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Argument Essay: The American Dream

1274 Words6 Pages

The American Dream, it is a very well known saying though over the years its meaning has changed for many people and for some it no longer has meaning at all. There are some people that are very optimistic in life and they believe in things like the American dream, in the words of Stanford I. Well, “ I think that the American Dream says that anything can happen if you work hard enough at it and are persistent, and have some ability. The sky is the limit to what you can build, and what can happen to you and your family.”(BrainyQuote, 2) Then there are the realist, the people that see the facts in the situation and rely on those facts to form their opinions. Those people have opinions often like Rita Dove who once said “The American Dream is a phrase that we will have to wrestle with all of our lives. It means a lot of things to people. I think that we are redefining it now.”(BrainyQuote, 6) Lastly there is the pessimist, they are people see the worse in life and a very good example of this is …show more content…

For people that don’t have the equal opportunity to reach their American Dream or for the people around them they most likely see what Malcolm X saw “I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don't see any American dream--I see an American nightmare.” This nightmare is full of low pay which leaves a financial burden, high costs for education, high cost to care for children, discrimination, job losses and high living expenses; all things that have taken away the American Dream and made it unavailable for far too many to make it

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The Oxford English Dictionary defines the American dream as ¨ the ideal that every citizen of the United States should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.¨ The best example of the American dream is The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls. This is a book written about her traumatic experiences throughout her life and how she has made it through. She has had many struggles she has had to endure throughout her life: poverty, no security, bullies, rape, bad parenting, starvation, etc. Her two main struggles are her parents and poverty which is something that a lot has gone through. In Jeannettes life story, she shows everyone that the American dream is something that

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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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The American dream is a dream of land in which life should be better and richer for everyone. It’s a land where people succeed to accomplish their ambition of a better life. Most of the people have a different way of defining this American Dream. Unfortunately, for some, it could mean wealth,status,or power whereas for others it could mean companionship, good morals,love,and amity. According to our Declaration of Independence, it entitles every man and woman the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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The dream one cannot quite remember. Every time it creeps into the back of one’s mind, and one struggles to grasp it; it slips through his fingers, like sand through an hourglass. Now imagine the dream as one’s goal, a goal one has always wished to accomplish. That is what the American Dream of many of those who are belittled by society can be like. Every time they gain distance toward achieving their goal or dream, it slips through their fingers; they are unable to complete their goals or advance their position in life.

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805 Words | 4 Pages

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. To some, the American Dream seems unimaginable.

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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.

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The American dream at one point was what drew people to American; the right to life, liberty, and the happiness. The American dream is the hope to acquire currency, large homes, raise a middle-class family, and pursue what brings people joy in life. But in the year 2016, the American dream becomes hard to believe in. The American dream may still exist, but it is not equally accessible to all Americans. This is true because the American dream is not affordable for everyone, it is not available to everyone from different degrees of education, and race and ethnicity creates large social barriers.

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Very proud and boastfully airing their accomplishments but deep inside or behind closed doors they want it all to end. Having all these things in life; great house,driving the newest car, and living with the best appliances does not equate to every American's dream. We all have different ideas that we develop or have been forced to believe that this is the way to having our dreams. We learn to adjust and manipulate it to fit our unique lifestyle.

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The idea that through hard work and determination, anyone can achieve success and prosperity has been promoted and celebrated by politicians, business leaders, and the media for decades. However, the American Dream has also been subject to critique and scrutiny. Scholars such as David Hayden have argued that the American Dream is a myth that obscures the realities of social and economic inequality in American society (Hayden 2002). Hayden contends that the American Dream is a form of false consciousness that encourages people to believe that success is solely the result of individual merit and hard work, rather than acknowledging the role that social factors such as race, class, and gender play in determining economic outcomes. Critics of the American Dream also point to the fact that for many Americans, achieving economic success is simply out of reach due to structural barriers such as lack of access to education, healthcare, and other resources (Hayden 2002).

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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

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The American dream is an illusion that is deeply implanted in the minds of the people, it sets a bar for life achievement and offers hope to work hard to achieve their dreams. As for Americans, they are raised in a society to where they are expected to make lots money and to have a healthy family. After all in our society success is largely based off positions of power and financial stability. For example, in The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there were multiple interpretations of the ideal American dream in the 1920s. In the 1920s, due to the growth of materialism, people advertised and fancied the power of money to fulfilling their dreams.

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It is the American Dream that you work hard for what you want and you never give up if you want to achieve your

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People also have this image of the American dream as a white Pickett fence, a dog, and two children with a nice house and two cars in the driveway nice job and a stay at home wife, when that is not what it is at all. When people talk about how they want that when they get to America they will get disappointed because what they pictured and wanted America to be and what the media paints it to be is not what it is. Sometimes it feels like the media takes over the American dream more and more and it becomes more materialistic every day. For the Americans that live here it becomes even more harder to achieve because the pricing of housing is only getting higher and seems like the paychecks are just enough anymore. It feels like once you feel like you got it in your hands it then

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The American Dream has the nationality ethos of the United States. It is a collection of goals that everyone born in America has freedom, equal opportunity for prosperity and upward social mobility. They can achieve through hard work in a society with few obstacles. However, the fact is cruel. Nowadays, America’s economic inequality is growing.

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False Illusions "For many the American Dream has become a nightmare. " These words of Bernie Sanders are accurate to an extent. The American Dream is the idea that anyone, with enough resolve and determination, can climb the economic ladder, regardless of where they start in life. It is called the American Dream because the United States is depicted as the greatest nation in the world, that offers the most opportunity and freedom to achieve upward mobility in society. However, many people attach themselves too much to the hope of achieving this dream that they fail to realize the inequalities that take place in front of their own faces, which are the factors that are hampering them from this illusion.

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