American Dream example essay topic

History short paper What is "American Dream"? The one sentence answer to this question is Americans' hope for a better quality of life and a higher standard of living than their parents'. The term was first used by James Trus low Adams in his book The Epic of America which was written in 1931. He states: "The American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position".

In his book "The American Dream", Jim Cullen tried to illustrate what is really an American dream. In the United States' Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers: .".. held certain 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 of Happiness". But we see that this idea of "all are equal" did not exist is American society earlier where the white men kept slaves. Even after the civil war the black people did not gain freedom as they hoped it would be. They had to struggle for their survival.

But ultimately this problem has been overcome in the course of time. Now -a-days we see that racism concept is almost vanished from the American society. People are more and more conscious about their identity, education, social and economical status not as they are black or white; but they are being practical and responsible human being. The American dream is made up of one thing and one thing only, hopes. Hopes are what every person in the world has. Whether it is to be rich, successful, or just to have a desire to accomplish anything.

No one goes throughout life not hoping for something because if not one person did this then the world would not be what it is today. Even Cullen also portrayed this American dream with hope for upward mobility (which he means achieving success by working hard and with intelligence and not by inheritance) and also the dream of equality. By this he meant as the equality of opportunity; which means that everybody would get the equal opportunity for any job or opportunity no matter if he is rich or poor or what his / her ethnic background is. Life, liberty and happiness are the famous words every American hears throughout their lifetime. These words are part of America's history written in the Declaration of Independence. America is the only country where the pursuit of happiness is actually guaranteed in writing.

But the American Dream has become the American nightmare. People today are so busy dreaming about what they could be or have a right to be, they lose sight of what is really important. Today American dream is immensely different than that which we read in Cullen's book or in "The American Intellectual Tradition". When I look at today's dream I see one of selfish aspirations, one of greed and a drive for wealth. Today is a society based on your job position, money, and fame.

Less focus is put on the poverty stricken and ones who really are in need of care. Instead of looking out for the betterment of mankind, American's have engrossed themselves in materialistic greed..