America is built upon the ideal that every citizen has an equal opportunity to success and prosperity through hard work and dedication. This is also known as the American dream. Many authors have speculated what is most important in grasping the American dream and through reading these stories it can be determined that success, happiness, and freedoms all play an important role in attaining the American dream. The American dream is historically unique because everyone American has the right to it. In The Declaration of Independence, Jefferson states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit …show more content…
His story argues that success isn’t important and neither is being admired by others, but that rather, having people who love and care about you is more important. In the story, there is an old man at a cafe who is very depressed and tried to commit suicide the week before. The young waiter knows that the old man has plenty of money so he can’t understand why the old man would be grief-stricken or need to hang out at the café (Hemmingway 9). However, the older waiter understands the old man, this waiter says, “You do not understand. This is a clean and pleasant café. It is well lighted. The light is very good (Hemingway 10).” When the old waiter says that the café is well lighted I think that the light could represent human interaction and friendship because that is something the old man lacks. Overall, this story shows that even if you have money and success you may not necessarily have everything you need to have your American dream because everyone needs human interaction and love to be happy. In comparison, in The Boys’ Ambition, success seems like the only important thing in obtaining the American dream and that happiness doesn’t really play a role (Twain