Odalis Cortes

Sep 28, 2021

Matt Smith
English11
Pd.1

The American Dream is a concept obtained to persuade people into believing

that their goals are attainable through perseverance and hardwork despite their

economic stature or the place where they were born. However, this belief has idealistic

flaws that do not hold up to it’s expectations for it’s people. They are taught to seek

prosperity in consumption or in other words, purchasing things with money they don’t

have, on things they don’t need to live a good life. In reality American values have been

coarxed into materialistic principles where the system is controlled by people with more

power and wealth to confine commoners with lower income into a place in society

where they will always remain poor and the wealthy will always remain wealthy.

Americans throughout generations have started to realize that the current state of the

American Dream is a fallacy that has been put in place to keep them at a disadvantage.

Even in “Why the Original Meaning of the American Dream is Unrecognizable

Today”, the article states that the American Dream was a notion to appeal to people

coming into the country but was later turned into an official phrase that enticed one of a

good life in the 1930’s. Later the definition changed in the 1950’s when it became more

worldly and the G.I bill was passed, alternating the American ideals into consumerist

ones. Furthermore The American Dream Downpayment Assistance act was signed by

George W. Bush to further encourage homeownership in the 70’s and 80’s.”

Advertisements started cropping up that utilized the American Dream as a selling point.

Real estate advertising especially hammered home the point that the American Dream
had something to do with material wealth and owning a place of your own” (Hendricks).

Now, more than ever we can see the effect this materialistic mentality given by people in

power has done to society.

In the article “The Economy is Changing and so is the American Dream” the

author unravels the truth behind why millennials are the largest generation to give into

entrepreneurship. The author suggests that the two-thirds of millennials’ desire to work

for themselves in place of working for larger companies, derives from the understanding

that by working for themselves they find a more unconstrained path to their success.”In

the face of these benefits and high levels of public support, policymakers often fail to

realize that this 21st century economy cannot flourish under a 20th century regulatory

structure . Business owners and consumers alike are frustrated with bureaucrats’

attempts to apply decades-old laws to regulate emerging technologies and industries

that could not have been imagined when these laws were written” (Meyer). All the same

they’ve stopped defining their success as obtaining material items but in terms of

introducing cheaper and more accessible commodities for consumers and still live a

liberaterian lifestyle, while still pursuing a passion. The newfound generations have

finally started to form a foundation out of the societal structure.

According to the data shown in “Mr. Smiths Junior English class of the 2021-2022

school year ”, 13.6% of the students do not feel confident in their ability to plan for the

future, 15.2% of students believe that making money is more important than being

satisfied with the work they do, 12.1% of students are neutral about hardwork paying off

to achieve their dreams, 26.8% disagree or strongly disagree that the American Dream

is achievable for everyone, 93.2% of the students included owning a home as a part of
their American dream, 88.6% involved owning a car, 86.4% considered the cost of

living, and 86.4% considered career opportunities. This is just one of the local

occurrences that has been brought to our attention, showing how people of all different

accords are influenced by material items that are needed to make them happy, while

knowing that some are not able to meet those expectations if they are not born into a

family that has more generations of knowledge on how to handle those societal

pressures.

Ultimately, we as a nation have failed to realize that the American dream is after

all still a DREAM.

 Works Cited

Churchwell, Sarah. “A Brief History of the American Dream: Bush Center.” A Brief History of
the American Dream | Bush Center, The Catalyst, 2021,
https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/state-of-the-american-dream/churchwell-history-of-the-amer
ican-dream.html.

Wolfe, Tom. “Tom Wolfe Reflects on the American Idea.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media
Company, 15 May 2018,
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/11/pell-mell/306312/.

Hoffower, Hillary. “People of All Ages Define the American Dream the Same Way - but
Millennials Take It One Step Further.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 19 July 2018,
https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-baby-boomers-gen-x-define-the-american-dream-2
018-7.

VanSommeran, Lindsay. “What Is the American Dream Today?” The Qube Money Blog, 19 July
2021, https://blog.qubemoney.com/what-is-the-american-dream-today.