The American Dream Essay

The term the American dream was first used in 1931 by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America. Adams stated in short, that his American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” From then on, the American dream has been widely diffused and has been the turning point in a lot of people's lives, especially immigrants on coming to the United States. I interviewed my mother Stefania Pialis to find out what her opinion was about the American dream growing up was, she is an immigrant from Canada and her parents in Canada were immigrants from Macedonia. I have found that American dream is a lie that soon unfolds to the

I determined this by asking Stefania if there was a certain opinion or idea of the American dream growing up in which she said that she was bombarded with the American media as a child which forced her to make her own idea of the American dream. I found a connection to this also because most of the books that I read at school were about immigration and the pursuit of the American dream. A children’s book that I remember reading about immigration and the American dream was When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest. This book is about a jewish immigrant from Europe and how she comes to America and builds her life here. I feel like this book encompassed the American dream because the main character Jessie comes to America, gets a job, and saves up enough money to bring her grandma over to America showing how you can achieve anything that you put your mind to in America. Stefania also had a similar idea of the American dream as a child in which she stated she believed, “immigrants are welcome to America with nothing and have endless opportunity. Through hard work and perseverance anyone can achieve success and find his/her place in the American melting pot.” This shows how as a child and only having a glimpse of the American life, you believe that you can do whatever you want with hardwork and perseverance in