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American Dream
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What is American Dream?

What is the American Dream?  Most Americans have asked themselves that very question at some point in their lives, and American Dream essays remain a favorite topic among professors in disciplines as varied as English, philosophy, religion, or sociology.  The American Dream is a recurrent topic in literature, whether featuring prominently in a story like The Great Gatsby or as a foil to the hero in a novel like Native Son.  

Our example essays explore the concept of the American Dream. Whether you're examining the traditional ideals of success, equality, and opportunity or critiquing the challenges and disparities in achieving those ideals, these essays provide a valuable starting point.

Each example essay includes comprehensive outlines, engaging essay hooks, and well-defined thesis statements to help you craft a compelling argument. You’ll also find tips on how to structure your introduction and conclusion for maximum impact, along with ideas for using primary sources to substantiate your claims.

These essays will spark ideas for creative titles and provide guidance on different essay structures. Whether you're writing a persuasive essay on the modern relevance of the American Dream or a narrative essay about personal experiences, these documents are the perfect resource to inspire and guide your work.

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Research Paper Doctorate
The Rodriguez family's American dream: Mexico versus Los Angeles
Quality of life better in Juarez than LA due to Poncho's employment.
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Research Paper Doctorate
The Fall of the House of Usher" as American allegory"
Edgar Allen Poe is one of the most famous American authors, but many of his works are not explicitly about the American experience. His "gothic" fiction is filled with suspense, the macabre, the grotesque, and the dark…
~1 min read
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Research Paper Doctorate
Feminism and social constraint in "The Awakening" and "Thelma and Louise"
Although written and filmed a century apart, Kate Chopin's novel, "The Awakening," and the movie "Thelma and Louis" possess the same core theme of feminism at odds with the norms of society.
~1 min read
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Research Paper Doctorate
The Patriot Act and privacy rights after 9/11
The attacks of September 11, 2001 have necessitated a new awareness of the shortcomings of the American security system. It follows that there also arose the need to reassess this security system and to enhance the…
~1 min read
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Research Paper Doctorate
Materialism and moral corruption in The Great Gatsby and The Day of the Locust
Distortions of the American Dream: The Effects of Materialism in Day of the Locust and the Great Gatsby
~1 min read
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Research Paper Undergraduate
Nathanael West's "The Day of the Locust" and the 2008 economic crisis
"In December of 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research - the department responsible for categorizing our economic condition - finally acknowledged what most of Americans had known for some time: that the U.S.
~1 min read
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Research Paper Doctorate
Housing discrimination and wealth inequality in "The House We Live In"
Historically, race has been a huge factor in determining the success of an individual. "The House We Live In" zooms in on race and the housing issue, demonstrating how past real estate practices and federal government…
~1 min read
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Research Paper Doctorate
Materialism and moral decay in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Values in 1920 America were changing rapidly from the Victorian attitudes that preceded them, and the novel "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald clearly epitomizes these changing values.
~1 min read
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Thesis Doctorate
Vietnam's impact on the conflicting American Dream ideal
This paper examines Vietnam and its cultural effect on American, in particularly on the Dream that seemed so tangible and real in the radical decades of the 1960s and 70s. Yet, by the 80s the Dream had faded and given out to rampant materialism. How had this happened? The Dream was doomed to fail because it was ultimately hollow, made of idealism and materialism and the latter proved stronger.
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Paper Doctorate
Al Smith and the Empire State Building's role during the Great Depression
In 1931, the Empire State Building was the highest building in the world. It was surpassed in its impressiveness only by the first World Trade Center in the 1970s. The man who played a significant role in the development of the ESB was Al Smith, an ambitious man and a reformer.
~1 min read
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