In the process of working toward the American Dream, people struggle to fit in, to belong, to be accepted. For many of them, an important part of the American Dream is the chance to reinvent themselves—the opportunity to become someone different, someone better. In “Outlaw: My Life in America as an Undocumented Immigrant”, Jose Antonio Vargas is an “undocumented immigrant” who has been living illegally in the U.S. since he was twelve years old. To chase his American dreams, he embodied a lie until it became unbearable and he expose his truth and let the masks crumble onto the ground. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. broke unjust laws and engaged in nonviolence direct action in order to pursue his American dream of equality and freedom.
Dreams are hard to attain without discrimination, but with discrimination it is even harder to do, for this reason women had a hard time of achieving their dream, “While some women surely found some satisfaction in their domestic roles and knew their work to be both hard and necessary, many were aware that domestic labor was not only undervalued by their fellow Americans but also would never lead to success and stature”(Loranger). This quote proves that with discrimination against gender it was hard to attain the American Dream because even while doing work
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
It seems that so often the subject of economic standing and wealth are said synonymously with the phrase “The American Dream.” To the enlightened individual the dream is not just a dollar sign, or desk name-tag at work, but the ability to walk into a room or a home, and know that their presence is welcomed and looked forward to. The dream is realizing that in America, we have resources to make an honest difference. In “Scratch Beginnings”, this quote says that “Hey, we all come from different backgrounds, most of which weren’t normal. We’re all messed up.”
It is getting harder for immigrants living in the United States to fulfill their American Dream, which causes them to put pressure on their first generation American child to fulfill the dream for them. To many immigrant parents, the Dream consist of getting a high paying stable job, and being able to provide for the rest of the family. However, even if a first generation child goes to a well respected college to get the stable, high paying job of their parents dreams, it is sometimes not enough. Due to language barriers and ethnic sounding names, first generation Americans are constantly being put down by employers who care more about appealing to the White public than provide an educated person a job. Immigrant parents fail to understand
On the surface, I’ve created a good life. I’ve lived the American dream. But I am still an undocumented immigrant. And that means living a different kind of reality.” This article gives a firsthand sight of this type of life, that not only the author lives but also millions of other immigrants like him.
(Document A) Current residents also argue that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness. (Document B) However, this is not true. The American Dream is not possible and cannot be attained since those who are already the less fortunate. The American Dream is only possible for those who have started off financially well with good social standings.
“Less than twenty percent of Americans say they 're living the American Dream,” concluding the point that no matter how hard you work, it never results in exactly what you desire (Carter). The goals citizens are looking to achieve today are dreams of the past, but not financially or lawfully perceptible: you must be aware that the infrastructure and resources of the past are either gone, much more difficult to access
America: The Beacon of Hope To many, America is considered the greatest country in the world; a place where anyone’s dreams can come true, a beacon of light in a world of oppression. Open doors give everyone the chance to enter, with a chance at a better life, with the mentality that working hard will let you succeed, building America up from the original 13 colonies to the 50 states we have today. However, in recent times there has been a change in people’s frame of mind, and as a result America has started to slip from its number one status.
In “ The Struggle Continues for Racial Equality in America” speech by Ginger Adams Otis, there’s a quote that explains how equality may never be achieved: “ Blacks also make forty-percent of the population in homeless shelters, although they account for thirteen-percent of the U.S population. They also have the highest rate of ‘severely cost-burdened renters’- those who pay at least half their income to rent, leaving little for continued education for themselves or their children.” Our country’s equality hasn’t changed from 1963, so equality doesn’t seem achievable. The quote proves the point that equality can’t be achievable because although the law wants equality in the United States, there are people who make it impossible. But, there are Americans with the hope that equality will be achieved, but there are people who don’t have the hope that equality will be achieved.
Immigration and The American Dream Immigrants from the mid 19th century and early 20th century consisted of mainly Southern and Eastern Europe, Asia, and elsewhere. Immigrants motivations, experiences, and impacts shaped what an immigrant had to go through being a different person from another country. Although Americans dislike foreigners who came to the United States, immigrants had a role in political, economic, cultural, and social aspects of immigrants because of their motivations, experiences, and impacts in America. New Immigrants did not have it easy and went through obstacles natives, political figures, bosses and others had thrown at them.
No matter who you are or where you have come from, you have 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
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.
Back in the early 1900’s the American dream was known around the world and thought of as easily capable; Nowadays the “American Dream” is not as reachable, the economy has changed and there have been shortages in jobs. Immigrants who move into the United States strive to work a
More than 50 years ago, Martin Luther King held the memorable speech “I have a dream”. His impressive rhetoric demanded racial justice, which became a basis for subsequent generations of black Americans. His words have later been used to achieve a better understanding of the social and political upheaval at the time. The main point of the speech is that all people are created equal and although not the case in America at the time, Martin Luther King felt that it should be the case in the future. The audience of the speech is considered very general, however, the speech was held in Washington meaning it is possible that the speech was an attempt to engage law and policy makers who work in the nation’s capital.