...What is the American Dream, and who are the people most likely to pursue its often elusive fulfillment? Indeed, the American Dream has come to represent the attainment of a combination of goals that are specific to each individual. While one person might consider a purchased home with a white picket fence his or her version of the American Dream, another might regard it as the financial ability to start and operate his own business. Clearly, there is no cut and dried definition of the American Dream because it is different for every person. What it does universally represent, however, it is the opportunity for people to seek out their individual and collective desires and go out and achieve them. The American Dream was and always will be something that makes America great. It allows those with aspirations to make them come true. In America all you need is a dream and the motivation to carry out that dream. Ambition is the driving force behind the American Dream. It allows any one that has an aspiration, a desire, a yearning, to carry out the individual dream. It knows no bounds of race, creed, gender or religion. It stands for something great, something that everyone can strive towards. A dream can be a desire for something great. In America, the American Dream allows dreams to become realities. According to Webster's New World Dictionary, the American Dream is defined as "An American social ideal that' stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity". To live this...
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...something. I believe that The American Dream is exactly that, the climb to become successful in America. It is a commonly known fact that immigrants in history and in the present day have come to the United States to start again and make better lives for themselves and their families. Although this dream means different things for every individual person, all of them reach for something they don’t have, and they usually originate from a lower class than their end point. An example of The American Dream in action is the background behind renowned special effects makeup artist Glenn Hetrick. He was raised in the lowly suburbs of Bethlehem Pennsylvania, and his interest in makeup effects drove him to participate in local theater productions as a fledgling makeup artist in high school. Once he graduated from high school, he moved to the big city of New York and took various film jobs, mostly for horror films. Soon enough, Mr. Hetrick was noticed by big time movie and special effects companies, and was being hired to work for them. After years of hard work under their corporations, he finally became the owner of the Optic Nerve Studios in Hollywood, and more recently has opened up his very own original studio, The Alchemy Studios. The point I’ve tried to make behind Mr. Hetrick’s life story is that he, like many others, started from little to nothing and worked his way up. There are no shortcuts, no get out of jail free cards. The American Dream can not be realized in the time...
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...America is seen by many as the Land of Opportunities, a place where one can achieve anything and be anything, no matter what their past may be. Some however, say that the American Dream is not real, that it is simply a dream that cannot be realized due to social or political obstacles. The truth is that many of these obstacles can be overcome through hard work and perseverance. The American Dream is achievable through hard work and the determination to keep going, no matter how slim the odds seem to be. One important aspect of the American Dream is that one’s past has no bearing on the achievability of the American Dream. One can come from nothing and become the richest person in the world if they put their minds to it. Andrew Sullivan, in his essay, My America, touched on this when he wrote that what matters in America is not where you come from, but “where you are going” (Sullivan, Para 5). This shows that in America, people don’t care about one’s past as they do about one’s future. Here, the past is not a hinderance, it is simply something that is there, motivating one to do better, to achieve their American Dream....
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...What happened to the Dream? Dr Martin Luther King Jr wanted freedom for all colors, black and white. He wanted everybody to be consider equal. "I have a dream" by Dr Martin Luther Kings Jr is a presuasive speech because he uses appeal rhetoriacal devices and tone. Dr Martin Luther King Jr uses appeals to show emotions on how he felt and to show reasioning to tell people how life is. "One hundred years later the life of the negro is still badly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination." We are still divided as a nation, balck and whites still till this day have not taken accountability that rascism still exist in the world today. Martin Luther King jr felt the American dream was nothing more that a racial experiences of life. Dr. King referced different intentices that proved that balcks are not equal. "Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horros of police brutality. Blacks were beaten, spit on and killed because of there color....
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...In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, each character fell in love with the idea of the American dream. Their obsession with the American dream will become so strong, they will risk everything including their happiness to attain it. Everyone wants the money, the status, and the material. To have it, would mean they’d have everything they ever wanted, but it won’t. It keeps them from truly following their heart, and pursuing their happiness. Gatsby dedicated his life to building a life that Daisy would want, Daisy threw away her happiness by marrying Tom just for the social status, and Nick left the security of his family and the love they gave him for a chance at the rich and wealthy lifestyle. When Gatsby was a young officer, Gatsby was impressed by what Daisy represents, old money and a life full of luxuries. Gatsby knew that he needed to provide a life full of wealth and material if he wanted to keep Daisy in his life. He fell deeply in love with the young Daisy, and vowed to come back to her as a wealthy man. Gatsby went off to the war, while Daisy continued her artificial lifestyle. Gatsby’s heart never drifted from Daisy, because he was determined to do everything in his power to get her. Little did he know Daisy had moved onto bigger and better...
