The American Dream Summary

Coates’ allegory of the “Dreamers” and their detrimental impact on the lives of African Americans in the US is highlighted with this declaration: “But do not pin your struggle on their conversion. The Dreamers will have to learn to struggle themselves, to understand that the field for their Dream, the stage where they have painted themselves white, is the deathbed of us all” (151). Coates is essentially claiming that the people who refuse to live in reality are subsequently robbing those who do because they instill a sense of false hope and unrealistic expectations that make every injury inflicted upon the African American community hurt even more. By extension, Coates is affirming that living in the moment rather than always thinking about the future and how to make things better is the most authentic route to happiness. Much of the misery in life derives from people in power abusing the privileges society has granted them, and the exploitation of black people in American society has solidified the idea that civilization breeds barbarism in Coates’ mind. This is further supported by Coates’ assertion that, “The enslaved were not bricks in your road, and their lives were not chapters in your redemptive history. They were people turned to fuel for the American machine” (70). This image of black lives being chewed up and spit out by industrial America is visceral and jarring in that it shows a complete failure on the civilization’s part to protect and raise its citizens to a more prominent status and improve their lives. To Coates, the ideas of patriotism and “the Dream,” or

Coates compares the lives of black people and the lives of white people, and the white life seems somewhat better than the way blacks live. For example, Coates explains how when he went to a white neighborhood and he was experiencing what the Dream was all about. He noticed how “There was so much money everywhere”. This means that when Coates seen all the different stored and people they looked like they had a lot of money, his is exactly what the American Dream is. “I saw white parents pushing double-wide strollers down Harlem boulevards”, the Dream is

In today’s America, there are still people in America who wholeheartedly believe that Black people are inferior to White. This isn’t news to anyone. America’s history has always been characterized by racial divisions and painted with colored blood. Since America’s founding, “The People” never truly meant all people. But it’s 2017. Slavery has been abolished for more than 150 years. Segregation and Jim Crow were outlawed in the 60’s. However, growing up Black in America today is defined by fear of being attacked for simply existing. There is still an invisible line carved by prejudice and bigotry that divides the races, that limits the ability for Black people to become successful or achieve what Coates refers to as “The Dream”. Together,

Between the World and Me is a long letter that Ta-Nehisi Coates writes to his teenage son, Samori. Coates uses history and past experiences to express to his son how America does not value the black man’s body. Coates starts by telling of what it was like for him growing up in Baltimore. How he saw black men dress and carry themselves in attempts to possess themselves and power. He then talks about the awakening of his black consciousness at Howard University. Howard is where he first started learning about the contributions of black people in American history. He also was introduced to a variety of different types of black people. Howard is also where Coates experienced the death of a close friend, Prince Jones, that catapults the most powerful message in his novel; The American Dream is an insidious idea glorified by whites and the media that was built on the marginalization of black people.

Coates describes the American Dream as living in the suburbs and maintain a well-paying job. At the same point, he argues that the fundamentals of the dream come from the activities and lives of a white family. The dream is living in a home with a white picket fence and having cookouts in the summer. It is about block associations, driveways, and strawberry shortcake (11). According to Coates, the problem with the dream is many black people will change who they are and change their character in order to be accepted and eventually achieve this dream.

The American dream has been a beacon of hope and motivation for the millions of people who have immigrated and grown up in the United States; especially for those of the lower class. Through hard work and determination one could completely change their life for the better while provide better circumstances for future generations. The American dream is defined as, “a happy way of living that is thought of by many Americans as something that can be achieved by anyone in the U.S. especially by working hard and becoming successful” (The American Dream). Today, youth of the lower class are finding this dream to be nearly impossible to achieve, even by working hard. For many it has become nothing more than a pipe dream. The American dream is still alive, but it is on it’s final breath; especially for the poor youth of America.

When Coates speaks of the “Dream,” he is referring to a suburbia characterized by paradise and innocence, separated from the violence and corruption of the cities. America’s success was built upon the plunder of black bodies, and those who live in the “Dream” feel justified of this act; in the eyes of the “Dreamers,” the stealing of black bodies started as something noble, and the rape, pillaging, and murder of African Americans became part of their cause. Social classes became divided “not [by] rich and poor, but white and black” (Coates 104); both poor and rich “white” belonged to the upper class, equaled by their “right”to break the black body. Black inferiority became a tradition of America.

