Is The American Dream Dead Essay

The American Dream: Is It Dead?

As you take a deep breath in a cold winter morning, you reach for your keys and begin to unlock the front door. You walk into a dimly lit restaurant. Your restaurant. As you turn on the lights and prep for the day 's meals and you flashback to a couple years ago, and remember how you got here. It was a time when you would wake up earlier in the mornings, work long hours, have sleepless nights thinking if you dreams were possible. But through all the complications and difficulties, you 're thankful that through everything you didn 't let go of one thing; the American dream. Millions of people hold on to this belief, but what exactly is the American dream? If you google the definition of the American dream,

On the other hand, recent americans or immigrants do not carry the same beliefs or weight. With the idea of the American dream spread throughout the world and immigrants migrating to the states in large numbers and the truth is “The U.S wouldn’t be so attractive to foreigners if the ‘Dream’ were dead”(Tanny). Immigrants or as Tanny calls them “aspiring Americans” migrant to America in hopes for a better future for themselves and their future families. “Aspiring Americans came here because they felt their ability to live and work freely would translate to upward mobility”(Tanny). Typically opressed by their governments or social problems back in their country, immigrants seek economic mobility and without corrupt governments or gang violence, aspiring Americans often find success. In an article by The Washington Post named “Indian Immigrants Make It Obvious That The American Dream Is ALive and Well”, “There are no absolute barriers to upward social mobility in America; that is why immigrants thrive...”(Wadhwa). Upon arriving first generation immigrants often don’t start with anything more than their clothes on their backs. Although this may seem like a bad thing at first, this actually is an advantage to them. They don’t inherit the debts of older generations and if they work hard enough can only go up the economic ladder. While climbing the economic ladder, most aspiring Americans have a high regard for family values. This often leads minorities to find communities

While many people seek the American Dream and economic mobility that comes with it- success is not given. In a study from economists at by Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley, found that there are certain conditions where an individual has a high percentage of reaching economic mobility. Both locations and environments play important roles in this research. Jillian Berman, an Associate Business Editor at The Huffington Post breaks down this study in her article “Where The American Dream Is Dead And Buried”. She states, “Cities in the south and the rust belt have extremely low levels of economic mobility - a wonky term that essentially measures one’s ability to go from being poor to rich...”. To better clarify, the cities in the southern and northeastern states of America have lower of a chances that an individual can climb the economic ladder. To further elaborate she continues, “Someone born in the bottom fifth of the income ladder in Atlanta, Georgia, where economic mobility is low, has a 4.5 percent chance of reaching the top fifth of the income ladder, the study found. Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., a city with high economic mobility, the chance of moving up the income ladder is about 11 percent” (Berman). The research found that cities with lower levels of probability were due to high levels of segregation, income equality and more single parents. Although there maybe certain conditions where a person can flourish, these condition still show