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The American dream is the very foundation this country was built on. The belief that an individual can take their dreams and make them into reality . By actually taking the cards you've been dealt and changing your life with enough perseverance, self sacrifice and dedication and not relying on luck or chance. Initially, the dream is based on the concept of being able to achieve upward mobility in society regardless of your race, gender, economical and social background. It relies solely on the belief that everyone is considered equal. Unfortunately, it was an extremely long time before this country was able to succeed in providing those rights to all individuals. "Inequality, then, is less an inevitability than a choice… we can alter the course of inequality" (Leonhardt 543). What makes one person achieve and obtain the American dream over someone else or is it just one huge hoax? …show more content…
In the 1950's the "Baby Boomers" perfect American Dream focused primarily on being financially comfortable and stable to support their family. By the 1970's another shift "people without culture or education [having] the money to not only indulge their passions, but flaunt them" (McClelland 550) no longer exists. Currently, in todays society majority of Americans work long hours to have a place to call home regardless if they have a family or not. While, others must depend on support from the state and federal government just to survive and basic needs.
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 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
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
The American Dream is something that anyone no matter their background, social standings, or ethnicity can improve their life through hard work.
The American Dream is an idea that anyone can live in the United States through hard work and live happy successful lives. There are many obstacles that would stand in the way from achieving the American Dream. Fear, money and education/training, families changing in size, disability, race and gender, are some of the hurdles that many Americans face as they try to achieve the typical American Dream.
How hard is it to live the life of an American? Is the American Dream feasible? The American Dream is easily available for the people who are wanting to work hard, willing to stand up and be brave to express what they feel, and hopeful for the better as they live their life day by day, yet the American Dream isn’t easy to attain for some because they are afraid to fail, and they do not have any confidence. The American Dream is the idea of coming to the United States and believing that there is something better for you than what you had before coming to America. The American Dream is attainable for every American, but every American who wants the dream must follow these simple directions as being willing to work hard, willing to stand up
"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.
The American Dream is something that does not catch most people’s attention. The dream started with Martin Luther King Jr., a man who wanted his kind to be treated fairly equal as others. We all have something to fight for and in the eyes of these great people the fight was a tremendous one. The people had their eyes on the prize which focused on segregation, equality, and freedom. “Reach high, for the stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal” (Pamela Vaull Starr).
Comparing the perspective of the American dream in the 1920’s to the American Dream in the 1940’s and present day seems to be a repeating cycle. The American dream is always evolving and changing. The American dream for present day is similar to the dream of the 1920’s. An Ideal of the American life is to conform to what our society has determined is success. Money, materialism and status had replaced the teachings of our founding fathers in the 1920’s. A return to family values and hard work found its way back into American’s lives in the 1940’s. The same pursuit of that indulgent lifestyle that was popular in the roaring twenty’s has returned today for most Americans, many Americans are living on credit and thinking that money and the accumulation of material items can solve all problems. Through film, literature, art and music, an idealized version of what it means to be an American has changed from money, materialism, and status of the 1920s to hard work and family values of the forties.
It was understood that the American Dream was that of a theory of achieving a goal of being a successful person was only through the act of hard work, determination, and persistence. Toward the end of the First World War, America’s mindset started to shift from the impact from the brutality of the war. When the war ended in 1918, the better part of the nation felt the devastation and alienation caused from the war. The faith in the American Dream was eroding quickly. Society discovered that honor and courage would not protect them in the war as they once thought. All that the American Dream stood for began to shake. In the war, it seemed, the power-thirst and selfish people were rewarded rather than the people who actually made an effort to do the good for all of the people. World War One was clarification to society that the American Dream did not match the twentieth century philosophy.
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
The self-made man in the 1920s embodied a man who once struggled to get by, but picked up his life by working hard, and became wealthy and therefore happy. People of the 1920s began to “enshrine wealth as the essence of value” (Beder). In The Definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams, Adams defined the American Dream as "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” The American Dream was promoted and glorified in this era to the extent that it became an unrealistic illusion and unattainable to most. Books and stories that “emphasised ‘hard work, punctuality, and reliability’” (Beder) became popular. Real life American success stories caught the attention
Throughout the novel “Of Mice and Men” the author, John Steinbeck, alludes the impossibility of the American Dream through the unaccomplished dreams of most of the characters had such as George, Lennie, Curley’s wife, Candy, and Crooks. Along with the broken dreams, there are many obstacles that could prevent the dream to come true and many omens that there will not be a happy ending for the characters.
The American Dream was and always will be something that makes America great. It allows those with aspirations to make them come true. In America alone needs is a dream and the motivation to carry out that dream. Ambition is the driving force behind the American Dream. It allows any one that has an aspiration, a desire, a yearning, to carry out the individual dream. It knows no bounds of race, creed, gender or religion. It stands for something great, something that every one can strive towards. A dream can be a desire for something great. In America, the American Dream allows dreams to become realities. According to Webster's New World Dictionary, the American Dream is defined as "An American social ideal that' stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity". To live this dream is to succeed. It allows anyone, rich or poor to have the opportunity to succeed. It is the ability to come from nothing and become so me thing. To succeed at any thing you do, you must have patience and persistence. It requires hard work, persistence and a desire for something better. To have these qualities and the desire and ambition to carry the moutis part of the American Dream.
From the birth of America, to America today, the driving force and the heart of America has always been the “American Dream.” The “American Dream” is a goal for many of people who live in the realms of the Americanized world. I believe that the “American Dream” is controlling my own destiny, becoming successful, and living free. Examples of this dream are things like television, automobiles, supermarkets, malls, Internet, planes, trains, etc. The “American Dream” is success, freedom, and being able to control your own destiny.