The American Dream is created by a person achieving happiness, fulfilling life goals, and prospering through hard work and determination. It changes throughout history, mainly through how media and society pursue the Dream to be. The structure of today’s society has warped the meaning of it, and placed a different direction behind the whole concept. The Dream itself is still alive, but the cynical twist to it could make most doubt the existence of what it really means.

In the text “Is the Modern American Dream Attainable?” , the idea of the American Dream and how certain people have more difficulty achieving it than others is discussed. The text, by the New York Times, is a compilation of six mini-articles, each discussing a different aspect of the topic. The first article, titled “The Numbers Show Rags-to-Riches Happens Only in Movies” by Erin Currier, discusses how Americans are feeling less secure financially, and are having trouble climbing the economic ladder and they, therefore, feel as if the American Dream is not obtainable for them. The second article, “The New Deal and Civil Rights Helped Make the Dream More Attainable” by Stephanie Coontz, talks about how the reason the American Dream seems out of reach for working-class individuals is because they are getting paid less for harder work while the upper-class elites are being paid much more.

Everyone’s “American Dream” differs depending on their ages and abilities. No one can limit the things you think are the American Dream. Michael Jones, Gavin Free, and Burnie Burns are three men that represent that the American Dream is alive and achievable.

Throughout the play, the different concept of the American Dream can be spotted through in different generations. The characters of each generation have the similar American Dream, which is to have better future with wealth, however, they have different ways of earning this at the end. Since the result comes from the determination from hard work and how much of effort they put in to achieve their dreams or not.

"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone..." (Adams, 1931, p. 214). The dream of our ancestors has not changed with the passage of time, but achieving the dream of financial independence has become much more difficult for the average American. Reviewing data compiled over the last few decades paints a bleak picture: wage disparities have increased, savings rates have fallen, and pension plan failures have escalated. What 's more, benefits provided by private defined benefit plans and the U.S. Government continue to see reductions. These sobering facts do not depict a reality where the American Dream of financial independence still thrives. While difficult, the dream is

The American Dream can be defined as achieving the highest level of economic success for an individual and their family. Americans are brought up in a culture where they are told that if they start from the bottom and put in the maximum amount of hard work they too will achieve The American Dream. The dream itself is subjective to an individual's needs but most often includes homeownership, financial stability, job stability, and a better future for the next generation. The Washington Post article by Robert J. Samuelson discussed how the death rates of non Hispanic middle aged whites has gotten significantly worse throughout the years, and as a result men were dying even younger. The causes of death are most often suicide, overdose, or alcohol related. Researchers have attributed these deaths to be a direct result of income inequality and the social crisis. Therefore, I believe the American Dream is killing us. The American Dream is killing those who do not know how to appropriately seek help when faced with unemployment and mental health concerns. The American Dream is responsible for the death of the middle class, the social crisis, and the internal upset when the dream is not achieved.

Before I came to America, on June 30th 1998 to be exact, I heard all about the American Dream or the land of democracy where everyone has the opportunity to succeed; work hard and you will achieve, I have always been told. Unfortunately, my actual lived experience was not as simple. Coates summed it up in this quote that stood out to me. “How do I live free in the black body? It is a profound question because America understands itself as God’s handiwork, but the black body is the clearest evidence that America is the work of men.” (Coates, 12) Coates is emphasizing that as great as America is, for some, it has been built on the backs of black people. Whether you choose to believe his assessment or not events of the past confirms and even

Coates mentions the “body” throughout his book to represent skin color. He uses “body” instead of “skin” to separate the actuality of a person and their skin color, to say that a person’s skin doesn’t represent the person itself. The American Dream was first conceived with the intention of freeing everyone from control and limitation, however, that only applies to white men, and since white men are privileged because of the Dream, others struggle. American history also caused major poverty and struggle to others who aren’t white, causing generalizations and stereotypes to rise and spread, making people think they are better than others.