Pranav Saravanan
Mrs. Kaplita
Period 4/ English III - Honors
10/6/17
What it Means to be an American - Rough Draft
Americans are people who are citizens of the United States of America. As Americans, they have the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the right to vote, the right to bear arms, the right to a fair trial and the freedom to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. America is a country made by immigrants and almost all of them come with what they call their own American Dream. Throughout the United States, people believed in the American Dream, which is the idea that every citizen has equal opportunity to be successful and prosper through hard work. In the 1800’s and the early 1900’s, not everyone had the opportunity to pursue their American Dream because minorities were subjected to racism and discrimination from white people for being inferior and insignificant. Women also did not have the same rights as men and were denied their American Dream. Sherman Alexie’s “Indian Education”, Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech and Langston Hughes’ poem, “I, Too” each show examples of discrimination and segregation and because of this, they each have their own views of the American Dream.
Sherman Alexie’s “Indian Education” shows a year by year account of his schooling from 1971 - 1984 and what it was like for him being an American. Sherman Alexie was a Native American and because of this, was subjected to stereotypes and discrimination. For
Sherman Alexie is a Native American man who is well known for his novels and short stories based on his experiences as a member of many different Native American tribes. In his short story “Indian Education”, Alexie details the struggles with bullying and discrimination one Native American boy went through during his time in school. Although “Indian Education” is written differently from other short stories it still conveys a solid theme and has a well written plot. Alexie’s style is also a benefit to the reader as they make their way through grade school with the main character, Victor.
The "American Dream" is marked as unattainable in John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men. This is mostly shown in the case of George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife. These characters all have admitted to thinking about the "American dream" concept, and the freedom to pursue happiness and their dreams.
Does being American mean that you’re an American citizen, or does it mean that you have the same rights and decisions as someone who is a successful American citizen? These decisions include choices you make in order to better yourself in life, whether it has to do with your choice in career, or what you want to do in life. Making decisions, and having choices comes with freedom, as a person, and that reflects on being an American everywhere in the world, even though you’ve never been in America. To be an American means that you have the freedom, and rights to do what you want, be who you are, and be/ become who you want. This right of having the freedom to do what you want, can be elaborated by someone’s life chances.
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.
The American Dream is a concept that has been wielded in American Literature since its beginnings. The ‘American Dream’ ideal follows the life of an ordinary man wanting to achieve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The original goal of the American dream was to pursue freedom and a greater good, but throughout time the goals have shifted to accumulating wealth and high social status. Deplorable moral and social values have evolved from a materialistic pursuit of happiness. In “Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity”, Roland Marchand describes a man that he believed to be the prime example of a 1920’s man. Marchand writes, “Not only did he flourish in the fast-paced, modern urban milieu of skyscrapers, taxi
If you were to ask anyone about what they thought was “the American dream” most of them would say something along the lines of a movie themed in the 50’s. A nuclear family, living in a house with red shutters and a blue door, the house is an astounding off white, there is a white picket fence around the house and the grass is cut to perfection. The family stands outside on their lawn playing tag with the family golden retriever, drinking lemonade or an ice-cold tea and the father is grilling something while laughter fills the air. If the American dream was this cookie cutter life everything would be much simpler. Instead the American dream is a social construction. Everyone has learned to believe this American dream and instead of refuting it, we play along. In recent years, we have seen that this version of the dream has changed from the cookie cutter life to just a life of equality. In an idealistic world, we would get to have both but we live in imperfection. While the dream of the house has carried over some, it is just not realistic in this time and that is why it is slowly dying out with the millennial age and morphing into a new being. Millennials would like to own a home, but with the economic standpoint of limited jobs to those without education and education being extremely overpriced, it is an impossible dream. The workplace has started to make It that only people with masters or bachelor’s degrees can get good paying jobs, otherwise you’re getting $12.00 an hour.
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.
