Pursuing The American Dream

Coming into a different world from a small village in Europe, into a world that makes your dreams come true, into a world that gives us so many opportunities, so many ideas, and so much love. In my own village, the village where people were happy just because they had bread to eat and water to drink. Young people like me tried to accomplish our goals every day and become successful personages, so we would then be able to help our parents, our grandparents, and just people who we loved, and just everyone in our little peaceful village. Coming to America was something like a dream within a dream. Now Knowing that accomplishing my goal is right next to me, it feels different. It’s a feeling that many are wishing to have but never get. Now, I know

Everyone has their own ideas and concepts of “The American Dream” however; it is not so easy to actually achieve and attain it. Many factors play into what it takes to maintain “The American Dream” such as where a person comes from or how they were raised. Not everyone is capable of actually achieving their own dream but it doesn't stop them from having it set as a goal to reach. Many obstacles stand in the way such as growing up in an unequal society, not working towards the set goal, and not having a quality education.

In America, prosperity is at its highest level which United States citizens have never seen before. There are moments where agony and devastation go straight to the heart and it emotionally takes a toll on America. With all the borders and obstacles people have to face, positive success is reached through the American Dream. Everyone has a different definition of the American Dream, but all have the dream and goals of success. People will say that not everybody has the chance at the American Dream, but that’s false. Real Americans put their mind to matter, no matter what the circumstances are. It is a long-lasting fight, but aspiration turns into achieved triumph.

I was born in a middle class family in China and my parents care about me very much. Before I was even born, my farther adjusted the business hour of his clinic to make more profit by accepting more patients and my mother was a nurse who worked in my dad’s clinic, so they saved the money to send me to school and prepare to move to the U.S. Most of the members of my family already moved to the U.S. Moreover, once my aunt got her U.S. citizenship, she, as the sponsor, was able to apply for us to come. When I was 15, we finally got our immigrant visas and my parents told me we were ready for move to the America. Therefore, we sold everything we had in China we were staying at my uncle’s house in Hong Kong because we need to take the airplane from Hong Kong to Missouri, U.S. I still remember what my uncle said to me because he looked at me with a very serious face that caught my attention. “Qianxin, the America is different from China. I’ve heard people said life in the America is harder than China. However, if you work hard enough, you will get what you deserve.” The words are always in my mind. I tried to do my best in school and in everything because I want to be the person who can help my family.

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.

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.

I am not a bricklayer, but a builder; building upon my parent’s dedication to pursue a better life for themselves and for their children. As the son of a naturalized Arab-American father, whose Palestinian origins show me the meaning of being a minority, and a Palestinian immigrant mother, who inspires me to continue pursuing my aspirations amidst the daunting and unknown road ahead, I endlessly strive to achieve my American dream.

I believe that being bilingual is essential for every individual, but getting on that bilingual level can be hard for someone if he comes from a different country that has different cultures and languages. I was born in Honduras, and I lived there for 14 years. I moved to US in 2014. I came to the US because I wanted to achieve the American Dream. I also believe that if I want to achieve my dreams, I must face different obstacles that will make me better as a person and will prepare me for my future . When I first arrived to the US, I didn’t think that not being able to speak English would be a big obstacle. I had a hard time in school because I did not know English. However, I learned that every obstacle can be overcome if I persevere and put effort to overcome it. Moreover, I believe that I can inspire others

Another reason why all Americans have an equal opportunity at achieving their American Dream is because everybody has access to an education in their early years and that’s the backbone to finding a good career that you enjoy doing later on in life. Don’t take your education for granted and every opportunity you get to learn something new, take it and make the most out of it. The more you know, the better off you’ll be. If you have the chance, continue your education after high school in a particular field you want to partake in. Unfortunately, some families don’t have the cash to further their kid’s education, but that shouldn’t stop you from finding a good career. Some of the data I collected from

Life is changing everyday, America’s question today is if the American Dream is attainable or not. The answer to this question is yes, it is attainable. With evolution, the American dream has been modified throughout the years. It is defined as “the idea that the American way of life offers the possibility of unlimited economic, social, etc success to every individual” (The Chambers Dictionary). Many people called the American Dream, the “good life”. Starting as a simple dream, with today’s world, it has become more complex, and is hard to come by. America is not giving up, and with our work ethics, hope, and opportunities our country gives us, the dream will always be there for us citizens.

