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The American Dream In Of Mice And Men

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The American Dream has been present ever since the birth of America. Over the years, the definition has been heterogeneous. For many, it has been to earn a comfortable wage and provide for their families; for others, it could be to start a business or to simply help others. Only some have dreamed of riches or fame. In the 1930s, the American dream was on a smaller scale, due to the terrible and unstable state of the US economy. In modern times, the American dream isn’t a small, tight box anymore, it is a flexible mold of clay, expanding and contracting at your whim, as long as you put in the hard work and effort. These illustrated ideas were in the works of John Steinbeck 's (Of Mice and Men), Purdy Matthew (“Our towns: A chance to Live, and …show more content…

The American dream in our time has finally become accepting of not only minorities, but those that are financially disabled and that have other extrinsic factors affecting their lives as well. In the past, the poor may be seen as useless and unfit to belong anywhere, and given little sympathy because of some unavoidable faults such as: being born in a porn family, mental illness, or a sudden drop in the stock market. Nevertheless, the American dream has become attainable for those willing to work hard enough for it; not just for those born into an affluent family.A similar case is presented in the article “How Rural Students Define the American Dream” by Magdalena Slapik. The article focuses on kids living in rural areas across America and giving them an opportunity to express what the American Dream means to them. One of the students they interviewed was 10th grader Madison Ortega. Madison lives in Morehead, Kentucky which has a population of 6,845. Her parents are divorced and neither of them ever went to college. Due to this, Madison lived a very poor lifestyle, consisting of living off of child support and not having the means to attend private school. Even though her lack of money, her hope never wavered. She believes that she and her parents are very close to achieving their American dream. Her mother is going back to college to try to support Madison better, and her father is hopeful that he soon will find a job. Madison herself is hopeful that since she is doing well in high school she eventually she can go to college to get a decent job to support her new family. Madison says: “Education is the key to a lot of things, and it is the key to ending the cycle of poverty”. She believes that if she gets a good education, she can finally break her family’s cycle of poverty. In brief, the American dream’s steadily growing ease of access is an inspiring prospect to watch, especially, when considering that those who came from such a poor family were able to

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