The Benefits Of The American Dream

The American Dream can be summed up in one short sentence…“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. It offers people the chance to be free, to live life on their own terms, and to make choices that best fulfill their dreams and desires. It represents the hope that anyone, man or woman, regardless of your race, nationality, or religion, through determination, honesty and hard work can succeed in creating a comfortable and happy life. What many fail to remember, though, is that it the American Dream hasn’t always been an option for everyone who has come to America. At one time, only free white men had this opportunity afforded them. They could own land, vote, run for office, and had almost no restrictions on the opportunities they had. On the other hand, women and people of other races did not enjoy these same freedoms, and in many cases their lives were completely controlled by white men from birth to death. Many writers have tackled this subject, both for and against, the reality of the American Dream, with great success, but it seems to be a one-sided view no matter which side they are on.

Race is a big factor that prevents people from achieving the American Dream. If the person is a race other than caucasian, they will have a harder time to achieve their dream. They don’t have as many opportunities because of where they come from. The source “African Americans and the American Dream” states, “African Americans were still considered “property” in Southern states.” Even though laws were passed in the US, inequality still continued for those that were a different color. Others consider African Americans, and other races, aren’t worth much because of who they are. A caucasian person will have a better chance to get hired for a job or get a raise just because of the shade of their skin. People believe that African Americans and immigrants doesn’t receive the same education that the caucasians receive. Mostly, the lower class individuals will attend a public school that doesn’t have enough resources to provide the same education that the higher class pay for. (Johnson)

The American dream has changed drastically thru our history. Back in the 1950 and 1960 the American dream was to have the house with the white picket fence and the 2 ½ kids. Now the dream for a lot of people is to be able to pay their bills and maybe have enough money to go out for a nice little dinner that you did not have to cook yourself. The American dream is dead, it is because the concept has changed from the idea that everyone can improve their life through hard work to the idea that everyone can become a millionaire through virtually no work. The United State at one point used to have everything you needed to make this dream happen. But since jobs have been moving over sees we have lost all of that. The American Dream is so

To achieve the American Dream, one must work hard and have the dedication to be successful. There are myths relating to this dream leaving lower class members to wonder if the dream exists for them. People in lower class are told if they want to be successful they must put in hard work and true effort. Once they do, they see that they are remaining in the same position they started in. In “Class of America-2012,” Gregory Mantsios states the ideas of class in the US and explains them. One myth addressed in this selection is, “Everyone has an equal chance to succeed. Success in the United States requires no more than hard work, sacrifice, and perseverance: ‘In America, anyone can become a billionaire; it’s just a matter of being in the right

The American Dream is that dream of a nation in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with options for each according to capacity or accomplishments. It is a dream of social stability in which each man and each woman shall be able to achieve to the fullest distinction of which they are essentially competent, and be distinguished by others for what they are, despite of the incidental conditions of birth or stance. People consider America the land of opportunities, a new beginning to a new life in which they can strive and succeed. America is known as the land of the free where if you have the perseverance you can achieve what you want from life. However does the American Dream apply to even those of color equally?

While many people view the achievement of the American Dream as the highest form of success, it is really a false reality built on an ongoing history of white supremacy and superiority. “The Dream” is one that is held by the willfully ignorant, those believing themselves to be white, and people who do not wish to reflect on the issues of race and discrimination transpiring in modern day society. As a result, “The Dream” is consequentially detrimental to the African American race.

The American dream is something people, mainly immigrants, strive to reach. People all over see the Americas as a magical place, or a place of unlimited opportunities that everyone wants to have. " The American dream is a dream of "getting ahead..."(the right to fail, William Zinsser). What provides for the American dream in modern day society is the rights given to you when you become an American, and the rights to get a job and earn money. The American Dream is accessible because those who can achieve it, and those who try to, can reach it. but because the focus has shifted to realistic terms, it may or may not be accessible to all. It is still accessible because if you try hard enough, you will be able to achieve the American dream of freedom, a home, a job for money, and anything else you wish to be able to do when being an American. Anything can be achieved if you try hard enough and you want it bad enough to work for it. If you don’t try to work, or try to succeed, then you don’t want to achieve the American dream.

