Nickel and Dream People Who Are Born

Nickel and Dream

People who are born or raised in the United States share unique character traits because of the American culture. Because this is considered a land of freedom and opportunity there are rights and gifts that are promised to each citizen. The American Dream is the unique idea that anyone who is willing to work hard can come from nothing and achieve their life's goals and ambitions so long as they live in America. Anyone, no matter how low class their level of birth, can succeed and have all the material possessions, money, and related power that they want as long as they are willing to put in the effort to achieve it. It is a promise which is two-sided because it requires the American to reach out for what the nation is holding above their head. In response to this ideology, many American authors have taken it upon themselves to write about how they feel the American Dream really works, if indeed the dream exists at all in reality or for only certain Americans. Two divergent views on the American Dream are discernible in the writings of Barbara Ehrenreich in the book Nickel and Dimed: on (Not) Getting by in America and Martin Luther King Jr. In the speech "I Have a Dream." Whereas King believes that anyone can achieve the American Dream so long as race or other attributes make people socially unequal are taken out of the equation, Ehrenreich explains her view that the working poor are put in a position where all their effort goes into survival and therefore they do not have the chance to achieve the American Dream.

Martin Luther King's speech which is known as the "I Have a Dream" speech given in 1963 explained his perspective that African-Americans were still being hindered from achieving the promise of the American Dream. African-Americans are citizens of the United States and because of that fact; they are as entitled to self-elevation as any other Americans. The racist and prejudicial views of the majority ethnic group were making it impossible for African-Americans to claim their natural-born right. He said:

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (King, Jr.).

The three promises of those documents form the one idea of the American Dream. Until all Americans are viewed as equal citizens regardless of race, ethnicity, nation or origin, religion, or creed then not all Americans can have the same chance of personal happiness as those who are not being oppressed. When King was speaking, the nation was in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. Before he and other activists began challenging the status quo, places in the country, particularly in the American South had a social hierarchy-based heavily on race even going so far as to segregate peoples from public services based upon the color of their skin. Although there are still a few unfortunate incidences of racial discrimination which occur in the United States, such actions are no longer supported by law. Instead, the courts of the country demand that all people be able to strive for self-improvement both financially and socially. This is evidenced by the fact that the very President of the United States is an African-American where fifty years ago many African-Americans were protesting because they were being denied the right to vote in elections.

In Nickel and Dimed author Barbara Ehrenreich looked into the issue of low-wage workers in the United States. These are the people who work in the factories and in stores or as janitors and maids. They are the kinds of occupations that no one really wants to take but that someone must do. These are necessary occupations which are completely unglamorous and do not personally satisfy the worker. Still the person gets the job and goes to work every day. Ehrenreich explains that they work while hurt or sick or hungry because they must earn every cent they can and are in occupations where any time off lessens their paycheck. People in positions of poverty are just as prohibited from achieving the American Dream as African-Americans were before the 1960s. Some people find themselves without money and without homes not because of a lack of ability, lack of intelligence, or lack of drive. Rather it is a matter of the luck of the draw. Americans who are born into poverty are far less likely to obtain social mobility than people who are born more socially and financial favorable. Ehrenreich experienced the world a low-wage worker and found it impossible. She wrote, "Something is wrong, very wrong, when a single person in good health, a person who in addition possesses a working car, can barely support herself by the sweat of her brow" (Ehrenreich 199). The American Dream promises the very opposite situation of this statement by Barbara Ehrenreich. Supposedly anyone willing to work hard can improve their lot in life, but if all the energy and effort a person has must be spent in the simple effort of getting by there simply is no hope for climbing the social ladder.

The citizens of this country have a preconceived notion about the American Dream and what it entails. Some people think that it is somehow an unspoken promise that they will not know any kind of hardship because they live in the United States. This interpretation is actually a fallacy based on the original more accurate concept that the country provided an environment where increased social and financial securities were available, but that they were not gifts to everyone. Achieving the American Dream is by no means guaranteed to anyone. Only people with determination, like Martin Luther King, Jr. have the chance of achieving the American Dream. Only those who have determination and the drive are worthy of this potential. There is the opportunity for growth in this country, for people to reach levels of social standing above their birth. However, nothing is granted to anyone; the American Dream must be earned through the actions of the individual.