pawtucket in 1807, a move which “marked their passage out of the family economy and into the labor market.” This was not a move of free choice, but rather a move of desperation caused by existing market forces. It was a move facilitated by mill owner “Samuel Slater himself, who was searching far beyond Pawtucket for child workers, recruiting among the urban and rural poor.” Mill owners would prey upon the poor and desperate for workers in their pursuit of profit in a capitalistic market; child workers from poor backgrounds tended to require lower wages while being able to work hard with little resistance. Sam Patch was one of these victims himself, and would suffer from low wages and lack of advancement opportunities past being a mule spinner, a situation which eventually coerced him into his path of celebrity in his desperation for fame and income. In addition, the move from Marblehead to Pawtucket displaced the Patches “nearly one hundred miles south” of where Sam Patch’s mother and father had always lived. This severed any possible support the Patch family could receive from extended family, and caused the Patches to be …show more content…
Sam Patch’s opportunity to leap from the top of the Niagara Falls, one of the leaps that brought Patch to national fame, was made possible by capitalism. Inn owners by Niagara Falls including William Forsyth planned Sam Patch’s leap as an off-season attraction to entice visitors to visit the Falls. By attracting visitors, business owners by the Falls could earn more money by charging for food, drink, or access to favorable viewpoints. Patch was merely a tool of these capitalistic business owners, a cheap attraction to invest in that could return multiplicative amounts of revenue. Patch also relied on communication and transportation methods made possible by American capitalism. When planning his second leap from the Niagara Falls, Sam Patch utilized his own handbills that advertised his leap to inhabitants of New York and Canada. In return, business owners promised Sam “the tolls from the Goat Island bridge on the day of the leap— twenty— five cents per spectator.” Sam Patch, the defiant, anti-establishment icon, was relying on the methods of the same establishment to earn his income: advertisement, a key icon of capitalism. The market revolution improved long-distance communication with the postal system,
As the economical ups and down took its tolls on the United States it also hit Spoon River hard. With the country going in and...
Sam Patch’s father, who was a drunkard, exhausted all his family fortune, and in 1807 the Patches moved to the mill village of Pawtucket. This was a climactic moment in their history because it marked their passage out of the family economy and into the labor market. This caused the Patches to be dependent on factory owners for a job. Factory spinners, including Sam Patch, were people with a lot of pride and dignity. Before 1820, most spinners in New England mills were emigrants from the factory towns of Lancashire England. They were veterans who knew that their skills were essential, and they commanded respect (Johnson 23). Industrialization brought with it urbanization or city growth but it had an unintended consequence of creating massive wealth gaps between the rich people and the working class people.
It’s a typical October afternoon in picturesque New York City. You are on wall street waiting to see how your investments turned out. The closing bell rings and immediately, panic ensues. The day that everyone thought was impossible happened: the stock market crash. For millions of Americans this seemed like the end of the road. Unfortunately, the market nor economic conditions wouldn’t get any better as now, the Great Depression was in full spring. As roughly a quarter of Americans were now out of work, people lost their identities. One of these people was a boxer named James J. Braddock. Before the depression, Braddock was widely regarded as the next big thing for the sport. However, Braddock’s career fell off a cliff after the crash as he
George Washington Plunkitt worked his way as a young boy in the New York city politics to become one of the most well know statesman that city has ever now. As a young boy, he became an “apprenticeship of the business “(RIORDON, Chapter, 1) of politics by “working around the district headquarters and hustling about the polls on Election Day” (RIORDON, Chapter, 1). He steadily built a following and became very clever in the political game. Plunkitt had definite idea’s as to what characteristics where needed to thrive in the political arena. If one understood that there could be personal benefits in being in politics, then one could succeed greatly, he was fond of the saying “I seen my opportunities and I took ‘en” (RIORDON, Chapter, 1). In order to make it in the political game, one must distinguish between an honest graft and a dishonest graft. Plunkitt idea’s of an honest graft was to basically find opportunities and take action on them before someone else could benefit from them. While working in city government, Plunkitt used his position to benefit himself and his friend, for example, he would “go to that place and I buy up all the land I can in the neighborhood. Then the board of this or that makes its plan public, and there is a rush to get my land, which nobody cared, particular for before. Ain’t it perfectly honest to charge a good price and make a profit on my investment and foresight? Of course, it is. Well, that’s honest graft. Or supposin’ it’s a new bridge they’re goin’ to build. I get tipped off and I buy, as much property as I can that has to be taken for approaches. I sell at my own price later on and drop some more money in the bank. Wouldn’t you? It’s just like lookin’ ahead in Wall Street or in the cof...
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:
In the early 1900's, strikes, riots, labor unions, and new political parties arose across the country. The government, with its laissez-faire attitude, allowed business to consolidate into trusts, and with lack of competition, into powerful monopolies. These multi-million dollar monopolies were able to exploit every opportunity to make greater fortunes regardless of human consequences. Sinclair illustrates the harsh conditions in Packingtown through a Lithuanian immigrant family and their struggles to survive. Ona, a young and frail woman, and Jurgis, a hardworking and strong man and the husband of Ona, come to America with some of their family to find work and to make a new and better life for themselves. With everyone finding employment right away, the family begins their lives in America with optimism, enthusiasm, and ignorance. Taking a huge risk, they purchase a small rickety house. Slowly, they awaken to the harsh realities of their surroundings. There's the mortg...
