American Dream In Scratch Beginnings

Is the American Dream Still Possible? There are 318.9 million people living in the United States and every citizen has the desire to fulfil their own American Dream. The traditional American Dream is a common concept known by all citizens but is viewed differently by each individual. Every American is different and believes they can be granted their dream or denied it.

Since the beginning of time in the United States, the idea of the American Dream has had a heavy influence on society. According to Document C, American Dream is defined as earning enough money to be happy, obtaining a worry-free lifestyle, and running in a high social circle. While working Americans still hold on to the hope of the American Dream, individuals from other countries often move to the United States with the hope that they too may have a piece of the pie. Despite the novelty and allure of the American Dream, it is nothing more than false hope.

The popular perception of the American dream is that it is the perfect formula to achieve whatever you desire through unmatched opportunities. However, in reality the core of the dream holds many hidden flaws that ultimately discredit its validity. Throughout American History, examples of the privileged citizens see more respect to every life task that occurs. As for the rest of the population, the minorities who have been stepped over, suffer bias opinions that affect success barriers they attempt to cross. There is a sense of hypocrisy within the American dream discussion because the minorities that supposedly make this country diverse, fall under the crumbles of the privileged.

In today’s society, the majority of people carry the belief that the dream is unattainable. However, the fact is that they are not willing to work for it, and expect “the government [to] actively work to help people achieve the American Dream,” (Source E). This flawed mindset is what makes the dream seem distant, for the American Dream is not the source of the problem. This sense of entitlement also leads to the destruction of the motivation that runs the American Dream, as well as completely warps the definition that manifests a positive image in the beneficiary’s head. The lack of entitlement enables the dream to function to the highest capacity possible, displaying how humbling oneself makes one even more capable of achieving true greatness.

The American Dream is being able to achieve whatever a citizen wants as long as they are willing to work hard for it; being financially stable is a key factor to being successful. This is the main reason many immigrants come to America. They want to start a life that allows them to build a family in a successful environment. The American Dream started in the early 1800s saying that anyone was able to achieve what they want as long as they worked hard and never gave up. America is one of the best countries to achieve the idea of “being successful.” Although there are many obstacles in life, the American Dream is pretty realistic.

(Blodget) Many families still work to sustain together, some with their children at part-time jobs to help move the family forward. Conditions for work may be better than Barbara’s experience; however, the American dream still is not attained by many families. Families in need are offered and provided WIC and food stamps for aid, but these limited aids do not always fully assist unemployed poorer families. Like back during Barbara’s investigation, the “working poor” are still frowned upon by many of the more fortunate and poverty still fights through, making itself known throughout the nation.

America’s wealth gap between middle class and upper class income is at its highest level in decades. According to Pew Research Center’s article “America’s Wealth Gap,” they report in 2010, the median wealth of upper-income families was 6.2 times the median wealth of middle-income families and by 2013, that wealth ratio grew to 6.6. This makes the American Dream a very difficult thing to accomplish, especially for the lower class. The American Dream means that all people have the equal opportunity to achieve success of rising in their social ladder through hard work, determination, and initiative. Some argue that the American Dreams is available and achievable by all. However, while the American Dream is available to all, it is not achievable by all because there are issues due to health, ethnicity, location, and opportunities.

What is the American dream? The American dream is "that 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." - James Truslow Adams. The American dream can be defined in many different ways. Thus being, can people achieve their American dream?

It has been contended that the socioeconomics status of an individual does not impact the difficulty of hardships faced while striving towards the American Dream. In “The (futile) Pursuit of the American Dream”, Barbara Ehrenreich suggests “...while blue-collar poverty has become numbingly route, white-collar unemployment and the poverty that often results- remains a rude finger in the face of the American Dream.” To put succinctly Ehrenreich claims all who pursue the American Dream encounter the same difficult hardships. However, the socioeconomic status of an individual impacts the jobs the individual obtains, the education obtained, and ultimately the income of the individual; thus, impacting the difficulty of the hardships faced.

The American Dream is dead and cannot be achieved because people don’t have the right upbringing and getting out of poverty is difficult and somewhat impossible. One of the most common arguments that people state why the American Dream can’t be achieved is because people who are poor can’t get out of there situations. In a book titled “Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich she states “When someone works for less pay than

Even though the optimal American Dream doesn’t promise that all citizens will achieve personal success, it offers equality and fortunes for them to pursue dreams through hard work. However, during the Industrial Age, American Dream didn’t apply to lower-class proletariat. Most immigrants from southern and eastern Europe arrived in the United States to escape religious persecution and poverty in their home countries and also seek new opportunities because of advertisements of the American Dream. But, they did realize that fantasy differed from reality after their arrival. As unskilled foreigners who suffered poverty and lacked experience and English skills, immigrants lived in nasty tenements located in city ghettos, earned little wages that

The American Dream is a set of ideas which includes each person’s opportunity to follow their dream of achieving a future and own happiness. The meaning of success in one or other way is to be rich. Everyone wants to improve their future, America is where everyone can equally get opportunities to improve ones’ future. America gives people an opportunity to dream of bettering their lives. Many people move to America dreaming of a better future, because no matter the race, everyone is given equal opportunities. But there are many people who dream of coming to America never gets a chance. In Bradon King 2011 book, “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold? he states that there are people who say American dead or alive, but this depends on every

First off, the American dream isn’t accessible to impoverished families in the U.S. The American dream involves having money to occasionally blow on entertainment or extra purchases. But for 50 million Americans, according to the Huffington Post,

What people perceive as the American Dream varies radically. Martin Luther King Jr. believed the dream could be achieved through racial equality, while others had thought that American Dream was based solely on economic prosperity. In order to address the concepts of many, the American Dream is a dream of change, a dream that someday we can all achieve our goals; a dream of happiness. Although many believe that America does not provide access to the American Dream due to many government restrictions that limit the potential one may possess; others claim the American government provides power to those who allow for constant growth in their lives that then leads them to achieve what they believe to be the American Dream.

Impossible Dreams The meaning of the American Dream can be seen as ”A uniquely American vision of the country consisting of three central ideas. The American dream consists of a belief in America as the new Eden- a land of beauty, bounty, and unlimited promise; a feeling of optimism, created by ever expanding opportunity; and a confidence in the triumph of the individual.” Using this definition of the so called “American dream”, it seems to be a great representation of it at first, until you realize it includes everyone as the individual. From the beginning of the Civil war to the end of the War to End All Wars, the American Dream wasn’t possible due to the treatment of the Native Americans, the inequality between women and men, and the false promises given to the immigrants coming to our country in their time of need.