The American Dream

America prides itself on having what no other country can offer, The American dream. The United States offers someone to have freedom to make a name for themselves and become an entrepreneur in any industry they want. Therefore, it is easy for immigrants to come from other countries and have a chance to succeed in life. Every American wishes to be the great corporate executive officer (CEO) of a thriving company to make millions of dollars; however, achieving this goal becomes extremely difficult when you find out the great challenges that every CEO has to overcome. Aside from trying to become a successful entrepreneur, The American dream also consists of gaining an education. Completing an education in the 21st century is having a

“The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.” (brainyquote.com/quotes/albert_schweitzer). Service and compassion are American qualities that are vital to a person’s inalienable right to pursue happiness as set out in the Constitution. Yet when society lacks these basic behaviors, the American Dream is unattainable. John Steinbeck’s classic novel, Of Mice and Men, incorporates various characters which create sympathy in readers, characters such as Lennie, Curley’s wife, and Crooks.

Some may wonder if the old version of the American Dream (owning a home, starting a family, etc.) is still alive and well with Millennials in today’s age. With technology and the constant changing of how the world is viewed, it’s hard to say. Or is it? Being a realtor and a Millennial, I can certainly say that the American Dream is still alive and well. In fact, a good part of the Millennial group is starting to get into this dream earlier than their predecessors did. I, myself, bought my first home when I was nineteen years of age. Maybe most aren’t quite that young, but typically I have a slew of clients that are looking to own a home, as opposed to renting, that are of the Millennial age group. You’d be surprised to find that the

The dream of going to college is one held by many aspiring high schoolers, especially in the 21st century. College education itself is becoming more of a prerequisite rather than an additional option for getting a high paying job. Jennifer Hochschild, a Harvard Professor, noted in her 2000 publication that “[Public education] represents the nation’s greatest effort to turn the ideology of the American Dream into practice” (Hochschild 2). College, in the terms of the American dream, is a means to an end: the end being a high paying, high rewarding job.

There are so many flaws in the current world economy that with real intelligence a breakaway educational franchise can lead people to create occupations that no one knows yet if they 'll turn into life long jobs. Supposedly getting an education increases your options. But if were to really people think, it does the exact opposite by filling everyone’s head with preconceived notions of what it’s possible to do with your life. People have a certain number of subjects that they can study. So they choose what whatever they think will get them a job or into grad school. Most students believe that college should be, in some way, preparation for the real world. They’re eager to graduate and test themselves by real-world standards, even though they expect them to be more demanding than college life. And this attraction points to a wider web of American values and cultural patterns.

Almost everyone has a dream. Some dreams may vary from one person to the next, but undoubtedly, mostly everyone has a dream. Of course, these dreams will want to be met, but that is not always the case. Some people reach obstacles, which lengthens or sometimes even prevents the time it takes to make their dreams a reality. In the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, best friends George and Lennie, along with many others in the story, share the American Dream, in which these dreamers ultimately want to own land and live off of it. However, most of these people faced obstacles along the way from reaching these desires, as physical disabilities, mental disabilities, loneliness, and euthanasia all played a role in these eventual failures.

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.

In John Steinbeck's novel "Of Mice and Men" an important theme is the impossibility of attaining the American dream. Many characters are caught up within this theme, this in the end is seen to be an illusion. For example George, Lennie and Candy all have the dream is to own their own piece of land to work and live independently on. This dream is destroyed by Lennie's death due to his ignorance and mental weakness, which he cannot control. Another example is Crooks who dreams for equality. He was promised equality within Lennie and George's dream, on the farm however racism and others attitudes towards him destroy his want for fulfilling this dream.

The majority of immigrants who come to the United States are seeking a better life, inspired by the "American dream". Poverty, political instability and recurrent financial crises often combine to make life in Latin America more difficult than in the United States—a rich country known for its abundance of job opportunities. That's why so many millions of immigrant workers have come to the United States as "illegals." However, this is not the only reason, many other racial groups have migrated to the United States for protection because they misinterpreted the Declaration of Independence. Especially, these words: “All men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Many slaves saw an opportunity coming to USA because here it was the “land of the free and the home of the brave”. But when these racial groups emigrated to America for the only purpose of living their dream they only stumbled upon reality. Embracing a number of symbols—hope, dreams, lack of individuality, blindness, restrictions, and bondage.

