Many high school juniors, seniors, and even some college freshmen do not know what they want to do with their lives, but I have known since I was nine years old. From an early age, I decided I wanted to become a computer software engineer, and seven years later I still have the same goal. I still have a copy of a letter that I wrote to Google in elementary school asking them how I could eventually work at their company; although it embarresses me that I did this, it is a good reminder for me of how lucky I am to have found a passion at a young age. Besides my career, I feel as though I have always had a clear view of how I want my future to turn out. However, as I get older, the specific details of my “perfect future” have become less important …show more content…
As I have previously stated, money and finances will not guarantee happiness, satisfaction, or even necessarily a good life, but they are undeniably important. People can quickly become obsessed with their salary and wealth, but I will definitely try to prevent this from happening to me. My American dream simply involves being able to live a comfortable lifestyle, with enough money to support my family. As described in the Time magazine article, “Keeping the Dream Alive”, my hope for my finances is very similar to most Americans: “...middle-class families aspire to homeownership, a car, college education for their children, health and retirement security and occasional family vacations” (Meacham 2). This hope of mine is materialistic, but I do hope that I will be able to afford the things talked about in this quote. Money is just a small part of my American dream, but it is still a significant part. This combined with love, a career that makes me want to go to work everyday, and being the best version of myself all come together to create my American dream. The nine year old version of myself may not have envisioned this as my perfect future, but the sixteen year old version of myself enthusiastically
It was the summer of 1944 a year that would change my life. The dream I was having was abruptly interrupted by the loud voice of my mom yelling “Amante wake up!” Today was the day we were moving from Venice Italy to the great city of New York. There had been many bombing throughout Italy and we decided to pack up and live the American dream. I had been waiting for this day for years I had seen pictures and heard about America’s beauty but I couldn’t wait to see it in real life. The whole Dinardo family was excited to go, including me and my little sister Angelina. Angelina was only 8 years old. We’re seven years apart. She had golden blonde hair the color of honey and freckles dotted across her face. My dad walked excitedly into my room telling me that
In America many Americans face struggles with money, which makes it harder to achieve the American dream. In the story “Is The American Dream Still Possible” by David Wallechinsky is about the financial problems Americans face. In Wallechinsky story, he stated “many Americans are struggling squeezed by rising cost, declining wages, credit card debt and diminished benefits with little left to save for retirement.” This quote supports that money is a major problem in the average American’s life. Also in the article “Is the American dream a Myth?” by Ronald Brownstein, talks about how income is a crucial to the American dream. In paragraph 10 Brownstein says “ That less progress has been made in developing programs that effectively prepare lower-income students to apply for college.” In this quote it helps to see that if you have a lower income it’s harder to get into a college and if that dream has to come with education money is a big problem. The American dream is harder to achieve if money gets you through life,
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows American dream as an unreachable goal for the characters. Of Mice and Men is a novel based on two childhood friends, Lennie and George, who travel together in search of work. Lennie, the gentle giant, has a mental disability and an obsession of petting soft objects. One day, while stroking a girl’s hair, Lennie accidently kills her. And eventually by the end of the novel, George is forced to shoot Lennie. Steinbeck shows American Dream as an unreachable goal because of a character’s standing in the society, their dreams to be unreal and their dependency on other characters.
Dreaming is a big part of all our lives. We all dream to someday do something with our lives. For this reason many people come to America to be better off than they were in their native countries. The American dream is the hope people have coming to America. They hope to be wealthy. They hope for no more struggling. The American dream is well and alive in this day and age and will always be because people will always have the hunger to prosper. The American dream cannot be reached without hope and without hope all is lost.
In 1931 when the American Dream arose, Americans believed that the harder one worked, the more one would prosper (Meacham, 2012). In other words, they strongly believed that the American Dream was gaining a better, richer, happier life. Today, the American Dream is still hoping to earn a college degree, get a good job, buy a house, and start a family, but according to MetLife’s fifth annual survey, 41% of the respondents said it was about personal fulfillment, while most American’s say it is out of reach for many (White, ...
When people are younger everyone always ask what do you want to be when you are older? Of course when it is children everyone is filled with wonder about their answer whether it’s a model, astronaut, race car driver, etc. Now that I’m older it’s expected for me to know exactly what to do with my life and how to do it. I realized very soon that I sometimes can be an indecisive person when it comes to life-long decisions. This being a huge decision in one’s life you could only imagine how many times I’ve changed my idea on what to go to school for. Although, changing my mind become a norm, I eventually decided a degree in business/marketing is the right path for me. What are my career and educational goals, what will my job would be like, and
During the twenties, there was this romanticized idea that with a lot of wealth and possessions came a lot of happiness, otherwise known as the American Dream. The American Dream not only flourished during this time, but redefined itself. It went from people wanting to be able to sustain themselves and have land, to having exuberant amounts of money and a happy healthy family. But how were people supposed to achieve this? The minimal amounts of people who did achieve this dream, achieved it through illegal activity. We see this idea in the Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby was not only a young, wealthy man, but a bootlegger. But there were also those who couldn’t achieve it due to their place in society. The vision of the American Dream was perceived to happen with hard work and persistence; however, it was mobsters who got the money with little effort and the poor and African Americans who worked hard to make ends meet with little left over.
