American Dream Expository Essay

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 idea of the American dream revolves around attaining happiness, success and equality. For higher wealth classes obtaining these components aren't a concern; but for many, the American Dream has become a nightmare. For the poor being able to obtain simple necessities such as food, clothing and shelter is a daily struggle. The price of being poor is a lot costlier then those in the realm of the wealthy. Based on the current economic and social systems in America it does not provide everyone with a fair chance to achieve the “American Dream”. In todays society many Americans believe money is the only way to happiness. True or not true, money certainly isn't a hindrance to obtaining the necessary components for survival. But if the American Dream is no longer about happiness and freedom it becomes solely about wealth and possession. "Money cannot buy happiness." (Anonymous, Spring Board pg.81) represents the concept that money doesn't necessarily play apart in your emotional well-being. Today, materialism is more important than character. Money isn't everything; you don't need it to be happy and certainly not to achieve "The American Dream". In addition to that, although money can jump-start your future it can also drive you into the ground. Dana Gioia, the author of "Money", says "...Money holds heads above water..." Implying money plays a crucial part in keeping your dreams alive while America demands so much. Although finances are a building block to ones version of the

“[T]hat 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… It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature… and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position” (Adams 214-215).

Some people who became American didn't always have the perfect life, especially when it is taking place by individuals who struggled their whole life in a disadvantaged society. As a matter of fact they migrate to the United States so they can live their dream and to be able to acquire being called an American. Not only do they move, but also abandon everything in their old home, and move to the United States to start a new life. Sometimes children are left behind so their parents can come to the land of dreams. Due to that the many children are left without their parents in their life's. Therefore, the American dream is necessary for them because they don't have many things in their hands, such as clothing, wealth, an opportunity in life and a different lifestyle. They also look at many Americans in some countries and assume everything is simpler in the United States. Therefore, the desire of being an American can provoke into having various emotions. Occasionally when they don’t feel like they have reached their target, they may receive it in as their way of life is gone and turnover on their dream. But that’s not what an American is, an American is someone who is hardworking, shows patriotism to their country and freedom.

The American dream can be defined as a national ethos which encourages freedom for all individuals regardless of their race, religion, colour or socioeconomic status. Through the theory of American Exceptionalism and the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal”, the American Dream presents itself as a system of equal opportunity and prosperity for all citizens. Author, Harper Lee, effectively draws attention to the hypocrisy of the American Dream in her enchanting novel “To kill a mockingbird”. Texts such as the front page of Malcolm X’s novel “By any means necessary” and Tupac’s song “White Man’s World” also reinforce

As we studied in the previous unit, the American Dream is the idea that everybody is equal to each other and people can live their lives to the fullest. I also believed that this dream was for Americans only. However, after realizing that other countries and cultures had heard of how great life in America is, they wanted to be part of the American Dream as well. These immigrants took action by entering the U.S. through Ellis Island, which used to be the main hub for all foreigners to apply for ability to enter the U.S. The main reason that people immigrated to America was to have freedom. During World War II, many people were murdered for being Jewish. This act by Adolf Hitler showed that religions were restricted in Europe during World War II. People wanted to live a more free life with no restrictions to their religious beliefs, causing many immigrants to come to the U.S.

There is a stigma of being an American. If an individual works day in and day out, that person will achieve their life goal. This is pursuing the American dream, because all citizens have equal opportunity to become successful and live a prosperous life. Now all Americans can have equal rights, so each and every one can strive for success equally. We banned slavery, segregation, and institutional racism. Women are viewed as equally under the law as men, and homosexuals can legally marry. Equality took a many hard fought years to cover everyone, but now everyone is content. Wrong! In the novel Rereading America many different cultural contexts explains that if you are born into poverty, was a women, or was of color, then life was not as equal as a wealthy white born male to become successful and have equally opportunities.

To achieve higher expectations of success than the previous generations, and accomplishing what hasn't already been accomplished, can be considered the overall American Dream. Generally, every child wants to surpass the achievements of their parents as a natural act of competition and personal satisfaction. Throughout The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, and Death of a Salesman, there is a constant yearning desire to achieve the “American Dream;” whether it be reality or illusion. Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, and Miller, all portray the ideas of the American Dream relating to the time period that they are referring to. The strive to achieve a goal whether it be to be the wealthiest or achieve a great life by hard work seems to be the template

In Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck there many instances of where motifs occur to develop an overall theme. Although some of these motifs do not affect all of the characters in the novel they are all affected by at least one. The need and want for the American Dream as well as the great deal of isolation and loneliness that the characters go through express the theme that the American Dream is just an illusion to the characters. As well as that isolation leads to either the strength or the weakness of the character overall.

