The American Dream

Does being American mean that you’re an American citizen, or does it mean that you have the same rights and decisions as someone who is a successful American citizen? These decisions include choices you make in order to better yourself in life, whether it has to do with your choice in career, or what you want to do in life. Making decisions, and having choices comes with freedom, as a person, and that reflects on being an American everywhere in the world, even though you’ve never been in America. To be an American means that you have the freedom, and rights to do what you want, be who you are, and be/ become who you want. This right of having the freedom to do what you want, can be elaborated by someone’s life chances.

As the phenomenal politician Bernie Sanders once said, “For many, the American dream has become a nightmare.” In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by Scott Fitzgerald, the “American Dream” plays a crucial role in the plot. Gatsby devotes his life to accomplish his American Dream which consists of wealth and Daisy’s love. But is the American Dream actually what it seems to be? Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald utilizes the symbolic value of the Valley of Ashes, East Egg, and the significance of the color yellow to constantly establish that opulence and the American Dream is deceiving as it leads to moral and societal corruption.

The "American Dream" is an idea that has always been different throughouttime. It changes in diverse forms and in the end involves success. The "American Dream" was a phrase used by the American people and peoplewanting to become American. It was always the idea that you can become a success. This is true in a partial way, but the true "American Dream" is that with somework and determination anyone can build themselves up in the economic classsystem.

"The American Dream is that any man or woman, despite of his or her background, can change their circumstances and rise as high as they are willing to work” (Fabrizio Moreira). For many years, men and women struggled to achieve the idealistic life of living on independent terms. Many characters in Of Mice and Men work in order to pursue and achieve the American Dream that consisted of having their own house and income. Characters in the book may use that dream to help the overcome their life struggles and personal problems. Of Mice and Men tells the story of two friends, George and Lennie, who find themselves on a ranch in pursuit of their dreams. Unfortunately for them, circumstances beyond their control cost Lennie and George their dream and much more. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck portrays how dreams create a false sense of hope in order to cover up the realities of life through George, Curley’s wife, and Candy.

If you were to ask anyone about what they thought was “the American dream” most of them would say something along the lines of a movie themed in the 50’s. A nuclear family, living in a house with red shutters and a blue door, the house is an astounding off white, there is a white picket fence around the house and the grass is cut to perfection. The family stands outside on their lawn playing tag with the family golden retriever, drinking lemonade or an ice-cold tea and the father is grilling something while laughter fills the air. If the American dream was this cookie cutter life everything would be much simpler. Instead the American dream is a social construction. Everyone has learned to believe this American dream and instead of refuting it, we play along. In recent years, we have seen that this version of the dream has changed from the cookie cutter life to just a life of equality. In an idealistic world, we would get to have both but we live in imperfection. While the dream of the house has carried over some, it is just not realistic in this time and that is why it is slowly dying out with the millennial age and morphing into a new being. Millennials would like to own a home, but with the economic standpoint of limited jobs to those without education and education being extremely overpriced, it is an impossible dream. The workplace has started to make It that only people with masters or bachelor’s degrees can get good paying jobs, otherwise you’re getting $12.00 an hour.

The American Dream is something that should be for anyone who wants to achieve success, and prosperity through the hard work and determination. According to Webster Dictionary, immigration is the act of moving to another country which is not their native to live there permanently. Many people from all over the world are suffering from hunger, having a polluted country and suffering poverty before you want to be selfish think about all those people who wish to have one fourth of what we all have in America and to be part of the El Dorado where people do not suffer a lot as other countries. Several people from all over the world specially form third world countries that are in war try so hard to complete the Odyssey to the United States for a better life where their dreams can come true. Immigrants who make it to the United States face many discriminations which makes their life harder and difficult. Now those immigrants, how many call them are teachers, doctors, dentists, engineers, and many more occupations and their contributions have a great impact in United Sates. Not only does Mexicans try to come to America to complete their dream come for example also Canadians, Syrians, Cubans and Indians as many other more. Every year more and more immigrants are coming in to United States. The immigrants who crosses the boarder with the hope for a better life have come to be successful at achieving their American Dream and the United States is rapidly increasing their population due

The American dream is a subjective idea that can mean money and fame for some or just the idea of freedom to others. What we believe is our path to reach this dream determines whether or not we are blinded by corporations’ image of the “American Dream”. Corporation’s main goal is to subtly coerce consumers into believing in the corporate world’s idea of the “American Dream”. They accomplish this by placing consumer’s into general categories which depicts how they will consume and place them in a cycle of false-consciousness which ultimately leads to the circulation of money within the rich and the stunting of the poor’s “hope” and possibility to obtain a better life. The barrier that stops low class citizens from advancing creates a “new primitive” society in which everyone blindly participates in the “norm” and becomes stuck in time.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, he demonstrates the actions of society and by doing, so he ridicules the high class and lower class, which ended up critiquing the American Dream. The American dream is an idea to give people hope that through hard work one will achieve wealth, fame, and prosperity. This dream symbolizes the desire to attain a luxurious house, car and even a perfect marriage if one is diligent enough. It is represented by the idea of a self-sufficient man or woman who is determined to achieve a goal to become more successful. However, the American Dream is an illusion that only leads to corruption in the pursuit of social mobility.

