The Illusion of the American Dream

718 Words2 Pages

People will journey far and wide, traverse the entire continent, suffer all manner of pain and suffering, if they believe that, in the end, they will be rewarded. That is why it comes as no surprise when people from other countries struggle to get to America, believing the ancient tale of "the American Dream", convinced that they will finally make it big in this land of riches. But they find out it is not like that. The American dream is the idea held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one can achieve prosperity. In itself, the American Dream is an illusion. In Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, an illusion is defined as ‘a misleading or deceiving image presented to the vision as a perception of something objectively existing in such a way as to cause misinterpretation of its actual nature.’ Similarly, many of the goals and desires that the American Dream holds are not always what they seem to be. On the surface, they may seem to be what everyone wants, however below is the real truth about these desires and their consequen...

Open Document