Analysis Of Our Kids: The American Dream In Crisis

Most people assume the American dream is about achieving the nostalgic ideal of 1950s family life—Dad in charge of the household, Mom always looking pretty, and their children happily obedient and affectionate. The belief that success means living in a suburban home with a nuclear family causes many Americans to disparage any lifestyle that departs from this false image of family life. In truth, the suburbs are full of dysfunctional families and overdeveloped housing tracts. Many people in America cannot afford to buy a home, and most families do not fit the fifties-era ideal. Nonetheless, the media and advertisers continue to promote the delusion of the American dream, and consumers continue to spend their money in hope of achieving it. However,

As the phenomenal politician Bernie Sanders once said, “For many, the American dream has become a nightmare.” In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by Scott Fitzgerald, the “American Dream” plays a crucial role in the plot. Gatsby devotes his life to accomplish his American Dream which consists of wealth and Daisy’s love. But is the American Dream actually what it seems to be? Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald utilizes the symbolic value of the Valley of Ashes, East Egg, and the significance of the color yellow to constantly establish that opulence and the American Dream is deceiving as it leads to moral and societal corruption.

What is the American Dream? Is it home ownership, gaining fame or wealth, having a great family or is it gaining a peace of mind? Many people have different versions of what the American Dream is, some people believe the dream is lost, and some people are right in the middle and still believe the American Dream is still alive. “The American Dream” by Brandon King debates about what the true state is left in the American Dream now. Throughout the essay, King asks if the American Dream is dead, alive, on hold or just changing due to economic hardship. King believes that the American Dream is still alive even though there are people who believe it's not, and is defined today as the ability to work hard, plan for the forthcoming and have a

We have all heard of this intense rollercoaster ride that we are on called the American Dream. The term was coined by James Truslow Adams in 1931 defining it as “dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.” Since it’s arrival, the Dream has evolved from a pursuit towards “freedom, mutual respect, and equal opportunity” (Shiller) to later one of greed described by Shiller as being “excessively lustful about homeownership and wealth” beginning in the 1960s. Traditionally, the American Dream included features of a nuclear family, that is one with a breadwinning father, a housewife, and two kids, owning a white picket fence home, thriving without financial worries, and a happy family. There has been a shift in focus for the Dream caused by the Millennial generation and in turn they have included features that place an emphasis on equality in all aspects of their lives from family life to the workplace placing their own twist on the Dream. The American Dream has evolved over time to include equal opportunities, college education, and happy family.

David Kamp's 2009 Vanity Fair article "Rethinking the American Dream" focuses on the general perception of the ‘American Dream’ and how it has evolved throughout our nation’s history. It clearly states that as the average American household's lifestyle has become more and more consumer-oriented, the original spirit that invigorated and united its people from the age of western expansion to the Great Depression has begun to fade. The dream has been dampened as the vision of "success" has become more focused on gaining material/getting rich quick, rather than working hard all throughout one’s life to attain what they want and desire.

As I read The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs it shows the most enduring conflicts in America: race, class, drugs, community, imprisonment, education, family, friendship, and love. Robs’ story is about the collision of two fiercely insular worlds; the campus of Yale University and Newark, New Jersey and the difficulty of going from one to another and then back again. This book reflects a lot about the Book “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis” written by Robert D. Putnam. Putnam mainly talks about the state of upward mobility, the changes to family life, neighborhoods and schools in ways that give big advantages to children at the top and make it even harder for those below to work their way up. Putnam challenges the promise of the American Dream “that anyone, regardless of his or her origins, can have a fair start in life”. Personally as I was growing up that’s all I was taught about, this so called “American Dream” that everyone works so hard for and how hard it is to live this dream. The fear of not being able to live this dream made Rob want to do everything in his power to be able to make as much money as he can and to live this “American Dream” with his mother.

In her 1961 essay “What Has Happened to the American Dream?”, Eleanor Roosevelt stated that “no single individual and no single group has an exclusive claim to the American dream...but we have all a vision of what it is, not merely as a hope and an aspiration, but as a way of life, which we can come ever closer to attaining its ideal form if we keep our belief in its essential value”. The belief of pursuing the American dream is one that has been instilled since the formation of the country itself, and with those beliefs come those who pursue it. Unfortunately, achieving this dream is not without difficulty, and those who realize the true obstacles in front of them turn to other ways to sustain themselves in this nation. Not everyone has an equal opportunity to pursue the American dream because of social exclusion, the government prioritizing the wrong issues, and economic gaps, which has thus led to organized crime, however some say that all citizens do have the equal opportunity.

