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Achieving The American Dream

Decent Essays

The American Dream has been a talked about topic ever since America was created. But how achievable is it for an average American citizen? The Old Man and The sea, The Jungle, Of Mice and Men, and A Raisin in the Sun all show that the American Dream is possible if one has the right mindset and takes advantage of opportunities. In The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, the idea that the American Dream is achievable with the right mindset is a present theme. First, Santiago is a very unlucky fisher. He never catches anything, but when he does it is very big. When he was fishing after 84 days of not catching anything, he caught a fish bigger than his boat. His personal American Dream was to catch a big fish because he never caught …show more content…

In Packingtown, success is all about taking advantage of your opportunities and doing whatever it takes to get on the top. In the beginning of the book Jurgis, Ona, and their family are ready for anything. They all find good jobs that they are all able to succeed with and they are ready for anything thrown at them. Their American Dream is as simple as just living in America. They are all taking opportunities given to them, like staying late to help clean up the slaughterhouse because they know that the longer they work, the more they get paid. Taking those opportunities leads to them beccoming closer to acheiving their American Dream. When they have the mindset that they need to take all of their opportunities, things go good for them. They have food, they have money, they can buy a house, Jurgis and Ona can get married, however; when that mindset falls, so do they. Towards the middle and end of the book the family forgets what it means to take any opportunity they can get. And with that, things start to go bad for them. “But now the income of teh family was cut down more than one-third, adn the food demand as cut only one-eleventh, so that they were worse off than ever,” (Sinclair 128). Maria loses her jobs which she was great at, and at first she is reluctant to work anywhere else. She doesn’t want to work at the slaughterhouse, so instead of taking the …show more content…

First of all, the Youngers start off without much money, and they are very cautious of where their money goes.. Later on, Mama receives money from her husband's death. Instead of giving the money to Walter Lee to start up a business, she buys a house for the entire family in an all white community. That news gave a bittersweet feeling for the family because Walter was upset that he didn’t get that money, also the family was happy to get a house, but they were not going to be accepted in that community. To add onto the surprising things happening, a representative from the new subdivision comes and talks to the Youngers and tries to pay them to not move into the community. They believe that having a family of color living in the area will disrupt the harmony already developed in the town. They Youngers pridefully kick the man out. Later on, Walter’s partner gives him the gut wrenching news that his money has been stolen and that he can’t get it back. Walter Lee seems to almost snap and decides to go to the man from his new subdivision and ask for money to not move into the house. The Younger’s American Dream is to both make their dead father happy, and also be able to support themselves. Walter is blinded by the money and he is unable to see the other side of the American Dream. Walter and the man discuss the

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