For many people in the 1930’s living conditions were not as adequate as they needed to be. The stock market had just crashed in 1928, and the US was in the midst of the Great Depression. Many people suffered from lack of money, and many others suffered from lack of food. One group of people who suffered greatly during this time period were the southern share croppers. Factors that caused the substandard living conditions of the southern share croppers in the 1930’s include lack of education, poor health care, and inadequate living facilities. The first factor that caused the substandard living conditions of the southern share croppers was their lack of education. There were several reasons the share croppers didn’t get the education they needed. One main reason was because many children didn’t go to school. Harold Walker writes that Southern cotton states ranked lower in rate of attendance for each student enrolled than any of the other states in the nation (4). A factor that contributed to this was their excessive mobility, which inhibited many children from going to school (Corder 27). It is common knowledge that any child who constantly moves around will not be able to attend school on a regular basis, and even if they go to a school when they get a chance they will be so far behind they would have a difficult time catching up. Another factor that impeded on a child’s attendance at school was the fact that they never went to school when there was cotton to be picked (Walker 8). This may not seem like a large task, but some times it could take weeks to pick all the cotton. These few weeks that a child spent picking cotton was valuable learning time, and missing it could put a child too far behind to catch up. Another reason share croppers didn’t get the education they needed was because many southern rural schools had short terms (Gentry 21). Because of this teachers would not be able to cover all of the material that they needed to cover, or they would have to rush through the material they did cover. A final reason the education of the southern cotton states was not as good as other states was because their teachers were not as good. This was reflected in the fact that the salaries of Southern teachers were not as high as the salaries of other teachers (Mckeon 98).
Sam was trying to incorporate the people into the arts. He was opposing the dominant society by leaping for those lower class individuals that were neglected from the festivities. Johnson stated “the plain people of Paterson, absent as usual from the ceremonies at the church and hotel, had been excluded from the planning, denied the civic fireworks show, denigrated in the parade, and ignored by the toastmasters. They marched in battalions to the falls to see Sam Patch” (66). The quote “the plain people of Patterson, absent as usual from the ceremonies…” is an example of residual culture. The plain people of Patterson being excluded from the festivities as usual is an example of an old cultural practice being passed down to modern society. The time scheduled the leap is an example of alternative/oppositional culture. Sam scheduled the leap at time when the town’s merchants and manufacturers were at the banquet celebrating progress and patriotism. His leap represented an alternative to the residual culture of excluding the lower-class people of Patterson. He wasn’t leaping for the upper-class citizens; his leap was a way of including the lower-class people of Patterson into the arts. Even at his death, his legacy represented an alternative to the dominant society. He proved that anyone could be famous. Even though he didn’t possess the virtues of a hero such as education or social status he was still able to become
... 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 freedom in self endowment has always been the fuel to the average American citizen and his drive toward success. In other words, Americans always strive to achieve the ever so revered American Dream. What is the American Dream? David Kamp describes the American Dream as "the idea rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence which proclaims that "all men are created equal" and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."(Kamp). The dream lies deeply rooted in American society and the very mention of it lights a passionate fire in the hearts of American citizens everywhere. The idea behind the dream is that if an individual has sufficient willpower, he or she has a fair chance of achieving wealth as well as the freedom and happiness that come packaged with it. Essentially, it offers the opportunity of achieving spiritual and material fulfillment. It promises success at the cost of hard work and perseverance. Over time however, this idea of attaining success through hard work and perseverance has been skewed into one which exploits greed and carelessness and The Great Gatsby is an excellent affirmation of this. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald derides the gradual corruption of hard work and perseverance in the American Dream by utilizing the motif of driving and incorporating it with the the ideas of greed and carelessness.
The American Dream is the belief that anybody can achieve anything in life. America is known as the country of opportunity regardless of race, gender or nationality. The land of opportunity and equality rights and liberty. The American Dream is to be successful no matter what social class an individual belongs to. The opportunity for upward mobility through hard work leads to a successful life. Individuals in society often strive to obtain many resources that are important. The structure of the economy is typically related to education, occupation, housing, and health care which are not distributed equally to enable an individual to achieve equal opportunity some will have to go through hardship in order to obtain it. The lack of social mobility makes the
The American dream can be defined as the promise of living in America with opportunities for all, regardless of social class, and according to their ability and effort (Schnell, 2010). Proponents of the American dream believe that there is equal opportunity for all in the American society to achieve success. Success is not pegged on social status, race, or creed, but rather on an individual’s own efforts. The definition of the American dream has unique interpretations to different people. The most common meaning is that of a life of abundance and prosperity, characterized by economic rewards that enable one to live a middle class life of comfort. Here, success is measured by material possessions such as beautiful homes, cars, a high income, and the ability to spend on luxury items. America is considered a land of plenty, and as such, many who come to the United States in search of the American dream have this form of success in mind.
The American Dream has changed; it is no longer the same as it was fifty or even one hundred years ago. Today, people not only search for prosperity and wealth, but they also search for happiness, equality, and determination. The American Dream is for everyone, not just the rich. The term “The American Dream” is a term used to describe the American way of life in general. It is a noun stating “the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” Dreams are not limited to just one social class, everyone has a different version of the American Dream but they all work together in a community to create an organized, working society. A dream is a cherished aspiration, ambition, or idea that is open to anyone.
Growing up Sam Goodman and I were always close and our group of friends spent a lot of time at his house, his father was always nice and welcoming and made sure to make us all feel at home. As I grew older I became more curious as to what his occupation was so I started to pay more attention to what he had to say. Today, Scott Goodman is not only someone I know on a personal level, but also someone that I admire, being a business major. In interviewing Scott Goodman I had the chance to pick his brain about his transformation from an average mid-western teenager to one of the biggest real estate tycoons in the country. Growing up in Evanston Scott was an average teenager; he played sports, had a lot of friends, and came from a middle class family.
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.