The American Dream : The Definition Of The American Dream

We have all heard of this intense rollercoaster ride that we are on called the American Dream. The term was coined by James Truslow Adams in 1931 defining it as “dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.” Since it’s arrival, the Dream has evolved from a pursuit towards “freedom, mutual respect, and equal opportunity” (Shiller) to later one of greed described by Shiller as being “excessively lustful about homeownership and wealth” beginning in the 1960s. Traditionally, the American Dream included features of a nuclear family, that is one with a breadwinning father, a housewife, and two kids, owning a white picket fence home, thriving without financial worries, and a happy family. There has been a shift in focus for the Dream caused by the Millennial generation and in turn they have included features that place an emphasis on equality in all aspects of their lives from family life to the workplace placing their own twist on the Dream. The American Dream has evolved over time to include equal opportunities, college education, and happy family.

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, an idea that is inextricably linked with liberal democratic principles, is based on the notion that on American soil, every person has equal access to opportunity and fair treatment under the law. America has been, and continues to be a primary destination for millions of immigrants from around the globe because it promises hope, freedom, and most important, a fair chance; migration to America has been predicated on the belief that with hard work and determination, success will eventually come. However, today, whenever the American dream is uttered, a negative connotation too often appears to be attached to it. There’s a certain attitude of pessimism as those who speak of it attempt to argue that the dream is dead,

The forty-first president of the United States, George W. H. Bush, once said, “The American Dream means giving it your all, trying your hardest, accomplishing something…” As the years fly by, so does the American Dream. With busy lives, many Americans tend to forget the purpose of the American Dream. Failing to make ends meet, not being able to afford the new iPhone and the lack of success that is not America’s fault. People create their successes and failures based on what they desire. Through a person creating their own definition, not quitting once things go wrong, and creating opportunities the American Dream still floods the streets of America today.

The American Dream, an idea of what it truly means to be an American in some respects. For many, it is the idea of starting from nothing and making something to look back on in your later years and be proud of what you’ve done. For many in the generations before the millennial generation, the ideal was to graduate college, get married, get a house, and raise a family. For many millennials, this has changed with one key difference. That difference is the importance of having their own house. This was brought about by many factors including the economy, political ideology, and sustainability.

Before any point can be made, we must ask ourselves, what is the American Dream? According to William Zinsser in his essay, “The Right to Fail”, “The American dream is a dream of getting ahead” (Zinsser 93). To get ahead we have to learn, persevere, and achieve. For most Americans, we live our lives day to day and go through routine after routine.

Achieving the American Dream has been the ideal for people living in the United States for decades. People believed that the way to get there was through hard work, also known as the “Protestant work ethic”. The American Dream can vary depending on the person. Some people think that owning a house with a white picket-fence is the American Dream while others think that it is becoming a celebrity with a lot of money.

The reality of the American Dream is that people are capable of succeeding. Success, though, requires one to work hard and be dedicated to

The American Dream can be defined as the idea that every US citizen should have equal opportunity to achieve success through hard work and determination. Everyone in America should have equal opportunity, but this is not always the case because there is a lot of competition. Going for a goal will have its obstacles, but one of the biggest and most difficult things to overcome is other people. Examples of crushed dreams can be found in the books Of Mice and Men, The Old Man and the Sea, The Jungle and A Raisin in the Sun. In each of these books, the perception of the American Dream is different, but it is not possible in all of these cases because of society.

The things we wish to see, reach, and experience in this life never really come into full motion. That is why life can be classified as a sad carapace on our exteriors as people. Realistically we attempt to better ourselves, looking for new opportunities to advance in job market; with aspirations to move up in the social hierarchy. Thought realities continue to show how frail we are as individuals. However, should this be the premise our break-point, to give up, throw in the towel? If so than I am quite sure humanity and this ideal notion of the American dream is a thing of the past. Why should individuals even brother attending school, starting a family, and obtaining a job? Has this really become the norm? Without a job and without money from said job it would practically be impossible to survive. Unless you are being supported by family member or your family is wealthy, but unlike wealthy families working class families still struggle. As human beings, with the knowledge we possess today how can we allow for that burden to be placed on our loved ones. The thing is we can’t, but the question we have to ask ourselves: are we to become drones working two to three jobs to make ends meet? This is also unacceptable, but this is the only choice that’s viable, sometimes in life its do or die: a concept life has delved onto individuals since the beginning of time. Still the optimist in me believes we can become more than just working drones in a society that favors the rich. Unity

Every person in the United States is entitled to free and universal public education to create a collective democratic society of individuals, prepare them to participate as citizens of the democracy and provide students with the tools and knowledge to achieve the American Dream. The American Dream is an ideology that if you get an education, work hard and are a good citizen, you will succeed in life. However, with systemic inequity in our education system, specifically disparity in quality of education, the opportunity for education, achievement gaps between race and class, and segregation of schools, many children are not receiving the education they need to achieve so-called American Dream. Due to these systemic inequities in our

The American dream, the once great aspiration for all red white and blue ruffians regardless of background- racial or economical- has always existed with a degree of falsehood- at least for the majority of Americans. In times of great crisis it has been rallied behind, serving the communal need to move forward for something, anything . But despite protecting it, from harsh winters and gunfire, from powers foreign and abroad, this faux hope has done little for even the best citizens of this great nation. The American Dream is an almost entirely false promise, whilst some still have a decent shot at this alluring American golden ticket, immigrants, people of color, the poor, to them it seems to have always been out of reach.

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.

It is possible to achieve the American Dream without a proper education, but the odds of that happening are quite low. However, some people beat the odds and achieve the American Dream without finishing their education, Some examples are: Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, Lebron James, NBA player, and Richard Branson, founder of many companies such as; Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Records, Virgin Mobile, and other Virgin companies. Steve Jobs finished high school at Homestead high school and attended Reed College for 6 months. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple from the Job’s family garage, their first computer the Apple 1 didn’t sell very well, but they later designed the apple 2 which sold very well. Steve jobs was pushed out of Apple, but he created his

Webster Dictionary defines the American dream as an American social ideal that stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity; also : the prosperity or life that is the realization of this ideal. Throughout my highschool career, this idea has been mentioned a lot in both English and Social studies, and what have learned is that the definition of the american dream is different for each person. For me the american dream is the representation of hope. It is a hope that anyone, no matter how much money someone has or their background, can work their way up and be successful. However, I am not sure if this idea is truly accessible for everyone. I believe that not everyone has the resources to live a successful life. In our current society, it seems like in order to be succesful,you have to go to college, which is sadly not an option for everyone, yet there seem to be people who are still successful despite that, or work very hard to get scholarships. Sadly, those people seem rare, but they proove it is not impossible to be successful. But what is success? Is success the amount of money you have, or your job? To me success is living a comfortable to wealthy life style. Success is achieving one’s goals and dreams. My idea of success is for me is living a happy and comfortable life and having a family.