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The American Dream is defined as the availability to equal opportunities to any man or woman living prosperous with the allowance of their aspirations to be reached. Some of the factors that annotate the American Dream are peace, prosperity, and opportunities.The books that will be analyzed throughout this essay further explain the difficulty in the controversy of whether the American Dream has ever existed and what is needed so that it can be achieved. Each author validates their reasoning for they believe they were able to give their output on their personal views.
The American Dream includes the insurance of political, economic freedom, rule of law, and private property rights.
The promises of freedom and equality aspire to bigger things and small decisions that affect a person's life. Some might say that you must accumulate wealth in order to achieve the things that come along with the dream. You essentially lead with a dignified life and learn to live with one’s values.
Although some might argue that the American Dream is dead today, it is still very much alive and can be achieved through sacrifice, risk taking, and hard work.
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“Of Mice and Men” gives many great examples as to how you must have certain qualifications in order to obtain the American Dream. It shows of how poor migrant workers during the time of the depression became an illusion and fell into a trap. Lennie and George’s dream of owning a farm and living on , “fatta the lan” give meaning to the dream in the Declaration of Independence.
Most ranch men who dreamt of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” never reach them.
In the book Crook says when hearing Lennie’s dream of owning a farm, “ Nobody ever gets to heaven, and nobody gets to land”.
Crook is explaining again how you must work hard in order to get somewhere or get what you want being an American. In the book the American Dream is never realized but does suggest that in order for life to be meaningful you must have dreams and goals set. George and Lennie’s dream of one day owning a farm never does come to truth but does hold their friendship together until the end. Lennie also helps sustains the dream for a better future. The American Dream keeps Lennie happy and George from being “mean”. It gives them a life even if the dream is not achieved. The American Dream was created by puritans who came to America in the 1600’s. They escaped England in hopes of purifying the church. It was centered around the theocratic community and their beliefs behind it. It was believed that during the 1600’s the ideal American dream was more simple and more focused on hard working and attaining wealth. Compared to in today’s life the dream is more of how American has brought them in search of a better life. The dream has unfortunately not been promised to everyone. Some in today’s life will work countless hours to provide for their hours while other make millions. Arthur Miller’s concept is flawed in the way that he shows that equality cannot be attained in an American theocratic society. In the book the society suffered from a lot of greed and the ideas of equal opportunities not being available to everyone. John and Elizabeth are in fact hard workers while in contrary Abigail is a liar and manipulative. Despite John and Elizabeth working hard they are prosecuted which goes against the promise of the American Dream and its promises. Being that they are hard workers they were easy targets of accusations. Many town people were less fortunate and executed for witchcraft. Miller does this to further more represent the inequality of Salem.
The idea in “ The Crucible” of a puritan utopia has died. It in the end destroyed Salem in its whole. Growing up in the country Miller had an insight on the American Dream and formed an opinion on it. In the excerpt of “Sinners in the hands on an Angry God” tells of how wicked men reject christ and remain wicked. It does not secure them from going to hell. It was puritans mission to praise god and stay out of hell. Edward focuses his attention on those who assume they will not end up there and the few who are kept from the flames. The puritans were strict in the way that they follow the beliefs of the church and the way they believed a person should live their life. This goes back to the theorietic society in “The Crucible” and how they viewed the ideas of the American Dream. In “The Great Gatsby” F. Scott Fitzgerald emphasized the need of wealth explained in the American Dream. The green light in the book is symbolized as money, success and the past. In the book Gatsby reveals to Nick his life as the son of a wealthy family saying “ Anything can happen now that we’ve slid over this bridge.’anything at all. . . .’ Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder” which suggests that American is an cause of Gatsby‘ success. Nick tells of his only being successful due to him getting in connection with his wealthy family in the United States. This again validates that you can only achieve wealth by coming to the US for a better life essentially. In the beginning the declaration only gave the Dream to white property owners. In the 1920s it was morphed from the right to have a better life and the desire to acquire material things. This was described in the novel, The Great Gatsby. The character Daisy Buchanan cries when she sees Jay Gatsby’s shirts, because she’s “never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.”
The greed was never attainable and led to the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. In the film , Pursuit of Happiness, Chris Gardner the main character achieves the American Dream by overcoming obstacles. In one of the scenes Christopher tells his son “ You gotta trust me, all right?” and his son responds with “ I trust you” showing how his sons faith kept his going. He show that the American dream is again achievable through a certain perseverance. He said, “You got a dream, you gotta protect it.. If you want something, go get it. Period.” Even though he had nothing left, the wealth that was shown in the movie was shown not as money but was shown between him and his son and their relationship. In the Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King the American Dream was essentially unfulfilled. It was a work of a nonviolent direct action which then overthrew the ordinance of the city’s segregation and breaking the beliefs of the American Dream. It was a turning point for the civil rights battle and segregation in the south began to change. It aroused and exposed the evils of racism. It caused many to remained shocked while the nonviolent acts were committed on television. In conclusion there many counter claims as to why the American Dream today cannot be achieved and why it is dead. It can easily been seen everyday. Achieving the American Dream today is very much possible today with the right goals and worth ethic. People go through hardships and struggle everyday while some are just born into wealth. The American Dream is something that is still alive today in the United States.
The American Dream Still Alive. (2020, Sep 16). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-american-dream-still-alive-essay
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