The American Dream Research Paper

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He was born to a poor American farming family living in rural North Dakota. Despising the poverty-stricken life he has, he runs away and serendipitously meets his mentor, a copper tycoon, who teaches him about wealth. After the death of his mentor, he is drafted for war and when returning from war, he lands upon the Jazz Age. He comes to know various gangsters, all of whom help him succeed at bootlegging. From this illegal business, he finally acquires the riches he has always wanted. He is able to buy a 22-bedroom mansion on the West Egg of Long Island and has enough resources to fund weekly soirees. This is the rag to riches story of Jay Gatsby from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
Gatsby’s success story is something every individual aims to have as their own: growing up poor, and yet still able to become a self-made millionaire, or otherwise known as achieving the American Dream, regardless of the method used. This rag to riches ideal is long gone. It has been nearly a century since Gatsby’s story has been told, since the dream was even slightly achievable. Society has changed, inequality has widened, and the Gatsby era is over. The American Dream is no longer attainable in post-modern United States due to class and wealth inequality, education gaps, and the Matthew Effect.
Social stratification runs deep in America, and there are many noticeable social inequalities between lower class and upper class. Those in the upper class can afford to live very comfortable lives, whereas those in the lower class struggle to live. Professors at OpenStax College wrote a book as an introduction to sociology, and they dedicated a section to social stratification in the United States. The professors noted:
The upper class not only h...

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...ngs writes, “I would redefine the American Dream today as the potential to work for an honest, secure way of life and save for future” (573). Kings’ new version of the American Dream is much more realistic than the outdated one, and that is to live a respectable and honest life. Rarely anyone can undergo from being dirt poor to filthy rich in post-modern society (573). However, there is another option besides changing the American Dream, and that is to eradicate the concept of the so-called ‘American Dream’ entirely. Our dreams in life are up to us, the individual, and we are the sole creators of our dreams. This collective dream bestowed upon the American citizens is no longer satisfactory. More importantly, we must not let society put limitations on our dreams. We must stand up for our unalienable right to the pursuit of happiness (Declaration of Independence 2).

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