Being equal means that all Americans have the opportunity to succeed, it doesn't mean that all Americans have the same things. Some people will work much harder to succeed, those people have more than people who don't want to work to succeed. The American Dream is that every United States citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, initiative, and happiness. But many wonder if it is still alive today. Many studies have proven that the American dream is still alive today. The American Dream still exists because the unemployment ratio has decreased , the salary for the jobs has increased, and people of America have freedom.
The American Dream- The human race’s tasks in the United States for what they strive for, for ourselves and our families and even for each other to achieve a grand satisfaction with the life we all lead. When any student or young person first hears the American dream they assume it is only but one thing until they learn it is a phrase meaning said person’s personal goal given possibility by freedom. The student will then cultivate and mull over their end goal for life. The goal is almost never the same and can range from the extreme like pro mountain skier/fighter pilot or be nice and quaint like owning a little family business or opening a bakery with your significant other in a small town. No matter what you choose I’ll be the one to tell these stories with a camera and a talented writer.
The American dream is defined as the idea that every American should have an equal opportunity to achieve their goal in life through hard work, determination, and initiative. The novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck explores this idea throughout his story. Through the characters in the story, it shows the many different hardships of each character trying to pursue their dream. John Steinbeck believes that the American Dream is a goal that every American has in life, but it is impossible to achieve.
I believe that the American Dream is alive and dead. I also believe that humanity will never reach a point where everyone has an equal opportunity in everything as we crave power and not good will. Those who are rich will continue as so and those who are poor will most likely not improve. However, I also believe that one can achieve happiness through any situation they are put in. That being said, it requires gargantuan amounts of strife to put oneself in a certain mindset to see the positive in life. While still being naive and young I have traces of optimism for the future; as a result, I refuse to accept that the American Dream is dead. But as life sets in and I develop a more realistic perspective, it is becoming an ever more
The American Dream is embedded in the Declaration of Independence, a founding document that articulates the idea that “all men are created equal” with the rights to bear “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence). A path to citizenship is a proposition to resolve the policy failures concerning illegal immigration and the eleven million undocumented immigrants living in the United States (Inspired by Suro). Each individual will be able to act as a constituent of the American kindred and contribute to the prosperity of American society with the grants of summoning immigration reform. Allowing immigrants to attain full privileges and benefits sustained by a citizen can unlock significant economic affluence to the United States, including an increase in employment wage gains, which will in turn strengthen the taxation policy and social security system; a favorable investment in education; elevated labor productivity; enhancement of entrepreneurship, which will create new businesses; along with a feasible path to equality and stability for the nation that will increase cultural contributions as well as reduce crime rates. This research report will identify and discuss the various economic, educational, social, and cultural benefits that citizenship for unauthorized immigrants holds, along with evaluate the drawbacks suitable to answering the question: Should the United States provide unauthorized immigrants the right to citizenship?
In “Death of a Salesman “, Arthur Miller describes the great tragedy which the American Dream can cause. Through the duration of this play all goals were based on the ease of becoming wealthy and successful. The dreams of having the perfect life were cut short when reality settled into the Loman family’s life. When great disappointment is brought upon a family in struggle, the hope in one’s eyes fade away.
Dreams are something one works hard to achieve, but sometimes it’s impossible for them to come true. People, nature and life in general can get in the way of someone’s dream and makes it harder for them and others to achieve their goals. In the book, Of Mice And Men, the author, John Steinbeck, has many characters whose dreams fail due to the conflict of other characters. For example, when Lennie kills Curley’s Wife, George and Candy’s dream of owning a farm disappears. Steinbeck’s message in his book is that dreams don’t always come true and can fail when it’s least expected. The most pitiable character in the book is George because not only does his dream of owning a farm fail, but he also loses someone he cares dear about.
Millions of people have migrated to the United States in hopes of a better life. Just like American citizens, these immigrants strive to become successful and someday live in better conditions then they do presently. The original “Dream” began with the notion of the lower and middle classes hoping to move up the social ladder and someday achieve the middle class vision of a nice house, new car, and family playing out on the front lawn. Although the dream has now been redefined due to recent economic struggles, I believe it is still alive because there many opportunities within the United States and there are people who have been able to achieve the dream.