The ‘American Dream’ means different things to each individual. What the ‘American Dream’ means to me is that I’m an American citizen who is free to do as I please under certain circumstances of course. I understand that many people have troubles trying to achieve this ‘American Dream’ though. If you look at the illegal immigrant problem, they have problems achieving this American Dream. I know that to get into the United States of America, you have to take a test, along with years of being in the system until you’re picked. You also cannot be a criminal and either you come here to work or you come here to stay; it costs quite a bit as well to achieve this dream. In my opinion it makes me mad when people come here illegally and claim that they
Since the beginning of our nation, literature has attempted to define “American Dream.” For the Puritans, living the American dream meant building God’s kingdom in this world and practicing their faith without persecution, whereas other settlers sought adventure and financial success. But within the last one hundred years the concept of the American Dream has taken on new meaning as the values and principles of cultures have changed. The modern man has sought security in the unachievable goal. Throughout the twentieth century literary periods, authors have unearthed the corrupt nature of an evolving American Dream, which has led to loss the moral values and fulfilment in the present reality.
The American Dream is about not giving up. It is about working relentlessly through the hours of the day at two or even three jobs to supply your family with a sufficient income. It is about overcoming the language barrier, the achievement gap, and the limitations at any school or work force. To me the American Dream is about seeing the results of your dedicated hard work and paying it forward to those who are working just as hard to thrive. The American Dream cannot be measured based on the abundance of tangible goods; it cannot be taken superficially. Rather it is driven by not letting the lack of sustainable income or resources hold you back from achieving your greatest potential. The American Dream is still thriving today thanks to the entrepreneurs taking a lead in
Given away by my name, I am not an American; I was born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam - a dynamic city with over nine million people squeezed into roughly the size of south Bay Area. It was towards the end of my third year of high school that my family immigrated to the U.S. Leaving my hometown behind, at seventeen, I started a new chapter of my life.
The American Dream, as defined by Dictionary.com is, "the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available for every American." Unlike any other literary period, the Contemporary Period has taken the American Dream and contorted it into something completely obscene compared to its original form. The Contemporary Period began in 1939 and is still evolving in today's society. The American Dream was previously a goal that every American could achieve with hard work, but during the Contemporary Period the American Dream seems to be impossible to achieve. The dramatic shift of technology during the American Contemporary Period transformed the American Dream by giving it a more egocentric connotation along with affecting the daily lives of citizens, therefore establishing the aspiration for self-achievement, which can be revealed through the literature of this time.
Money constitutes the American Dream, because in America, to be successful in life means being wealthy. We live in an industrialized nation, in which money controls our very own existence. The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara establishes an argument about society’s injustice that entails financial opportunities by revealing the differences in living conditions between upper class and lower class. Another important point Stephen Cruz, a successful business person and a Professor at the University of Wisconsin at Platteville, makes in his speech is that the American Dream is getting progressively ambiguous, because the vision of success is being controlled by power and fear which only benefit 1 percent of Americans. For most people, the American Dream is to be financially stable to the point of content; however, realistically the accomplishment of the American Dream is often obstructed by society’s limitations and influences from higher power.
The New World: a land of promise and aspirations. America: land of the free and home of the brave. The United States of America: a place filled with opportunities for everyone. When the country was still young, foreigners looked upon America as a utopia for the world. At one point in time it was that utopia, but over the years so many adverse rules and biased beliefs have built up that America is no longer a welcoming place for everyone. This is especially true for immigrants. No longer are they the huddled masses yearning for freedom that we praise from the past, but now their fight for liberty has been forgotten and our country has failed to welcome them. The American Dream is widely unachievable for immigrants
First, money is very important in my American Dream for obvious reasons. Money gets you food. Money gets you shelter. Money gets you nice things. I believe that money, lots of money, is a big part of everyone?s American Dream; everyone including myself. When most people think of money the first thing that comes to mind is luxuries; however, money is needed for the bare necessities such as food and shelter. But how do you acquire money? Through a good job of course. Having an enjoyable, good paying job is extremely important. I am a firm believer that if you enjoy what you do, you do not have a job, you have a career. Many Americans also include jobs and money in their American Dream: ?Throughout much of our nation?s history people pursued the American Dream by...