The American dream is all but a figment of the imagination that is unrealistic to attain since it is becoming harder and harder for any middle class to sustain itself in the middle or the poor society to prosper to the intermediate class. What once was possible is almost impossible to achieve success and wealth through hard work, persistence, and action. The top one percent of the American society is making it impossible for the lower class to hold on to hope for a better future. The richer are getting richer by remarkably increase profits. Yet, the lower class wages have either decrease in some sectors of employment or have remained stationary resulting in “income inequality. That is “…the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population” (inequality.org). Today it is even more evident that the lower class is stuck, unable to go nowhere. Savings is almost none existence to the middle and poor classes yet, they are working harder than ever before. Fortunately by having a free democratic society take control over “wealth inequality” the economic difference can stabilize through unionization for all low-wage labor.

The American dream is a rhetoric of hope and mobility to reach the heights of economic sustainability that you wish to achieve. The idea is that the amount of effort you put forth will emanate the amount of success you can produce as a byproduct of American society. This concept however couldn’t be further from the truth, as many have tried to work up for years but only got slightly better at best then they say what they were nearly a decade ago. Many researchers have demonstrated that not only has the American Dream often times been influenced by our socioeconomic roots, but that to progress out of it is like a dime in a dozen. Since education provides students the material to move onto the larger job industry, and because the disparity between high school graduates and college graduate has increased so drastically, Americans are clamoring for college now more so than ever before. Student debt has been an issue that has kept many Americans in the lower end of the social class spectrum to miss out on utilizing college resources. Many financial aid programs have been established to attempt to decrease this tendency, particularly the Pell grant having the most success. Unfortunately, despite the initial success of the Pell grant program, it still has its limitations on how much help it can provide to underprivileged students. An incentive based scholarship program such as the Performance-based scholarships where attendance rates, passing classes, and student involvement

First, let's define "American Dream". "American Dream" is what you would consider a "perfect life." It can be full of happiness, money, love, food, cars, whatever you desire, everyone has a different opinion. One person’s American Dream may be totally different from someone else’s, that is what makes us all individuals. My American Dream would include a good job and lots of money, spare time for my family and I, and most importantly, healthiness.

The beginning of it all 1980, (month and date unknown) 37 years ago. The journey for a better life began. My mom was only 11 when they decided to immigrate to America, when she herself also decided to go to America. She knew in Vietnam there would be no future for her and she wanted a life improvement. She understood all the hardships that they were facing in Vietnam and how in America, it was vastly better. She heard stories from many people in Vietnam about America, and all the joy and hope there was compared to where she was. Although, she was young, she had set her mind onto doing everything she could to support the family in order to get to America. She wanted to live in place that didn’t have horrible health care,

Mobility and the American Dream feed off one another, immigrants and American citizens wanting to work hard and building new inventions to make life easier. Without this American ingenuity, it might of taken the United States longer to get to where the country is now. The American Dream has helped people see all the potential that there is in the U.S. Almost all aspects of mobility relating to the American Dream are still achievable. The path to the so called American Dream might be a harder to reach while a different route might have to be taken than earlier generations had to take to get to the American Dream. Technology has come along way and has helped many people achieve visions of the American Dream as well as the three different aspects of mobility. In part of doing so there has been a path paved for others to also achieve their own visions of the American Dream and mobility. The American Dream is the idea that every citizen should have equal opportunity to achieve success through hard work and not giving up on their dreams. There are three main types of mobility, upward, economic and social all three have a correlation to the American Dream.

“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.” This statement of declaration holds the founding ideas of the American Dream that “all men are created equal with certain rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. American culture has implanted the idea that we live in a land of opportunity where the American Dream is possible for all citizens. Millions of people from across the globe travel to the United States with the hopes of gaining a piece of the pie (The American Dream). This declaration sounds convincing and easily obtainable, but it is? In his article, “Master of Desire,” Jack Solomon states “The American dream has two faces: the one communally egalitarian and the other competitively elitist…Even as America’s great myth of equality celebrates the virtues of mom and apple pie, it also lures us to achieve social distinction, to rise above the crowd and bask alone in the glory”. Simply put, the American dream promotes the concept of “one for all and all for one” yet entices its citizens with the idea that to succeed it’s every man for themselves. Jack Solomon was right in his claim that the American dream incites competition, yet competition is necessary to achieve success.