Is The American Dream Dead Or Alive

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Is the American Dream Dead or Alive? In the essay, written by Brandon King “The American Dream Dead or Alive or on Hold”, believes that the American dream is more alive than ever and that it is a person‘s perception of what the American Dream means for them. Brandon King redefines the meaning of the American Dream as “the potential to work for an honest secure way of life and save for the future” (611). In Brandon King’s essay, he believes that the American Dream’s meaning has changed because most people prefer stability than materialistic things and how much a person owns. King believes that the American Dream is more alive than ever, but we have slowly changed the meaning of it due to our economies adversity. The old term of the American …show more content…

His point is that everyone deserves to follow what their desire in life, and their should be no boundaries set for the rich or poor because we should be able to achieve what we want in life.. According to King, Americans would define the American Dream as having expensive items, huge houses, and cars. King himself writes, “Today, most people do not strive for rags-to-riches transition, and instead prefers a stable, middle-class lifestyle, one in which they can focus on saving money for the future and having secure employment” (611). Immigrants come to America to be able to have a job in which can help them pay their bills and save money. King concludes that the American Dream has not yet died, and can be achieved if anyone is willing to …show more content…

Brandon King asserts, “We may have genuine inequality issues and a sizable divide between the rich and poor, and we might have an economy that is recovering too slowly for public interest” (613). What Brandon King is saying is that those who don't have as much power as the upper-class, tend to lose hope because lower and middle-class people see those at the top as superior. Sometimes we tend to believe that inequality has become inevitable to overcome because it’s been going on for long. David Leonhardt writes in his essay, “we could end up with a society in which the rich separate themselves from everyone else, perpetuating their wealth from one generation to the next (543). His point is that there can be something for the inequality between the rich and poor. There are a few things the economy needs to keep in mind and that is how we distribute taxes and the poor, how we invest schools, the money we use to build roads, and transit systems. Inequality may be seen as impossible to overcome, but I agree with Leonhardt says “Rising inequality is a trend, but it is one that we have helped and create and we can still change (547). In making this comment, Leonhardt urges us to have a broader perspective and become more open-minded that we can in fact, be able to make a change, comparing it as a