The Biased American Dream By James Truslow Adam

The American Dream is “a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position” (Adams, 1931). It is the guarantee that with hard work and passion anyone can achieve upward mobility regardless of their origin. Many Americans believe in this promise, hoping that one day their first circumstance will not dictate the outcome of the rest of their lives. However the American Dream can be elusive without any real he American Dream eludes The novel Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York with the

The American Dream has always been based on the idea that each person, no matter who he or she is, can become successful in life by his or her own hard work. The dream, to desolate immigrants escaping an oppressive Europe, also embodied the idea of a self-sufficient man, an entrepreneur garnering success through his own hard work and ambition, not

The American Dream is often one of the most well-known benefits of living in America. It is the push factor that has driven millions of foreigners to flock to the so-called land of opportunity. Originally, the American Dream was established by a clause in the Declaration of Independence. It reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence par. 2). The original American Dream, as laid out by the founding fathers, was freedom from religious persecution and the right to live a happy life. That simple idea has undergone a significant metamorphosis and now the American Dream is much more complex. It has turned into a deep avaricious dream. This transformation has been noted in contemporary literature, especially in the novels Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. These pieces of literature can be read as a larger commentary on the mutation of the American Dream and how it is now more of a negative desire for greed and material. Both Fitzgerald and Alexie surmise that the American Dream has been twisted and corrupted into an uncontrolled desire that has become unattainable for many and that the pursuit of the dream has become dangerous.

The American Dream as it is defined cannot simply hold true without preservation of it’s ideals. An ideal is maintained by the people. Enjoying the benefits the American Dream promises requires each person to uphold its ideals among his fellows. If this were the case, the original definition might have been preserved. The problem is that other factors kicked in which prioritized wealth and status among people which interfered with the ability of others to pursue the dream. From there, the American Dream gradually changed from hard work to status.

The early twentieth century marked a significant time period in history for America and its well-known reputation as a nation of prosperity and great opportunities. During this time, a massive wave of immigrants from Eastern Europe arrived in this land of hope and richness seeking for jobs, and fulfilling their American dreams. However, reality of the “great” America hit them hard and crushed all their expectations of what the land of freedom could offer. As a result, immigrants fell down to the bottom of the “food chain” and could not escape the ruthless cycle of capitalism in the twentieth-century America. Among the muckrakers who exposed the ill conditions of American industrialization, there stood out a journalist,

Throughout early American history, the exploitation of minorities and resources has been a leading theme. The leading cause for this exploitation was the lens that the American Dream placed upon society. This lens was the idea that if something was positively affecting the economy, the exploitation of minorities and resources was overlooked. The American Dream caused this because the expectation of America’s success was so high that people took drastic measures to succeed disregarding the exploitation of resources and minorities. Overall, the effect that the American Dream had on minorities and resources in early American history was predominantly negative.

In James Truslow Adams’ The Epic of America, the American dream is defined as an egalitarian ideology in which “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” Established by an inherently advantaged Anglo American in an era of burgeoning racism, the American dream was and is still believed to provide equal opportunity for all, including minorities who, despite their onerous struggle against discrimination at the hands of their white counterparts, are only equals when the dream is materialized on ink and paper. This inherent racial paradox of the American dream is reinforced by author Jennifer Hochschild, referring to Adams’ invention as “joyously liberating in its message that people may aspire to control their own destiny rather than merely acquiesce in the vagaries of fate or an overlord.” Failing to acknowledge the United States as the oppressor alluded to in her assertion, Hochschild, like many white Americans, has overlooked the socio-economic obstacles enslaving minority races, and has conceptualized an impractical reality in which the country’s dream of alleged equality encompasses all individuals—whether they be subordinate or elite. In spite of these orthodox convictions promulgated for decades by Anglo citizens, the impeded advancement of minorities due to systemic, personally mediated, and internalized racism has proven the American dream’s equal opportunities for success unobtainable

The idea of the American Dream has been around since America was founded, but until 1933, it was not put into words. In the article American Faces 1933’s Realities, by James Truslow Adams, he defines the American Dream as “ ...a vision of a better, deeper, richer life for every individual, regardless of the position in society which he or she may occupy by the accident of birth” (1). The American Dream does not have to be described as having copious amounts of wealth. To some, it is only a vision of a better life for themselves and their families.

