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.

The American dream is something that Americans strive for and it is the goal for most people. The main goal once upon a time was to be able to live comfortably and provided for a family. Today the focus is on making as much money as possible with a little emphasis on the family aspect of the dream, stupid capitalism. For me, the American dream would be to have a solid family and create generational wealth for my family lineage, not any get rich quick schemes that we see in movies today like Jay Gats in The Great Gatsby who is a bootlegger in the 1920s to get quick wealth and be flashy about it. He wanted to rise from his poor station in life from the early years of his life, but even after obtaining said wealth he still didn’t have everything he wanted because he didn’t have a family and his status symbol wife. The portal of his life is what America is going through now in our generation, I feel that we focus so heavily on getting rich we put all our energy into the financial aspect that we don’t think much about the family sector of it. While in Forest Gump he valued the old American dream which was all about the family he accumulated wealth, but it wasn’t his primary goal he just did what he loved and was able to achieve celebrity status in his lifetime.

Achieving the American Dream is like fighting over the last TV on Black Friday. The American Dream is very limited. A person has to have a certain background to achieve it. The American Dream is an illusion. America wants one to believe that they have the perfect set of materialistic things to make their life better. The American Dream consist of having money, a nice house, a great looking car, and a family. Not everyone can achieve that though because of the barriers that they have in this country. The American Dream is not achievable by all people because individual’s divergent backgrounds.

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.

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.

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

Is the american dream still possible and was it always possible for everyone the american dream was this great idea that everyone can retire at a certain age always have a job. And not matter what race or country you come from or what you looked like but it wasn't always like this and still isn't.

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

Acclaimed writer and professor of English literature, Azar Nafisi said “The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream”. The American Dream is the “ideology that states that if people work really hard and are determined to achieve their financial goals, they will attain financial success” (Tyson). The Marxist belief that the American Dream is a restrained belief system is widely evident in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The means by which some people pursue this dream ultimately results in the destruction of the dream itself. This is explored through the narcissist attitudes of the individuals who are living the American Dream, the alternatives the proletariat population uses to obtain the dream and the widespread evidence of the unachievability of the dream itself

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

If an individual works hard and perseveres, they can attain the American dream due to the abundance of opportunities in America available to every citizen. The statement “anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success,” illustrates the fundamental property of American ideals that anyone, despite their wealth, can achieve anything he/she desires (Walker). Likewise, America is “a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone,” showing that it is possible for people in America to surpass their former social status and further their success (Walker). “America's free-enterprise system makes possible the circumstances that allow individuals to go beyond meeting their basic needs to achieve self-actualization and personal fulfillment,” which proves that America’s society makes it easier for one to find prosperity (Walker). Furthermore, success can be “achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking and hard work not by chance” and people have “worked hard in a business or profession, put in long hours, and sacrificed,” to achieve their goals (Walker). One controls their own destiny, and if one yearns for the American dream, they must work hard. Some may argue that the American dream cannot be attained by those with meager income (Walker). Money may be an issue in pursuing one’s goals, as paying for

Throughout life everybody has heard the line “Follow your dreams!” This simple sentence has inspired many. This idea of creating a dream and chasing it has inspired the American Dream. The American Dream is different for everybody. It could be getting married, creating a business, or being a hero. It turns out the American Dream is not for everybody. There is always something standing in the way of the American Dream. Race, social status, and the individual are standing in the way between the person and the American Dream.

Although there are many contrasting definitions for the American Dream, several principles hold true. It is achieved through sacrifice and hard work, for only those who persevere will prevail. It is achieved with the support of society, for it has the power to decide who will thrive and who will fail. It is achieved in a land of opportunity, where upward mobility is possible for people of every social class. However, in a society plagued with an wealth gap and unequal opportunities, the American Dream is harder to reach than ever before.

Imagine coming into a country not knowing much about its culture and much less its language, where the social barriers are already enough of an obstacle to hobble around, but money must be earned, and children must be supported. This sounds insane, almost, but the hope of the American dream in my parents’ minds kept them steadfast in their wish to live it, and here I am today, writing this essay for UT Austin because of it. Growing up as a first-generation American citizen in a family where Russian tradition builds the foundation of the house presented me with a wide variety cultures and a unique point of life, especially in the eyes of my ever so curious classmates.