Reeves, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies Co-Director, Center on Children and Families they state that “There is a growing marriage gap along class lines in America. This may be bad news for social mobility, since children raised by married parents typically do better in life on almost every available economic and social measure.” (Howard and Reeves para. 1) This first portion of the article talks about how not a lot of people are getting married and people not getting married may be causing a whole dilemma within social and economic mobility which in result leads to more families living in poverty. In addition, Howard and Reeves written “In 1950, almost 90 percent of children age 0-14 lived with married parents-- now that proportion has fallen to less than two-thirds of children. The gap in marriage is growing, especially in terms of childbearing. While marriage is struggling against cultural, social and economic headwinds in poorer communities, it is flourishing among affluent, well-educated Americans who are both more likely to marry and more likely to stay married.” (Howard and Reeves para 3.). In paragraph 3 of “The Marriage Effect: Money or Parenting?” they write about how back in the 1950s 90 percent of children grew up in a parenting household but now two parenting house has decreased than two thirds of the

The American Dream is becoming less attainable, and now resembles a myth that Americans can only hope to achieve. In Robert Putnam’s Our Kids: The American Dream Crisis,the author begins his book by analyzing his own hometown, then branches out to other locations in showing the growing disparity within communities and families. Putman portrays the growing class differences through statistics and narratives on actual people. In this essay I will evaluate Putnam’s book and apply it to the actions of the Democratic and Republican parties during the 2016 Presidential Election, and outline two objections I have relating to Putnam’s arguments.

What is the American Dream? Is the American Dream still alive? How do we maintain the American Dream? These are all questions that Brandon King answers thoroughly in his article The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?. King gives us reason to believe that the once strongly believed in American Dream is far from dead. He goes so far as to even tell us how to keep it alive. King does make it clear, however, that the Dream has changed from what it once was.

In the essays “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?” by Brandon King and “Confronting Inequality” by Paul Krugman, the authors discuss a wide variety of ideas that affect or maintain the idea of income inequality in America today. In the essay by Brandon King, he clearly states that the values of the American Dream are still alive today, but are getting harder and harder to achieve for the average person. King argues that the American Dream of today has drastically changed from what it used to be, and that the thought of being successful only lays within having a steady life with little to no struggle. However, in “Confronting Inequality”, Krugman has a different approach on the topic, arguing that the American Dream is no longer alive. Krugman states that the rise of income inequality will also lead heavily to social inequality, and that the rise of income inequality is a huge cause of social inequality as well. The two authors use a majority of viewpoints and methods to explore the same topic of inequality. However, there are also many ways in which both authors offer different sides of the argument and how it should be handled.

In an average day, an American is exposed to over 3000 advertisements, (Kilbourne). Whether they want to admit it or not, they are drawn toward them. A common scheme of the advertisers is to allow the consumer to “picture the new them.” Whether this be a wealthier them, a skinner them, or a prettier them, they gear there product towards every person and want everyone be able to connect with the advertisement and picture the “new them.” American Idol, Nutrisystem, and The Biggest Loser, the lottery, and many other “products” promote that anyone has the chance to be famous, fit, or fortunate. The successes from these “products” present themselves as they were before, with the sob story that hopefully touches a nerve with

Speaker Critique of “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis” Like all great speeches given throughout history such as Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address or President Obama’s 2004 Introduction speech, Robert D. Putnam comes off as a passionate speaker regarding the topic of his “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis” speech. Putnam’s speech was held in Meacham Auditorium in the Oklahoma Memorial Union at the University of Oklahoma. The speaking situation is as follows, the auditorium was a standard three section auditorium that can hold approximately one hundred and fifty individuals, in addition to a second level balcony that holds approximately fifty extra individuals. Moreover, at the front of the room was the stage with its curtains closed and a projector screen brought down, also a podium was on the stage with the seal of the University of Oklahoma attached to the

Do you believe America truly represents its people correctly, or even as a whole? Are you able to see what America wants us to discern? The beauty, the great, the American dream? But truly what is the American dream? Just some fictionalized phrase that’s meant to strike hope into it’s people, or something that we should live up to, try all our lives yet have never even had a glimpse of its truth. Strikingly I cease to believe it exists, according to the standards one must live up to, to reach it. The future of tomorrow depends on the youth of today. We, the youth are confused, influenced, and tainted by so much that happens in the world today. How will society continue to grow without the youth? How will the leaders of today help the youth

On a brisk September day in 2011, in the commercial district of Manhattan Island, a minute protest in Liberty Square commenced against the fiscal atrocities committed by economic establishments leading to the financial crisis and subsequent economic recession in 2007 and 2008. Over the course of the month, the movement protesting the miscarriage of justice and democracy following the economic catastrophe and the overall inequitable and unfair wealth distribution diffused to over 100 American cities as well as 1,500 cities worldwide. The revolutionary movement was named Occupy Wall Street and through occupying and protesting the symbolic location of the financial elite, Wall Street, the crusade aimed to “[revolt] against the corrosive power