According to many, the American Dream is still growing and prospering, but in order for one to achieve it they must possess the traits of determination, perseverance, and collaboration. We went around the school and interviewed some of our teachers in order to gain knowledge on the subject of how people in this society are achieving the American Dream. When the teachers were interviewed about social mobility, both of them said that at at least one point in their lives, they had to persevere through tough times. For example, Mrs. Kroboth said, “When I first got out of the air force there was an obstacle because of my career set skills set that I had and the jobs available at the time didn’t really match up”. At that time, she had to develop a whole new set of career skills through hard work to find an available job in the current society.

How would you feel if your perception of the american dream did live up to its own standards? In Barbara Ehrenreich’s book The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, she argues that white collar workers are limited to their capability by the harsh reality. People assume being part of the middle class in america will be the answer to a better lifestyle but it just hasn’t been case over the past decades. Teachers tell their students the key to success is thru higher education and parents portray college as a door to more opportunities and benefits. People say the reasons behind someone else’s economic woes and life hardships are determined thru the decisions they made throughout life. Dropping out of high School, not going to college, working dead end jobs on wages. Who would be to blame for the situations they end up in? safe to say they can blame themselves. A better question is who do you blame for the ones that do go to college, receive degrees, and have credentials to end up in situations just like the ones that didn’t go to college. Society should also be to blame since economic downturns do not just affect people individually but as a nation. America has an image of the college student as being a bright person going in the right right direction that will bring nothing but promises and assurance of a better future. The reality is that everyone has their own definition of the american dream, but the success is not just

Many immigrants like Andrew Ly are very lucky to even come to America because hard work and dedication aren’t the only factors in achieving the American dream; it also depends on how fortunate you may be. Some people will be very lucky and can achieve their goals very easily, while some others must work harder than most to get where they want to be and achieve their dreams. The American dream in the 1930s compared to the American dream today in the 2000s, has been revived to fit the modern-day Americas standards of everyone being able to better themselves as well as their family and becoming rich by doing very little work at all. Currently, the American dream is not what comes to people’s minds when we speak of success but the media

A hope, a wish, a dream, but certainly not reality. The proverbial American Dream consisted first of colonists emigrating to America and find a better life for themselves. The colonists could start from absolutely nothing and shoot to the top of the society. However, for most this dream is known more as a fallacy. The American Dream is Santa Claus. Some people are the beneficiary and believe in it and are filled with a sense of false hope, while others believe they have achieved it themselves and receive its gifts while in reality have done it single-handedly and blamed it on the American Dream. The American Dream gives people false hope, is a source of propaganda, and a global formula.

Obligation ridden expert Joe Chip works for Runciter Associates in the North American Confederation among psis, individuals with clairvoyant capacities, and against psis or inertials, individuals with the capacity to balance the forces of mystic individuals. Glenn Runciter, head of Runciter Associates, assembles a group of egocentric, coldhearted inertials, including Joe, for a vocation on the moon, yet when they arrive a bomb is sitting tight for them. Runciter gets seriously harmed so the group surges him back to Earth, however as they arrive they understand that time is relapsing, taking them back to 1939, and everything is maturing quick. Drain is coagulating, and cigarettes are dry and disintegrating, books end up noticeably yellow and blurred, and in the long run individuals shrink and bite the dust. The requirement for proprietorship is a piece of the human condition, originating from primal impulses to have the domain individuals see as "theirs". Belonging resemble drugs. In spite of the fact that not related with an indistinguishable physical harm from sedatives like heroin or cocaine; rationally, belonging adversely impact the mind. Society has for some time been enchanted with having and getting as a substitution to closeness. The American Dream is even based on the possibility that ownership and property is the way to joy; the possibility that individuals require these things to survive. Material things keep individuals glad, calmed as it were, and it would be