Is The American Dream Still Alive

The article “Is the American Dream Dying?” implies, “The American Dream is not dead”…”It just got a little more difficult to achieve” (Rickert 3). The inquisition of whether the American Dream is still alive or deceased remains a debate today. A multitude of individuals believe the American Dream has become impossible to obtain. On the other hand, others have come to a conclusion that the American Dream is still alive and transforming with individual aspects of life. Due to the evidence of changing family structure and growing individuality, the American Dream is indeed alive and evolving with new aspirations of the future.

Many years ago today, the United States of America was the prime example of prosperity and opportunity. It established America with the idea that its citizens would be guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today, it is true that people have liberties and are free to pursue happiness. However, in recent years, in the worst recession since the Great Depression. Unemployment, growing economy inequality, and medical care have skyrocketed. Despite the odds, the American Dream is still a goal that many people strive for and hope to reach. In fact, an essay written by Brandon King, The American Dream: Dead, Alive or on Hold? He says, “the American dream is a dream in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with the opportunity for each according to his/her ability and achievement…” (King 610-611). Therefore, the problem with the American Dream lies not within the dream itself, but within the means people pursue to attain this dream.

"I think the American Dream says that anything can happen if you work hard enough at it and are persistent, and have some ability. The sky is the limit to what you can build, and what can happen to you and your family" expressed Sanford I. Weill. The American Dream is still alive and obtainable. Many people have a definition of what the American Dream that is obtainable in their minds. People all have unique individual lives.

America still to this day holds on to the idea of the “American Dream”. This is rather surprising in today’s society and the ups and downs that the nation is facing. The dream in the past was more about freedom and equality. Moving through the decades, this dream has morphed into something quite different. Instead of what America means for all of its inhabitants, the nation has become more individualized. Society has moved to interpret the dream of what America can do for the one. Instead of the unified nation, America has been known for in the past, a shift has started creating an inconsistency in who can realize the dream. The myth of the “American Dream” has been hugely affected by increased materialism, the gap in economic status, and the fantasy of “rags to riches” idea.

Nowadays, many Americans wonder if the American Dream is still alive. At one point in our country, people felt that they could achieve success by working hard. However, after the economic hardships and recession of the 21st century, a number of Americans not only lost income, but some also lost their jobs. Although there has been slow progression to improve the economy, there are those who question whether or not the dream of Americans can ever be achieved again. With unemployment levels still high and salaries failing to increase, there certainly is doubt in most of Americans. In his essay, Brandon King formulates ways to redefine and change the way to look at the American dream. After analyzing King’s essay, one can see his view as believing that the dream is still very much intact. As he points out, the American economy is a very complex system that has had downfalls, but there is always a way to get back up from it. Regardless of your economic status (poor or middle class), if one has a working job, it is possible to succeed based on how much someone is willing to work to achieve their goals. As King would agree, the American dream is not only still alive and well, but anyone can reach success.

Being equal means that we all have that opportunity to succeed, it doesn 't mean that we all have the same things. Some people will work much harder to succeed, they should have more than people who don 't want to work to succeed.The American Dream is that every United States citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, initiative, and happiness. But many wonder if it is still alive today. Many studies have proven that the American dream is still alive today. The American Dream still exists because the unemployment ratio has decreased , the salary for the jobs has increased, and people have freedom.

The American Dream is the result of possibilities and success. The term “American Dream” was been invented by James Truslow Adams in 1931: “That 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.” Another reference to the American Dream appears in the Declaration of Independence (1776). The author wrote that people are “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The question of the debate was: “Is the American Dream Still Alive and Well?”

The American Dream as it is defined cannot simply hold true without preservation of it’s ideals. An ideal is maintained by the people. Enjoying the benefits the American Dream promises requires each person to uphold its ideals among his fellows. If this were the case, the original definition might have been preserved. The problem is that other factors kicked in which prioritized wealth and status among people which interfered with the ability of others to pursue the dream. From there, the American Dream gradually changed from hard work to status.

