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What Is The American Dream Essay

593 Words3 Pages

Chris Gardner states, "Maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue, and maybe we can actually never have it." All views of the American Dream are directly associated with happiness; however, the conditions needed to make a person happy change over time. Originally the American Dream focused on freedom, rights, and opportunity. The expectations of the dream are evolving into achieving an acceptable career with a steady income, living in a decent home, and having enough money; society refers to these new expectations as a middle-class lifestyle. I believe that the changes to the American Dream are improvements due to modernization, understanding the means to get there, and a realistic outlook on the subject.
The way society describes …show more content…

Considering numerous people in the world today have already achieved the dream, individuals still striving can understand the essentials that make the dream a reality. Former depictions of the dream relate to the country in its entirety. All citizens of the country pushing for the same dream means nobody had yet achieved it, proving there was little understanding on how exactly to carry out the goal. Everyone in the United States will most likely associate with a denizen of the middle-class that they can look up to and follow. This makes the new American Dream easier to …show more content…

Grasping the dream should never be effortless; however, it should be reasonable. The new dream remains challenging for most, but with enough preservation, it is possible. The lower standards in the modern dream lead to a higher percentage of the nation allowed to achieve it. The statistic that 99% of the wealth in the United States belongs to 1% of the population is well-known among Americans. Therefore, it is more realistic aiming for the middle-class in order to grant a larger fraction of the population to share the wealth leading to a larger fraction being able to achieve the dream. The new American Dream shows a more realistic outlook than the original.
I conclude the American Dream has changed for the better. Society has morphed the ideas to fit new generations, understanding of the dream is accessible, and the dream is viable for the majority of individuals with labor. Although different people can perceive the American Dream differently, the gist is happiness. Freedom and rights are no longer the pinnacle of the dream. What it takes to be happy has changed since the Puritans arrived, but people still believe that America is where you can pursue happiness with a chance to clutch it. This is the American

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