The American Dream: Is it fact or fiction? In the United States’ Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers set forth the idea of an American Dream by providing the American people with the recognizable phrase “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” (USHistory.org). The green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s dock symbolizes Jay Gatsby’s “pursuit of Happiness” in the novel, The Great Gatsby, set in the 1920s on Long Island, New York (Fitzgerald, F. Scott). The American Dream is defined as “the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is achieved through

Americans are people who are citizens of the United States of America. As Americans, they have the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the right to vote, the right to bear arms, the right to a fair trial and the freedom to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. America is a country made by immigrants and almost all of them come with what they call their own American Dream. Throughout the United States, people believed in the American Dream, which is the idea that every citizen has equal opportunity to be successful and prosper through hard work. In the 1800’s and the early 1900’s, not everyone had the opportunity to pursue their American Dream because minorities were subjected to racism and discrimination from white people for being inferior and insignificant. Women also did not have the same rights as men and were denied their American Dream. Sherman Alexie’s “Indian Education”, Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech and Langston Hughes’ poem, “I, Too” each show examples of discrimination and segregation and because of this, they each have their own views of the American Dream.

The American Dream is a concept that has been wielded in American Literature since its beginnings. The ‘American Dream’ ideal follows the life of an ordinary man wanting to achieve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The original goal of the American dream was to pursue freedom and a greater good, but throughout time the goals have shifted to accumulating wealth and high social status. Deplorable moral and social values have evolved from a materialistic pursuit of happiness. In “Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity”, Roland Marchand describes a man that he believed to be the prime example of a 1920’s man. Marchand writes, “Not only did he flourish in the fast-paced, modern urban milieu of skyscrapers, taxi

Throughout the United States, many people, unique as they may be, have one goal and want that is the same. For lots of those individuals, that goal is just to get around the immense amount of challenges that one day brings upon them. For many, they will do whatever it takes to provide financially for themselves and or their family, in an attempt to build supportable and desirable lives. This concept is known as the American Dream. In Barbara Ehrenreich’s, Nickled and Dimed and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the American Dream is an everlasting concept that is perceived differently by both of the book’s main characters. Although these two pieces of writing were written in different eras, the characters actions about the American Dream

The American Dream is the idea of the United States having an endless opportunity for anyone, regardless of their past, race, beliefs, and their economic life now. In the novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, each character was driven to something that they enjoyed or wanted; something they had to work hard for and strive to have it. In the book, many of these objectives were connected to achieve The American Dream. Lennie and George's American Dream is to pursue their ideal life by owning their own ranch, Candy’s dream is to help Lennie and George buy their ranch and become apart of their little group, and Curley’s wife was dedicated to become an actress and live the “big life” in Hollywood. In conclusion, Lennie and George

Throughout the novella “Of Mice and Men,” by John Steinbeck, a number of themes are developed such as the American dream, friendship, and loneliness. The American dream is developed especially well all through the novella. Right from the start, the reader gets a feeling that the American dream will play a large role in the plot of this story when George and Lennie are being chased, “‘I remember the rabbits, George.’” (4), then developed a little as George tells Lennie about the rabbits “‘With us it ain’t like that. We got a future.’” (14). The theme of the american dream is forgotten towards the middle of the book as other themes are developed, but is picked up later after Lennie kills his mutt on accident and tells Curley’s wife; “‘Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes…’” (89). The American dream finally ends for George and Lennie in the end, “‘And i get to tendd the rabbits.’ … And George raised the gun and steadies it … He pulled the trigger.” (105-106).

Is the American dream still achievable? Striving for wealth, power, and recognition has been one of the top americans priorities since the founding of the nation. Americans were raised to believe that hard work and effort secure their future of financially successful. However, the entrenched belief in the American dream has been undermined in recent decades. According to Carl Jung’s ideas and the documentary are suggested that the destruction of the dream is not a natural, inexorable occurrence, but the result of the choices made by people operating within certain belief systems and for self-enrichment. Although Carl Jung was not dispassionate, he was more intent on exploring the reasons why the American dream is dead. He mentioned that