“America! From the other end of the earth where I came, America was a land of living hope, woven of dreams, aflame with longing and desire” (Yezierska 16). This quote centers on America’s promise to provide everyone with access to the American Dream. The American Dream is the thoughts, aspirations, visions and hopes associated with one’s future in America, specifically one’s goals, ambitions, and intents. In recent times, the dynamics of the American Dream has changed, and this shift has raised questions as to whether America is keeping its promise pertaining to the American Dream. While many Americans assert that because they have been able to achieve their goals America still provides access to the American Dream, others insist they have no way to achieve their American Dream because the …show more content…
Primarily, while America does still provide access to the American Dream, the administering of it to the citizen population is hardly equal and ubiquitous as promised; rather, there is a set of factors that not only provides more opportunities for one to achieve the American Dream, but ultimately decides the outcome of one’s attempts to achieve the American Dream. These factors are wealth, family connections, and luck. The importance of money to not just the American Dream, but to the American population in general, is shown in the poem “Money”, by Dana Gioia. Gioia writes, “Money, the long green, cash, stash, rhino, jack or just plain dough…It greases the palm, feathers a nest, holds heads above water, and makes both ends meet” (Gioia 69). If there exists so many different names for money, it must be important, or at least perceived to be, in today’s society. The latter part of the quote deals with all the things money can do despite it being an inanimate object. Money is required for almost everything in America, thus creating opportunities for those who have it. In America, money is the ultimate