The American Dream is likable to any other living entity in that it will constantly change in order to conform to the environment to which it occupies. To garner a further understanding of the abstract concept that is the “American Dream” I looked to the writings of early American novelists such as Thomas Wolfe and, the original coiner of said term, James Truslow Adams. In their writings, they had described the “American Dream” to be, in essence, the representation of the pursuit of a given individual to reach and attain their respective goal through hard work and determination (Library of Congress, 2017). For many, the American Dream consists of potentially attaining their respective dream career, settling down, owning a home, and starting a family that can thrive in that home. Unfortunately for many Americans, career aspiration do not always play out the way that we intend for them to. In the place of attainment of career goals some settle at buying their own home. Though much has changed since the term was first coined in the early 1930s, the American Dream continues to thrive today, no matter the trials nor tribulations. In this particular day and age, we consider the development of the American millennial generation and their pursuit of said dream. According to the most recent data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, homeownership among millennials has been on a steady decrease since 2004 falling from roughly less than 45% to less than 35% (Annual Homeownership Rates

Thomas Jefferson, father of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States once said “When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty”(Find Quote:Thomas Jefferson). In this statement, Thomas Jefferson encapsulates the nature of freedom and critical to government sentiment the people have held. People such as Thomas Jefferson have been able to encapsulate the spirit of the American Dream through their writings. Since before the conception of the United States of America, the American Dream has been inside the hearts of many around the world who wish for a new and better life. A life without government tyranny of poverty; for as long as it has been in the minds of every American, it has continued to change as time has progressed. Three primary examples of a change in the American Dream are the Revolutionary Era, The Transcendentalist Era, and the Great Depression Era.

Everyone desires to live out the “American Dream” and live a happy, healthy life. An individual that aspires this dream does it with hard work and dedication. We are faced with many different obstacles and challenges, but it is important to strategize and design a different path to be successful. As a millennial, I have been faced with many challenges in my life that have deterred me from my original plans at being successful. I always knew that it was going to take hard work and dedication, along with self-discipline and being financially responsible. Our economy has had it’s share of ups and downs. I have witnessed the struggles it has gone through. Living in California has its pros and cons as well. I often think I will never own a home unless I move out of California. I should not feel restricted because of the state I live in. I want to be able to afford to live anywhere.

The amount of homes being sold to millennials are relatively low because it’s too much of a financial burden and due to the fact that the perception of what the American dream is has evolved. The American dream is the ideology of being stable physically, financially, emotionally which equates to eternal happiness; how does one achieve this? Ideally one would need all of the pieces of the puzzle such as the career, the family, the car and of course, the main piece of puzzle, the house. What if such stability has never been experienced due to the “Great Recession?” The millennial generation has not experienced the luxury of an adequate income which would give them financial stability needed for the family, the car and especially a house, the most expensive, risky piece of the American dream puzzle!

The American Dream is something all Americans strive to achieve. Since the beginning of time you hear stories about people immigrating to America. The reason they came to America was because of the new land to build a life on. Advertisements in other countries portrayed America as a perfect country and that the roads were paved in gold. Immigrants took ships to America to be apart of this golden world and experience all the golden opportunities they have heard about. All of the immigrants wanted to live the American dream. The American dream is usually defined as living in America and being successful, a more accurate definition is living in America and having a house, a job, a family, a way of transportation, and to live freely.

The American Dream had influence and attractive many people from other countries such as Mexico, South America, Asia, and etc. Many of these people had come to America for a better life style and better environmental. The attraction of people coming to America was the American dream, which is known as a house with a yellow fence and a station wagon. During those times we had a tradition that women would stay home while the husband goes to work and feed the family. Does these dream and tradition still stay the same today? Women’s today are changing diversity by delaying marriage and earning higher education level then men. Many of us today are accepting the different type of races and marrying different kind of races. Diversity is good because new generations are highly educated both in school and across ethnicities and cultures.