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The American Dream

Decent Essays

Americans have created this idea of accomplishment and nationalism known as the American Dream. This Dream has become a way for Americans to push themselves to work harder so that they can reach this goal, this Dream. In his epistolary memoir Between the World and Me, author Ta-Nehisi Coates explains that “The Dream is treehouses and the Cub Scouts. The Dream smells like peppermint but tastes like strawberry shortcake” (11). The problem with this so called American Dream, though, is that not all Americans can attain that Dream. Coates shows the reader that the American Dream is only attainable for this group of “Dreamers,” that the American Dream is about privilege. America has only kept the Dream in the view of the Dreamers, meaning that not all Americans can or will be able to attain the Dream in their life time. The American Dream has always been the ideal way of living for the American people. It pushes Americans, and the Dreamers, to work harder and become successful so that they can have all of the things in life that they want. Unfortunately, though, this Dream has only ever been attainable for the Dreamers. To understand where the American Dream comes from, we must think about who created this dream. Coates explains that the American Dream was founded by specifically white men, and they intended to get what they had just fought a huge war for, freedom, possession of land, and possession of personal items which includes slaves. These white men were not thinking of

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