For a long time, individuals have been moving to The United States from everywhere throughout the world in quest for the photo immaculate America that is celebrated as the "place where there is the free." The "American Dream" is an expression used to catch the utopic thought of the capacity, by buckling down, of anybody in America to ascend from any financial class to a higher one, in which he or she builds up an upbeat, fruitful life, as a rule with a crew. This thought is positively a fantasy of numerous, if not most Americans. Then again, this longing is not so much one that can be satisfied by anybody. Despite the fact that we have made gigantic steps in Women's Rights subsequent to the 1920's, there are still some inconspicuous,

The American Dream is a concept that is essentially older than the United States, dating back to the seventeenth century. It was then when people began to come up with hopes and aspirations for the newly discovered, unexplored continent. The “American Dream” is in essence the idea in that puts forward the notion that all people can succeed through hard work, that all people have the right to the pursuit of happiness, and be successful. The definition of the American Dream has been expanded upon and redefined over time. The concept of the American Dream has always been debated and put under criticism. There are many that believe the structure of American Society belies the idealistic goal of the American Dream. It points out examples of

Even though the optimal American Dream doesn’t promise that all citizens will achieve personal success, it offers equality and fortunes for them to pursue dreams through hard work. However, during the Industrial Age, the American Dream didn’t apply to the lower class. Most immigrants from southern and eastern Europe arrived in the United States to escape religious persecution and poverty in their home countries and also seek new opportunities. But, they realized the brutal reality after their arrival. As unskilled foreigners who suffered poverty and lacked experience and English skills, immigrants lived in nasty tenements located in city ghettos, earned little wages that at times couldn’t even enable the whole family to survive, and were taken advantage from bosses because of their naivete and lack of power. African Americans faced a crueler circumstance because of the long-lasting racial discrimination. In the 1880s, a number of African Americans migrated from rural south to industrial cities in order to avoid poverty, violence, and oppression they faced in the deep South. However, they rarely found factory jobs or professional opportunities. Women also couldn’t rule their destinies during the Industrial Age. Desiring to be more independent and provide financial help to families, many women worked in factories. Most of them experienced disadvantages, including gaining less wages than men did and experiencing sexual harassment from their foremen. Even though the federal

The American Dream is the idea that everyone, excluding women and African Americans, is capable of building an exceptional, and rewarding life for themselves. A prime example of this would be in the poem I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman. Whitman describes the sound of America as one of hard work produced by workers. He writes, “the carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam ” (Whitman 3). It illustrates the hard work that Americans put into their work and how they were happy doing it. Once again, the exclusivity of the Nation as social norms only allows white males to have a chance of achieving the American Dream. At this time, a majority of African Americans remained enslaved across the Nation, which prohibited them from being able to build any sort of life for themselves. Therefore the American Dream is not even an option for almost a quarter of the population. How could someone prohibited from leaving a plantation be able to support themselves and live an acceptable life? For almost all African Americans the idea was unthinkable until the later half of the 1860’s when the government abolished slavery. When it comes to women, however, one could say that they could live the American dream. Women in American worked in the home cleaning, cooking or sewing which one could consider a job that makes a life for oneself by providing for the family. Although women continued to stay in their homes or neighborhoods never fully expanding or acquiring a job in the community. Whitman hints at this in his line, “the delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing” (Whitman 9). The average woman in America spent a majority of their time in the house and had no rights to do any significant to herself. Consequently, she relied on her husband or family to provide a stable life for herself. Exclusivity in America once again barred half of the nation from living an equal, happy, and comfortable life.

What is the purpose of our government? Is the meaning of Lady Justice true? Does every citizen have equal rights and opportunities as stated in the United States Constitution? If so, why are there so many cases of people fighting for equality? How can we approach this effectively?

Dreaming is essential for the human spirit, the reason homo sapiens sapiens wiped out the neanderthals was because we could believe in something bigger than ourselves. Even when our dreams are far from fruition, we as humans still believe in them as it is in our nature. S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders and in John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men have certain characters that possess dreams that they believe in and work towards, whether they’re achievable or not. Many unique personalities such as Crooks the stable buck, Dallas Winston, Curley’s Wife, Darry, and other characters in both books are disenfranchised from a notion henceforth referred to as “The American Dream”. “The American Dream” is a very vague phrase. However, it can be amounted to being a lower-class citizen (frequently an immigrant) and then moving to America. Then (in America) they get a stable job with good income, buy a house, have a family, and live happily ever after. The frequency and large application for the term “The American Dream” is what initially drew a large amount of immigrants in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s because it was viewed as the land of freedom and most importantly, opportunity. “The American Dream” can be, and is a widely used phrase but in this essay shall be used to refer to many characters’ own hopes and dreams for their future. Characters in Of Mice and Men and in The Outsiders are frequently disenfranchised and held back from ‘The American Dream’ by an aspect out of their

A man by the name of James Truslow Adams coined the idealistic term “the American Dream” in 1931. By his definition, the American dream, “... is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement… a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position” (Library of Congress). He meant that the prosperity of America should be strived for as a whole. The rich should not belittle the poor, the poor should not settle to stick in a state of poverty, and the men and women of every religion, culture and color should be seen as equals; however, in this modern time, despite all of America’s social advances, there is still discrimination. Particularly and popularly, African Americans are subject to this discrimination- specifically, low income black males. These African American men’s ‘American Dreams’ are deferred in this country.