According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of unemployed American and yet are not receiving unemployment benefits is up to 5.5 million, so is it true, the “American Dream”? Since World War II ended, the United States has developed as the strongest and wealthiest nation on the planet due to the advantages and profits gained after the war. As a result, the word “American Dream” had been known commonly after World War II, it contains the meaning of expectation of United States citizen for a fulfilled life which certainly about the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American. Despite many arguments and doubts about the existence of the American Dream, there is possibility that it really does exist.
Firstly, it can be seen that as the consequence of all the struggles which partly came from the promising outlook of “American Dream”, some people start to lose their faith and conclude that it does not exist. In an article named “A Wake Up Call from the American Dream”, the authors believed that this dream was totally a nightmare, which made people mislead about the purpose of life. To them, “American Dream” was just not work. Moreover, it seems like the myth of “American Dream” have made American put too much efforts and pressure on economic development even though it would be the reason for running out natural resources, polluting environment and high unemployment rate. Plus, affordable healthcare, social security, a cozy home with amicable neighbor, and good education for kids were out of reach with many people. Therefore, they, the authors, asserted that “Although a slim majority of Americans still embrace the American Dream, many appear to have given up on it. According to a report commissioned by the Ford Foundation in 2001 on American public opinion about poverty and upward mobility, more than one-third of Americans believe that it is harder to get rich than it used to be and that it is no longer possible for most Americans to live the American Dream (Bostrom, 2001)”.
In recent years, the failure the apparatus of the state, lead American to realize all the bitter truth about “American Dream”. According to the Nation newspapers, The American Dream : Can a Movement Save It?, Mr. President B. Obama have failed in effectuating what his engagement with America before becoming a president of the United States: “The president’s proposals were cautious, often pre-emptively compromised, but he had his head handed to him anyway. The economic recovery act was weakened, energy reform blocked, financial regulation neutered, healthcare deformed”. The people, the citizen, they are completely disappointed because they have been hoping for so long, but it looks like there is no movement in fact. At the end of the day, from these above reasons, the American do not find “American Dream” trustworthy anymore.
However, if the concept of “American Dream” is generally known, there should be a reason for it, and not only from the reality, it was even mentioned in literature writing. In a classic story of Ernest Hemingway, Hills White Like Elephant, the two protagonists implied the doubts and expectations about “American Dream” since they were relatively to be alike to The Lost Generation[1]. The girl is Spanish, all she cared about is a warm family with a stable life, she did not want to take risk her future, there might be that she did not believe in her boyfriend’s ideal. Otherwise, the guy in the story represented for American young generation in the past, they desired to idealize their life without any guarantee for it, no matter what, their dream life was about adventure, freedom and wealthiness. He indicated that if they keep the baby, they would have nothing left, the purpose of enjoying life would be over for good. There was a certain time that “American Dream” was an immortal symbol and because of this, numerous of American at the age of the guy used to take it as a magnetic needle, a loadstar for their lives.
Even though there are several suspicions, it is undeniable the fact that the foothold of the United States have been demonstrated through many years. The United States have known as the leading country in sciences, technology and step by step improve the living standard of the citizens which means “American Dream” does exist. Also, there is not by chance that America is consider as a powerful symbol in the world economy and high quality education system. Within approximately 5000 universities/colleges/institutions or other higher education systems, they offer students thousands of opportunity by applying for the scholarship. As a result, America becomes an attractive destination to not only American students but also to many international students, especially students who come from undeveloped or developing countries, the United States is a promising land to make their dreams come true. In addition, American seems like have done so well when express themselves, they have been taught to be confident and have faith in whatever they did which is conveyed in a lot of movies, and series produced by Hollywood. According to Romney (5/2012) : “Every great innovation, every world-changing business breakthrough begins with a dream. And nothing is more fragile than a dream. It is essential to the genius of America that we have developed a culture that nurtures these dreams and dreamers, that honors them and, yes, rewards them”.
Eventually, after considering all the elements that come from the question: Is “American Dream” really exist or it was just an excellent product of imagination to satisfy human idle dream? , it can be affirmed the existence of “American Dream” was once real, but from time to time, it has changed. It is understandable that, human nurture is always head their minds to the best, and setting a life’s goal is the very first step in the process. There is no doubts that to be pursuit of happiness is human basic need, so therefor, “American Dream” was the plan. The truth is, United States have made it, they have made not only American, but also people come from all around the world believe that they are the one, they are invincible. It is not by accident, the American’s lifestyle is popularize in young generation and it is not by chance, the United States is the inspiration for hundred thousands of college/university students before they step in reality. However, things changed, that is usually what happened after years. The spirit of “American Dream” still exist, but it lasts in another way. People nowadays are more practical than their former generations were in the past, they still value the freedom, but they make it controllable. They do desire for wealthiness, they do, but they also know to appreciate the importance of family, their living paces are simply slow down to define who they are in this world and to enjoy life as the way it supposed to be.
To conclude, even though there are many arguments about the myth of “American Dream” through the unsatisfactoriness about America’s facts lately, it is believed that “American Dream” was once real and there is no way to deny its spirit, which is lasted until now. Yes, America, the United States have been through crises and struggles but it does not mean what they had in the past was not real, this is only an ups and downs period in their history and they are making their “American Dream” in another way by changing their thinking to achieve the final goal. Like Rick Warren (The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?) said: “We are products of our past, but we do not have to be prisoners of it”, America is doing well, there might be they are just trying to get out of imprisoning themselves.
References
- Bygrave, C., & Macmillan, S. (2008). Spirituality in the Workplace: A Wake Up Call from the American Dream. Journal Of Workplace Rights, 13(1), 93-112. doi:10.2190/WR.13.1.g
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=73564a41-5863-4070-a2d3-90b8ab9b5a20%40sessionmgr15&vid=2&hid=15
- 2. Ernest Hemingway, (1927), Hills Like White Elephant, Classic Short Stories, first published in the New Windmill Series 1994, page 35-39.
- Nation. 10/10/2011, The American Dream : Can a Movement Save It?, page 12, paragraph 1, Vol. 293 Issue 15, p11-15. 4p. 1 Color Photograph.
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?sid=a6b9897c-4c83-4bba-9a39-df961e28caea%40sessionmgr14&vid=1&hid=15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=65918149
- MITT ROMNEY, Former Governor, Massachusetts, and Republican presidential candidate, Vital Speeches of the Day. May2012, Vol. 78 Issue 5, p165-167. 3p. http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?sid=b0e7d642-a670-4dc2-97fb-54483a4f81e1%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&hid=102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=74696239
Annotated Bibliography
- Ernest Hemingway, (1927), Hills Like White Elephant, Classic Short Stories, first published in the New Windmill Series 1994, page 35-39.
- Ernest Hemingway wrote this story from a point of view of a person who belongs to the Lost Generation. The author chose telling story by conversation between two protagonists in his writing. He focused on the conflicts between the couple which imply for the different life styles of young generations at that moment. This story relates to my research topic, as the guy in this story is American, and he was represented for the ones who believe in “American Dream” with the expectation with adventure, freedom, opportunity and wealthiness. The main limitation of this source is this was only personal opinion of the author, not totally objective, however, since he is the one that experienced of being in a lost generation, so he could transmit the idea in the best way. Although, the idea of my project was not completely formed by the story but it was a particular example to support my main point.
[1] The Lost Generation is refer to a generation who experience great anguish, lost and frightful during World War I. After the war, they obsessed about what they did and what they saw by themselves. Ernest Hemingway was one of them and he was the one who disseminated this concept by using it in his work.
Christine T 