The American Dream

1.
In text no. 2, Arnold Schwarzenegger has written a comment in the U.S. News & World Report. The
American dream is interpreted as something you make yourself worthy for. Schwarzenegger came from Austria to the States in 1983, hoping to fulfill his dreams, instead of becoming a police officer like his father. Schwarzenegger succeeded, especially in his acting-career, but also in his political career. Today he is the governor of California. But there wasn’t anything given to him for free. According to this text, he had to work very hard to accomplish these achievements. In line 13 he writes that “Hard work and determination” was what it took for him to be successful. Schwarzenegger is very humble, when it comes to moving and adjusting to a new country, and he claims that it’s important that immigrants give something back, when they receive so much.
Text no. 3 is an article from Yahoo! Finance. It has a much more negative/pessimistic point of view about the American Dream and the time we live in. Anya Kamenetz, the author of this article, supports her opinions on surveys and studies. For instance she found out that once people earn more than $50,000 a year, their level of happiness does not rise with the money they earn, as it should, according to the general idea of the American Dream (page 7, line 17).
The last text is called “Is the American Dream still possible?”, and as the name of it indicates, it’s written with doubtfulness. David Wallechinsky, who’s the author of the text, is not sure whether the American Dream still exists, and claims that the average American is having trouble due to rising prices and lesser benefits.
2.
Text 1, “What is the American dream?” explains how the term “The American Dream” was first used, what it means today and what it may turn into. The language in the text is refined and well-considered. For example in the first part, where a part of James Truslow Adams’s book is quoted. He uses a lot of long words and phrases, for instance: “to interpret adequately” and “fortuitous circumstances”. This isn’t common English for everybody and not quite understandable without a dictionary.
Text 2 does not have any of these kinds of words. Schwarzenegger writes in a very common style of language. I assume this as a “tactical” move from his side, as he probably wants as many people as possible to understand his text, because as the name of it indicates (“Learn English, Participate in politics, and give back”), this is a persuasive, appealing text. Schwarzenegger also writes accurate and precise sentences, there is no doubt whatsoever about what he wants to tell us.
By comparing the U.S and the countries he lived nearby, when he was living in Austria, he has powerful arguments. This can be found on first page of this text, line 29: “In Austria, I was surrounded by countries like Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia where citizens did not have the right to vote”. He puts democracy, including the right to vote and more, in perspective. He gives people (particularly Americans) something to think about.
The tone in the first text is a reflection of the language; all the “difficult” words and the using of verb shall instead of will or can, create a kind of greatness or patriotism, i.e. “Each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable”.
The tone in text 2 is not as patriotic as it is humble and appealing. Schwarzenegger just wants us to know, that regardless of where we come from, with the right amount of willpower, we can achieve all our goals in life.
3.
I want to take my starting point in the text written by Arnold Schwarzenegger, because I honestly believe that the power of will is the single most important thing, when it comes to achieving goals and fulfilling dreams. It’s the same as the quote “Where there is will there is way. As said on the second page of the fourth text, line 4, many are “downsizing” their dreams, because they suddenly discover that they lack talent or intellect. I think that it’s not entirely true. Yes, you can use talent and intellect to accomplish some of your goals, but I’d rather consider talent or intellect as a gift, because without willpower you’re not going to get far. You can be a very fast learner and have an outstanding memory, but if you don’t pay attention or don’t do your homework, you’re not going to become a lawyer or a doctor, or whatever dream you might have.
Being successful takes, as Schwarzenegger accurately described it, hard work and determination. A lot of people tend to think that really big sport superstars and musical geniuses got carried by their talent, but this is hardly the case. Mozart is an example of this. As more research about him is done, they discover that he used up to 10 hours a day playing the piano, every day, even when he was 5-6 years old. Mozart and others like him should be famous for the amazing ability to keep going rather than their talent.
In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger:
“With hard work, learning English, and getting involved, there’s no limit to what you can achieve”.