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Comparing The American Dream In Nickel And Dimed

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The American Dream is it dead or alive? There are still a few people that believe the American Dream is still alive and is still achievable. Others think it is dead and is a thing of the past. Some believe the American Dream is having a successful job and being financially stable and living in a well furnished house. Some would say that is not possible to achieve the American Dream from coming from a poor upbringing. A writer named Barbara Ehrenreich states it is impossible to go from being poor and living paycheck to paycheck to being successful and having a good well paying job. There is another author who thinks the American Dream is alive and can be achieved and his name was Adam Shepard. He believes it is possible to go from nothing to having a job and a home that is fully furnished with a well paying job.The American Dream is when a person has a successful job that pays well with a good home that is well furnished and in a good neighborhood. They say that American Dream is achievable for those who work hard and have a positive mindset. 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 …show more content…

According to fivethirtyeight.com “ In 2014, only half of 30-year-olds could say the same. The slowdown in mobility shows up in all 50 states and is true across the income spectrum. The biggest declines were among the children of middle-class families” (Casslem). This is a good point because kids can’t go very far if they can’t if there parents can’t make money and help them go somewhere in the

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In accordance to Nickel and Dimed and more modern statistics, The American Dream was not obtainable then and is still not attainable now because of sectional differences in the United States and how previous education, such as grade school or university education, cannot compensate for those differences, how the more fortunate always find ways to take advantage of the less fortunate through their lives of opportunity such that the success of the less fortunate is rigged, and really how the whole concept of the American Dream and its attainability is based on the context of the time period. In the bulk of Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich narrates her experiences working in the multiple types of jobs she’s had within the United States. She mentions how within each region, Florida, Maine, and Minnesota, she encountered different types of work , leaving her with a certain amount of money each week or month after tax payments and paying for

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607 Words | 3 Pages

What is the American Dream? The American Dream is defined by the ideal that life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. In the article “ American Dream? Or Mirage?” by Michael W. Kraus, Shai Davidai, and A. David Nussbaum, the idea that the lower you are on the wealth/class scale the more you believe in the american dream, whilst on the other hand the higher you are, the more you think it is just luck rather than merit. Professor Kraus et al were wrong in saying that the American Dream is still alive when in truth the American Dream is dying if it is not already dead not only in the upper class but also in the lower class.

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1274 Words | 6 Pages

Author Robert McKinnon in his work, “Moving Up: The Truth about Getting Ahead in America” has discussed factors that affect our chances of achieving the American Dream. In the article, "Moving Up: The Truth about Getting Ahead in America" Robert McKinnon argues that “it is easier to stay at the top then it is to rise from the bottom.” Throughout the article McKinnon illustrates the three most important factors when it comes to moving up in the social class to achieve the American Dream this includes: mobility, hard work, and the fate of our birth. Although McKinnon proved all these factors to be vital when it comes to living the American Dream, I believe that hard work is the most important when it comes to achieving the American Dream.

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1015 Words | 5 Pages

The American dream is not as easy as people say it is. The American Dream is being able to afford the necessities you need, without having to struggle and suffer just to put food on a table for their families. People think it’s easy to live the American Dream, but little do they know that there are people out there struggling to support their family. The American Dream is difficult to achieve but very possible if people could find the opportunity and available to them.

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888 Words | 4 Pages

Walter Benn Michaels has a large amount of knowledge in diversity, he has written many articles on the topic. Michaels has expressed his knowledge and beliefs that there is a great deal of diversity among human beings. Unfortunately, diversity has been defined by the average Americans as racism verses economic stability. In the article, “The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality,” Walter Benn Michaels’ skillful presentation of his logos overshadows his less successful portrayal of pathos and ethos concerning the idea of love for identity. However, Michaels has impeccable logos in the article with his references on the idea of love for identity, but does not express his ethos and pathos as fluent.

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2132 Words | 9 Pages

In the article, Is the American Dream Still Possible? by David Wallechinsky he talks about whether being able to achieve one's own American Dream can still be possible or not. In his article he states, “Today, despite having a college education, Randy works for $9 an hour finding community jobs for mentally challenged adults.” Randy only earns $9 an hour and he's working for mentally challenged adults which isn't one of the easier jobs, it can be very stressful and have many challenges while working with these adults. Many people believe if they go to college and have a college education they will have a better job and better salaries than those who don't have a college education.

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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,

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611 Words | 3 Pages

The American dream is a term used in a lot of ways. Although research has shown that American dream can’t be attainable by most people, closer examination shows that it can be attainable by the following reasons. As Daniel J. Mitchell stated in New York Times im January 1st, 2015 “The United States is not a perfect country, but the American Dream is still a reality.” By that he meant that even with America’s Grow rate, poverty, unemployment rate in the past years and still going Americans can still chase their American dreams If we look at the history and the definition it shows that infact it is possible to attain it.

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The current event that I feel affects today 's American Dream is high priced homes on the Market. I think that this is affecting the American Dream because infiltration of the house prices skyrocketing. The price of homes is so high because of the law of supply and demand, and the economy in San Diego. Houses being this high in price is forcing people to downgrade and live in a different neighborhoods. I think we can all agree part of the American Dream is to own your own home.

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762 Words | 4 Pages

The American Dream is Attainable Dreaming of success, a bright future, or even hope? An idea placed in the Declaration of Independence, The American Dream has been a beacon of hope to many; however, does The American Dream really exist? Some can and will argue that it’s dead, and that it isn’t achievable. I believe it’s alive, but it has to be realistic. By being realistic, anything could be possible, but only with the amount of effort put forth.

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Within social mobility, many people fail to have a sense of the realization of the American Dream because of the fewer advantages and more problems minorities have to struggle through. Therefore, our social class affects our ability to realize the American Dream because we face challenges to make ends meet, intersectionality and education because of high status.

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The real question is, is the American Dream a reality, or is it just a dream? To me the American dream is making money, a supporting loving family, and having a career you love. I think that many people come to the U.S. looking for their own idea of The American Dream, but in my opinion I’m not sure how much of the american dream still exist. There is many obstacles for the dream; endless you 're born into your wildest dream. For immigrants coming from different countries grasping their dream can be very hard.

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835 Words | 4 Pages

Faith Volpi Mrs. McLellan English III The American Dream is to succeed in making everyone feel equal and supported. People 's view about the American Dream are different everywhere one goes. The American Dream does indeed still exist in todays society, and it is one 's job to try their hardest to succeed the values of their own American Dream. Because with everyone united one can succeed at achieving one’s own idea of the American Dream.

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886 Words | 4 Pages

What is portrayed by the media and what they believe to be the American dream I do not believe that that is attainable and or realistic at any point. If you work hard to achieve your goals and what you put your mind to you will achieve the success that you want and your own American dream will be what you wanted it to be and to succeed in the efforts that you chose. If your an immigrant from a third world country then practically anything would be an upgrade, especially the vision of free medical care, child birth and privileges, the dream is still strong. If you are everyone else, middle and lower class, the dream is dead, downward movement more plausible. So, everyone has a different outlook on the American Dream and what it means to them so is it attainable is the main question.

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904 Words | 4 Pages

Dreams can come true if you believe and never give up. The American Dream consists of a national idea that success and prosperity are things to continually strive for. There are many diverse opinions and reasons that people get idea that the American Dream is alive or dead. It is the different stories that are told as examples, that give viewers their opinions. People can twist words in ways that can make the americans hopeful that the american dream is alive, and change it into ways that the american dream is dead.

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