What Is An American Essay

America still to this day holds on to the idea of the “American Dream”. This is rather surprising in today’s society and the ups and downs that the nation is facing. The dream in the past was more about freedom and equality. Moving through the decades, this dream has morphed into something quite different. Instead of what America means for all of its inhabitants, the nation has become more individualized. Society has moved to interpret the dream of what America can do for the one. Instead of the unified nation, America has been known for in the past, a shift has started creating an inconsistency in who can realize the dream. The myth of the “American Dream” has been hugely affected by increased materialism, the gap in economic status, and the fantasy of “rags to riches” idea.

What does it mean to be an American? In my eyes to be an American means to have privileges, rights, and freedom. America isn't perfect, but it is one of the only countries that have rights given to people of different diversities and gender. America does not have tremendous poverty. Instead we have choices given to us by the people who fought and died for the American people. Without George Washington and the other patriots who planted the first seed in the ground and help plant the American nation we live in now who knows what America would be like now.

Although the present day American is a totally a different person, at the close of the Revolutionary War the same individual was a European immigrant impacted by the nature of the American continent. In St. Jean de Crevecoeur’s perspective, an American is a race that results from a mixture of Swedes, Dutch, French, Irish, Scotch, and Englishmen (48). This race consists of unique type of people who are not governed by laws as strict as they experienced in Europe. They are a breed of people who had no home and no country in Europe. This paper discusses what the American was thought to be, in view of St. Jean de Crevecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer.

The first example of the negativity of the “American Dream” is in the unnamed narrator of Anzia Yezierska's story “America and I.” The narrator immigrates from Russia to America full of dreams and desires. She says, “America was a land of living hope, woven of dreams, aflame with longing and desire” (Yezierska 1970). For the narrator, America represents the ideal place to live, where everyone's dreams can come true. She believes that “in America everybody works for love. Nobody has to worry for a living” (Yezierska 1974). The narrator quickly finds out that life in America is not about working for love. Despite having hope that the former Russian immigrants that she is working for will treat her well, her very first job ends with her receiving no wages for her hard work. The narrator's second job is no better, with endless hours, little rest, and even less money. She is confused and cannot seem to discover herself and her place in an America that is so different than her dream. She laments, “Who am I? What am I? What do I want with my life? Where is America? Is there an America? What is this wilderness in which I'm lost?” (Yezierska 1972). She yearns for a way to express herself but has no way to communicate her needs. The narrator's conversation at the vocational center becomes a sad commentary on the negativity of the

What it means to be American? Everybody you ask this question to will have a completely different response. Some responses might have similarities but none will be exactly the same. In the beginning of the year my response was “To be an American means having a rich history, having opportunities to better ourselves, and having freedoms.” Unfortunately not everyone has had the same opportunities or freedoms. Native Americans, who are indigenous, dealt with having their freedoms taken away, less opportunities even though they had rich history in this land before it was taken away from them. Look at what Zitkala-Sa endured. Not only that, but African Americans have fought long and hard for freedom and equality as well. W.E.B. Du Bois stood for

Do you consider yourself to be an American? Being an American is not just having a citizenship or living in America it is much more. America doesn’t just allow the people inside the country to stay, but America gives everyone a second chance at life and give them more opportunities. America has had a long strive for freedom and independence, making the opportunity of living here that much more special. In this essay I will be reading to you my thoughts of what it means to be an American. Bravery, honor, hope, and the freedom and equality of all Americans are the topics that I feel are most important.

Through everybody’s eyes is their own version of the American Dream. Whether it’s the stereotypical dream with a good job, a family, and a house with a white picket fence, or it could be just getting by at the end of the month financially. The American Dream doesn’t have a specific image but rather a particular mindset. Lots of people have a goal in their life that they have to work hard to be successful towards that goal, but in most cases that goal may be unrealistic.

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.

Many people dream about being an American. They dream because they envision America as the land of peace and prosperity. But is it? At times it has been, and at times its not. It is hard for the United States to be correct all the time because they have been unwilling designated as the “World Police”. Throughout history there have been examples politically, economically, and socially, where being an American is rewarding and times where it is embarrassing. To be an American means progress. We evolved from a world ruled by white men to a world of equal opportunity.

American Literature has never ceased to reveal what this land has to offer and the idea that you get out of it what you put into it. The idea that you could have freedom, opportunity, and the ability to make money became known as the American dream. People wanted this dream to become their reality, no matter the cost or who stood in their way. On the other hand, it was obscure to those who had never experienced it before, including some within our own walls. Authors from decades past give us insight as to what both of those worlds look like.

The American dream is the idea held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one can achieve prosperity.

The first reason the author teaches the reader the love for America is through love of hardworking in America. A quote in the Article “Is the American Dream Still Alive” shows the depth of this person and how

The American Dream can mean different things depending on who is asked. Some will answer it is the freedom of religion, class or race, others will claim it is about the ability to choose where they want to work, what they want to wear, or what’s for breakfast the next day.

The American dream of success through hard work and of unlimited opportunity in a vast country actually started before America was officially America, before the colonists broke away from England and established an independent country. That dream has endured and flourished for hundreds of years; as a result, American writers naturally turn to it for subject matter, theme, and structure. In examining its lure and promise, they often find, not surprisingly, that for those who fall short, failure can be devastating because material success is a part of our cultural expectations.

The American Dream, earlier known as a dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, has changed over time. Now developed into a pursuit of a middle-class lifestyle from a pursuit of principle. One can not deny that The America Dream has changed a lot over time; However, it has not changed for the better.