writer schoice

American Dream Today

The term "American Dream" is used very frequently, but there does not seem to be any real agreement on exactly what this term refers to. There are general implications of freedom, equality, and most of all the opportunity for financial and material success, but the ways in which these various aspects of the American Dream interact and play out in the real world lead to many different perceptions -- and misperceptions -- about the American Dream. Especially in the modern era, many individuals seem to believe that the American Dream means that the promises of financial and material wealth are somehow owed or automatically bestowed upon Americans, immigrants and native-born citizens alike. Few things could be further from the truth; the American Dream has never been built on the idea of getting rich for nothing, but rather has promised all an equal opportunity to achieve security, if not wealth, through a lifetime of dedication and hard work. Analyzed carefully, even modern representations of the American Dream can be seen to fit this general framework more closely than does an easy path to riches.

The immigrant view of the American Dream has consistently been the opportunity to work for oneself, rather than for others -- the freedom to break out of one's class and become one's own boss, to make their own decisions, and most importantly to build a better life for their children. This is clearly seen in Morris Horowitz essay "I Never Got Rich." One of the first comments he makes about his experience as a Russian immigrant in this country is how at the time of his writing, "there are better houses to live" compared to when he first arrived, "but there are no jobs." Horowitz recognized that the need to work was essential to the American Dream; a better house meant nothing without the money to hold onto it, and the only way to obtain that money was -- and is -- through hard work. This is a lesson that many today need to learn.

This view of the American Dream can still be seen today, however, even if it requires reading between the lines. In Bruce Handy and Glynis Sweeney's graphic essay "The American Dream, Supersized," the author is struck by his daughter's field trip in a limousine to the former tenements that were the home of many immigrants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The view of the American Dream that the authors presuppose is represented by this scene is the ability to achieve luxury without really thinking about the struggle that this type of wealth entails. Yet the facetious comments that the authors "imagine" in the mouths of immigrant parents, such as "God willing, my children will go to medical school and then become rich by injecting women's faces with poison to make them look younger" and "Would that my great-grandson grows up to become a professional poker player" belie the truth about the modern concept of the American Dream. The phrase cannot help but call up visions of the past, and of the desire to provide a better life for the next and future generations. This is what my concept of the American Dream is -- to be able to provide a better life for me and those that will come after me by working hard.