Student debt in the United States is one of the biggest growing economic threats in our nation today; college students are taking out large loans for four year public, and private colleges and generally cannot pay off the loans until 10 years after they graduate: “Without student loans many cannot attend college, but many students don't pay off loans until 10 years after they graduate, on average for a bachelor's degree it can take up to 21 years to pay off.” (Johnson), which affects the way graduates succeed after they are out. No solution has been found, and many are blind from the issue, Hans Johnson of the Institute of California says:  “Student debt has hurt the employment, and wage prospects

Dreams are merely your own fantasies living within your mind. The American Dream is anything you believe it to be, all depending on each individual's mentality. If there was a better way of saying this, it would be like this: “Never let it be said that to dream is a waste of one’s time, for dreams are our realities in waiting. In dreams, we plant the seeds of our future” (unknown). The American Dream is a misconception for the ways that society has portrayed it to be. As how society paints a portrait in the minds of people, that America is only about freedom and equality where life comes easier than it does in other countries. There is no right way to fulfill the American Dream. For some it may be to simply emigrate to the U.S, to provide a better life for

In the articles, “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold by Brandon King, the author argues his opinions on the American dream and how it still alive and attainable, although he realizes that the dream is not the same as it was before. At the time King wrote this article, he was a student at the University of Cincinnati in 2011, three years after the stock market crash in 2008. With the timing of the stock market crashing, this gave King the idea of writing about the American dream and how it is today. When the article was published in the college book “They say, I say” we the reader saw that King redefined the American Dream as "the potential to work for an honest, secure way of life and save for the future." Replacing what he described

Does America still provide the American Dream? It does, after reading the three poems I have, learned that America does still provide access to the American Dream. And is alive, the examples I will give you, shows how alive the dream is in America. Introducing the first example I read, is the poem called "Ellis Island" the author Joseph Bruchac, you'll find that he's an American writer with both European immigrant ancestors and Native American, The speaker of this poem is not an immigrant just arriving in the United States. He's the grandson of immigrants who came to the U.S. almost a century ago. He rejoices for the Slovak immigrants who found new opportunities in the U.S., but for the ancestors who were here before the Europeans, the American

In my opinion, America does not provide access to the American dream as originally intended. The American Dream was the belief that hard-working citizens could better their lives, provide a better life for their children, and save enough money to live comfortably after they retire. Some would argue that the American dream is still accessible, however, evidence shows that Americans are struggling financially and not quite receiving the opportunities and access to reaching that “American Dream”. I think America does not provide access to the American dream because of the real stories and speeches shared about American people’s struggles and unfair realities in attaining their American dream. My counterclaim describes the originally intended

Brandon King, a law student who majored in political science, writes on topics of inequality and political structures in the United States. One of his published works, The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?, debates his interpretation of the notion of the American Dream and whether the concept is dead, alive, or on hold. The speaker emphasizes his belief that the common phrase is still alive within America and that one must work hard in order to achieve it. When it comes to the topic of the American Dream, King will eagerly agree that the idea is still alive and thriving in the minds of Americans; however, I deem that the idea is on hold within American society due to lack of upward social position and economic mobility.

Anyone coming or currently living in the United States has a dream, or better yet known as the American Dream. What is the American Dream? Well, Brandon King, author of “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?” quoted James Truslow Adams, who wrote that the American Dream “is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability and achievement, regardless of coral class or circumstances of birth”(610). Everyone’s American Dreams are all different, but a majority of them all have a few things in common, that is becoming financially fit, acquiring a good education, and pursuing the opportunities that were not available. Brandon King expresses that the ideals and values of the American Dream are very much alive. However, Paul Krugman author of “Confronting Inequalities” bring up several excellent points as well, regarding that not all Americans can pursue the American Dream because of all the inequalities Americans currently possesses. Achieving the American Dream is not impossible, but it is harder to attain now than how it used to be with social, income, and racial inequalities being the primary cause. As of now individuals has to overcome many of bias barriers to reach the American Dream which used to be a lot easier to gain back in the 1940s-50s.