The “American Dream” has always been this country’s greatest and most successful form of propaganda. The notion of the “American Dream” has bred entitlement since the term was coined by James Truslow Adams during the 1930s. Many Americans have, and still feel, entitled to achieving the “American Dream” even though this phrase has never been attainable for all members of American society. Despite Adams hoping the “American Dream” would transcend “birth or position” allowing anyone to attain the Dream, obviously this has not been possible for everyone living in the U.S. The wage gap between men and women easily makes attaining the Dream difficult, since the social order still does not pay women for the same jobs as men. Additionally, the racism which systematically pervades all of our institutions makes the Dream merely a dream for black people, as institutions are systematized to hinder the growth of Black Americans. White Americans face only the challenge of individual wealth. Owning a home is often impossible as these institutions have implemented ways to hinder the growth of non-white Americans.

The American Dream is a theory that is controversial and has many different prospects for each individual. America is the land of the free. It comes with many struggles that are faced by the people who choose to settle here. From the very beginning, the settlers who came to escape from Great Britain and start a new life started the standard life in America. The treatment of African Americans was one example of how the American Dream can be taken away from a group of people, but it also shows how much the American Dream is wanted by that same group of people. “The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson, and the “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr., speech are just small beginnings to something as great as what America is today.

Since the major success that America has gone through its life as a country, many people have dreamed of coming to the U.S. in hope of their dreams succeeding just as other’s have before. Through multiple documents and speeches, people can realize that unlike what other people say, America does want its people to accomplish their dream and proves this through its actions. In the poem, “Africa to America” by Phillis Wheatley, the document, Bill of Rights, the speech, Keynote Address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention by Barack Obama, and the document Declaration of Independence, they all demonstrate that America is willing to continue to make the American Dream possible to all people. The American Dream is still accessible to the people by promising equality and freedom, by offering new opportunities, and through the government’s willingness to help the American Dream.

Across the economically, ethnically, and socially diverse United States, millions of unlike Americans share the same desire to overcome the vast array of obstacles the modern day era presents in the hopes of becoming the ideal member of society. Looking back at multiple generations, evidence of this drive to succeed can be found in the roots of society’s progression. This omnipresent goal that motivates the population to build sustainable lives has become known as the American Dream. In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men and Barbara Ehrenreich’s nonfiction piece Nickel and Dimed, the protagonists define the American Dream in contrasting yet similar ways in response to the time periods in

In the article “ Are you living the American Dream?” tell us that the American Dream is attainable by all, no matter who you are. It states, “ There are no social, religious, or racial boundaries that can prevent anyone from striving for an American Dream of their choosing. Everyone has an equal chance, more or less, to achieve their goals and become whoever they wish to be, including immigrants and disabled persons……” Anyone is attainable to have the American Dream, but what stops people from having the American Dream is us and the people around us, because either we do not think that we could be capable or because the people around us brings us down. A problem we had many years ago was for dark skinned people to go to school, for them to have the same education as the whites. The Brown vs. the Board of Education was one of the most important cases that changed everything, it might have not happened instantly but it changed so much for everyone.

Similar to Americans decades ago, citizens of the United States are pursuing the American Dream. Truslow Adams defines the American Dream as a “dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability and achievement, regardless of social class or circumstances of birth” (1931). As a child growing up in middle-class America, you tend to hear this phrase a great deal. You hear that you must obtain the proper education so that you can acquire a job and live the American Dream. But how can you live the American Dream when you still have to fight just to be considered an equal, especially if you are a woman?

The concept of the American Dream has been with us as long as we have been a nation. In Brandon Kings “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, Or On Hold?” he presents us with his version of the American dream. According to Kings, the American dream is defined as “The potential to work for an honest, secure way of life and save for the future” (611). The American dream may differ between every individual and how they perceive it. To some, the American dream is to have a decent job and to be financially prosperous. However, to others, having a job is defined as just living paycheck to paycheck every passing month. The American dream to African Americans in 2015 basically designates opportunity, that is the opportunity to make an impact in life through tough work and dedication. . To me, the American dream means the ability to be financially stable and the liberation for the nightmares of racial strife to culminate. As Langston Hughes, an American poet, asserts in his poem “What happens to a dream deferred”, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun or fester like a sore and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar cover- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode” Hughes describes what a dream is when it’s delayed. It’s like the American dream becomes a nightmare when there is no hope, to dream, or for example, if there is no way to gain financial stability. Then people will commence to defer their dreams and there would be an

The American ________. One could fit several words into that blank: The American Dream, The American Spirit, The American Revolution, and The American System. What are the definitions of these phrases? What does it really mean to be an American anything? If one wants to learn more about a culture the best place to start is by looking at their literature. Literature is the self-expression and exploration of the people who write it. Therefore, if one wants to discover what it means to be an American, they need to look at the American Literature.