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...Being a black family and living in a white neighborhood in the 1950s is a rare thing to see. The dreams of African Americans in the 1950s are hard to achieve. In the story, A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family’s dream is to overcome the racism and discrimination. The main character is the play is Walter, his dream is to open up his own liquor story with the insurance money his family is getting. Opening a liquor store in the 1950s is a very good idea because drinking was very popular. Walter invests six thousand dollars into Willy who is in charge of getting the business started. His dreams chatter when Willy disappears with the money and leaves nothing behind. Another character in the play, A Raisin in the Sun, is Beneatha. Beneatha...
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...The American dream has stood to be each person’s idea of success. The American dream is usually associated with 1940’s America depiction of the ideal family, as can be depicted from television shows such as Leave it to Beaver. However, this is one aspect and shallow analysis of the American dream that is not appropriate for all reaching to achieve their American dream. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Miller succeeds in portraying this through the characters Willy and Biff. Their conflict represents two varying perspectives of the American dream, and this very struggle leads to the conclusion that the American dream is rooted in the pursuit of a better life. Throughout Death of a Salesman, Miller portrays two ideas of the American dreams and it is definite that they are “American dreams” as they both deal with success and that character’s idea of success. Though, this is where characters’ views differ and conflict with one another. Willy’s American dream is to have his children succeed and to leave his imprint on the society which he was unable to succeed in doing so in a life long career as a salesman. Furthermore, Willy lived in the ideology that being “well liked” was far more important and and necessary than being a Bernard type of person and make a living based on his studies. Willy’s belief and encouragement of this ideology upon his sons influenced Biff immensely. As a result, Biff did not put the effort into his studies that would have enabled him to pass...
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...The American Dream is the idea of coming to america and being able to do what you want. America is the land of opportunity. There are many different ideas of the American dream, but it still present in today. The American dream does exist today because people come to america, the land of opportunity to accomplish the impossible goal and to succeed in life. In the text “I, Too, Sing America” by Langston Hughes, Challenges the American dream. It shows how the American dream is not what it seems. How the American dream is different for everyone. The text states “They send me to eat in the kitchen”(Hughes). The meaning of this quote is that he does not get to eat with everyone else when people come over. This challenges the american dream because this man should be free to eat wherever he wants to. The text also states, “Nobody’ll dare say to me, ‘Eat in the Kitchen,’(Hughes). This quotes meaning is to show that he will fight for his right to be and equally treated American. This challenges the right of the American dream because he has to fight just to be treated...
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...What does the American dream mean to you? My American dream is to own my own house with a small family out in the country well maintain. The American dream mean to me that your living how you want to. In the book, Raisin in the Sun the American dream in the play was to own something like a house or business. In the book, The Great Gatsby, the American dream was to be the wealthiest person around and have the nicest things around. The American dream could mean something different to every person. The American dream to you should mean living a good life or owning everything you always wanted to own. For an example, you have everything you have ever wanted or wanted to be like being a bank accounted and living a big house driving a Corvette....
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...Andrew Fishman American Prison Willy Loman, the main character in Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, wants to live the American dream. He is consumed with his own misguided beliefs regarding success, which causes his life to be similar what Wyoming Senator Craig L. Thomas said about the American Dream: “You stuff Someone into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.” Willy’s obsession with the American Dream, believing that being well liked equates with success, keeps both he and his sons in a state of emotional immaturity. These beliefs causes the American Dream to be a prison. The Loman family’s American Dream becomes their prison, constructed of deception and false pride. They cannot escape their immature behavior of manipulating, lying, and bragging, never realizing that this behavior prevents them from success. The Loman Family is so caught up on the American Dream that they give up happiness for the business world, they do this even though the do not like to be in business. Throughout the book Willy is so concentrated on teaching his kids the American Dream that he and his kids fails to recognize their aspirations which causes them to continually be stuck in their American Dream prison. As Willy and Happy are locked up in the prison Biff realizes that he is not a business guy and that allows him to be happy. Willy is too stuck in the idea of the American Dream and the narrow minded approach of success to do what he wants. One example of this...
