My Family: The American Dream

My family isn’t exactly the perfect American family, most have a: mom, dad, brother, sister, two sets of grandparents, and maybe a few aunts and uncles. Both of my parents work in the medical field and my brother went to school to be a teacher. Growing up with a brother six years older was difficult, since we didn’t share many interests or hobbies. He always played sports and went places with friends. We never were very close growing up.

This essay, The Myth of the Model American Family, is a discussion of the concept of an ideal family in the different perspective specifically social, cultural and economic. This is also an attempt to identify the structural changes in relation to the global development and the international economic crisis that immensely created impact on their lives. However, the discussion will limit itself on the different identifiable and observable transformations as manifested in the lifestyles, interrelationships and views of family members and will not seek to provide an assessment of their psycho-social and individual perceptions.

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,

My birth took place in Mar del Plata, Argentina, into a family of six including myself. Years passed, my mother gave birth to a girl and was pregnant soon after to another. My father, a strong laboring mechanic decided that it was time he moved his three boys and soon to be three girls from the home he literally built with his bare hands alone, to another country with grander opportunities, not for himself, but for his six children. He decided that with the money that cost him years of tireless work and stress he could only afford passage for himself. He set off for the United States and for months he worked day in and day out, any job he could get his hands on. He paid for our flight and had a modest, dainty apartment awaiting our arrival.

Through everybody’s eyes is their own version of the American Dream. Whether it’s the stereotypical dream with a good job, a family, and a house with a white picket fence, or it could be just getting by at the end of the month financially. The American Dream doesn’t have a specific image but rather a particular mindset. Lots of people have a goal in their life that they have to work hard to be successful towards that goal, but in most cases that goal may be unrealistic.

The American Dream is indefinable. There is no one set of words or characteristics that the entire population assigns directly to its definition. With the American population consisting of people of various races, ethnicities, ages, classes, and genders, it seems trivial to even attempt to attribute a single definition to the concept of the American Dream. It is this inability however, to be confined within one single meaning, that allows for the American Dream to govern the desires and goals of the large and diverse American population. And, regardless of all of the heterogeneity within society, the American Dream is generally a goal of all American peoples. In examining this idea, I began to think about the specific meanings attributed to the American Dream for different types of individuals. I broadly outlined the American Dream for myself, to represent the belief in hard work as a pathway to success and raising oneself in society. Consequently, this higher position in society allows for the possession of increased amounts of power. My definition however, neglects to take into account the certain other societal constructs that could possibly have a decisive role in how to both define and achieve the American Dream for the wide variety of people who pursue it.

American Dream: Noun, the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American. That is the definition of the American dream according to Dictionary.com, but the American Dream is more than a definition, but a way of life for many. Millions of immigrants come to our country in search of this “American Dream” including my grandparents but more and more are disappointed. So does the American Dream exist? Has it ever existed or has it all been an illusion?

With the visit I adopted views of life that I will forever carry. I realize that I am privileged as my roots are tied to an island of poverty. However, your possessions do not dictate where you end up, your drive and passion does. Although I was raised by a single mother who immigrated to the United States at the age of 16, I will make the most of the hand I was

The families in America are steadily changing. While they remain our most valued and consistent source of strength and comfort, some families are becoming increasingly unstructured. In the past, the typical family consists of a working father, a stay at home mother and, of course, well-rounded children. Today, less than 20 percent of American families fit nicely into this cookie cutter image. American households have never been more diverse. Natalie Angier takes stock of the changing definition of family in an article for the New York Times.

The American Dream is a concept that is essentially older than the United States, dating back to the seventeenth century. It was then when people began to come up with hopes and aspirations for the newly discovered, unexplored continent. The “American Dream” is in essence the idea in that puts forward the notion that all people can succeed through hard work, that all people have the right to the pursuit of happiness, and be successful. The definition of the American Dream has been expanded upon and redefined over time. The concept of the American Dream has always been debated and put under criticism. There are many that believe the structure of American Society belies the idealistic goal of the American Dream. It points out examples of

People and family outside the United States will risk and sacrifice anything to get the chance to come to the United States to seek the American Dream, and equal opportunity to achieve success through liberty and pursue their dreams of happiness. My father was one of those people who made it out, to survive one of the most impoverished counties in the world. My father, Isaac E. Otitigbe, was born on December 25th, in 1958, in the city of Ishan, located inside of Delta State, Nigeria. He is dark skin, six feet tall and weighs one sixty pounds. He is a hard worker and never settles for less. Although he had to overcome many challenges, he made it to the United States to achieve his dream.

The American Dream is the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work and determination. My grandmother, Rosa Lemus is the embodiment of hard work and determination. My grandmother was born in the impoverished country of Honduras, where she was the eldest of eleven children. Initially, my grandmother was a star student throughout her primary schooling as she was given many awards and honors for her academics. However, financial pressure to help put food on the table forced her to drop out of school at the age thirteen, her parents thought of school as a want, not a need. My grandmother began making a living as a seamstress making dresses and tailoring clothes for people around her area, that still was not enough to make ends meet for her family. This went on for years, my grandmother dedicated her youth to help her parents raise her siblings and bringing home food on the table. My grandmother had dreams, dreams of one day being able to provide a better future for her family, she knew what she needed to do. Once my grandmother had children of her own, she realized that the only way she would be able to provide for them would be in America, the land of opportunities. She traveled in the pouring rain while crossing the border in Salvador, ventured through the humid jungles of Guatemala, and endured the scorching heat in Mexico. My grandmother was willing to suffer and endure many hardships alone to reach this country. Once she was able to have stability, she also brought her four children to the states with the help of my grandfather, who was her boyfriend at the time. Life was not as easy in America as she imagined, there were four other mouths to feed along with herself, not to mention rent. Some people would give up in the face of adversities such as this, however, my grandmother rose to the occasion and tackled these adversities head on. My grandmother earned an honest living, which helped provide stability for her children. She was able to achieve this by working two jobs day in and day out for about ten to twelve years. She got very little sleep and cried on bus rides from job to job. Despite facing harsh obstacles, my grandmother came

n the upcoming page’s I will answer the following questions. Why is family the most important agent of socialization? What caused the dramatic changes to the American family? What are the changes? I will discuss the differences in marriage and family, I will discuss how they are linked to class, race, gender, and personal choices. The purpose of this study is to explore the many different family functions and the paths that people are now choosing. I will give my opinion on whether these changes have had a positive or negative affect. I will finally discuss the trend of the modern family, back to pre-World War II family structure, how would that effect the strides that have been made in the progression of women rights.

My parents mean a lot to me and they have inspired me in many ways. They are people that no matter what they have been through, they always think positive. I was raised in Houston, Texas with both of my parents and my two older brothers. Both of my parents are Mexican, but they grew up in very different environments.

The ideal American family was transformed in the 19th century in large part due to the great changes taking place in the American society. Many family groups fit this changing mold while some did not. In this essay I will show how this concept of the ideal American family changed. I will also try to explain which groups of Americans followed this concept and why.