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...Death of the American Dream What is the “American Dream”? Does everybody have the same dream; does everybody want the same thing? Does everyone who tries for his or her dream achieve it? This unit we have read and discussed different literature that has dealt with aspects of the “American Dream”. Two of those texts that have had the most impact on me personally and my vision of my dream were “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller and “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. These two pieces of literature deal with aspects of each of the main characters pursuit of what they feel is their “American Dream”. It’s safe to say that both of these depictions end in a sorrowful way; with both of the main characters realizing that their dream won’t be fulfilled. Both of these authors show how the typical American Dream of having wealth and glory won’t bring one true contentment; it is this aspect of the “American Dream” that both of the main characters of the stories strive to attain. It seems that with every greedy aspiration for the “American Dream” comes unfulfilled lives and missed experiences; for this is what happens to Dexter Green in “Winter Dreams” and Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman”. The two texts portray the false determinations and unrealistic visions that can plague a man or woman with a strong thirst for the “American Dream” and end up leading a person to the edge of destruction. This thirst for the “American Dream” can blind someone from recognizing...
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... The ambitious nightmare Is the American Dream still alive today? It all depends on whom you ask, and how you look at things. Everyone sees things differently and will interpret it that way; to one person the American Dream is just that, a dream and when they wake up it will be a nightmare, and to another it is an ambition, that just makes them want it more. By definition the American Dream is: “a national ethos of the United States, a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers.” So, the question remains, is it still alive today, and is this really how people are living their lives? As sad as this answer may be, the truth is, probably not, like all good things they must end. The American Dream is a great thing to wish for however, it has been lost in time with the unwillingness to pursue it. The saddest thing is that some people believe the American dream is something that exists today; whereas some people in society have no idea that this dream exists. What ever happened to the zeal that drove America to the top? What happened to the aspiration of striving for greatness and becoming that greatness? That may be a question no one knows the answer too or it is an answer that people are unwilling to give. George Carlin once said, “The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe...
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...The American dream can be defined as the of pursuit of happiness in a person’s life. In today's society, some people believe the American Dream is in their grasp, but others do not see how that dream is achievable. The American dream is a reality because the more work that the person puts in is the further more in the future he gets. If a person works hard enough for most of their life, they can definitely achieve their dream. In the book, The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald, there is a character name Gatsby and shows that people need dreams to move forward in life beside moving back. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby went from rags to riches overnight and he was living the American dream by cheating his way social, and financially. In the novel Gatsby had a big house and inside the house had extravagant parties all the time. Gatsby lifestyle was and still is the definition of the American dream. But Gatsby was still searching for his dream and that was Daisy “Fifty...
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...undoubtedly heard of the American Dream. The idea that no matter who you are or where you have come from, you can do whatever it is you desire in America. What was once one the main driving forces for immigrants to flock to the new world, has slowly changed over the years, but still holds its value in the eyes of those who are looking for a promising new place to live. The American dream might not hold the same awe inspiring sound that it once did, but for many generations before ours, it was a beacon of hope that helped build the foundation that the United States was built on. And still today the American dream might not be as achievable as it once was, but it is still an important symbol to the American ideology....
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...American Dream The American Dream is defined as a happy way of living that is thought of by many Americans as something that can be achieved by anyone in the United States especially by working hard and becoming successful. ("Merriam-Webster Dictionary") A shadow has been cast upon the eyes of average Americans. What is wrong with the American dream? Our attention has been shifted from the true problem of economic inequality to the patterned racial discrimination. Take for example Oprah Winfrey, Tyra Banks, Ellen DeGeneres and Kelly Ripa. Oprah and Tyra are both African American while Ellen and Kelly are Caucasian. Tyra is a lot younger than Oprah. Ellen is a homosexual female while Kelly is not. Do these differences of race change the fact that they make a equally substantial amount of money? Today in America we feel the need to justify the economic inequality not with class differences but with the racial borders. As Walters Michaels describes in The Trouble with Diversity he states that “the argument, in its simplest form, will be that we love race – we love identity – because we don’t love class” (Michaels, pg 966). Is this the art of the fundamental teaching of our elders? Is America truly the melting pot of the world, or should it be the salad bowl? In this social “salad bowl” we would be open to retain the cultural identities of our ancestors while assuming a part of larger America whole. The American dream is and always has been fundamentally powerful because of...
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