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Kendra Hudson

Alexander Woodmansee,

English 101 - 5529

July 9, 2022

Final Draft of American Dream

Is the American Dream becoming a thing of the past or is it just changing? There are

many interpretations of the American Dream. To some it means wealth and notability. To others

it means a better way of life. The American Dream states an energetic idea that Americans

understand and characterize in different ways as pertinent to their own background. Be that as it

may, different battles also have made residents rethink the American Dream. For quite a bit of

our set of experiences, African Americans and ladies were prohibited from its commitment.

David Kamp's article "Rethinking the American Dream" centers around the overall impression of

the 'Pursuit of Happiness' and how it has developed all through our country's set of experiences.

It plainly expresses that as the typical American family's way of life has become increasingly

more buyer arranged, the first soul that stimulated and joined its kin from the period of western

development to the Great Depression has started to blur. In my opinion the two most important

elements to be maintained for future generations for their American Dream is career and

happiness, since career is considered a fundamental help for a family, and happiness is

motivation to pursue difficulties that permit an outcome in one's fantasies, and it isn't mentally

animating all of the time.

Americans are different from people of foreign countries in that we believe in the

American Dream. It is part of our Declaration of Independence, “Certain unalienable rights” that

include “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This is what draws millions of people to
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our country. According to David Kamp, America in 1930 was not prospering, similar to America

in 2009. Thousands of jobs being lost. President Obama called this country “a continuing disaster

for America’s working families.” He called it the “American Dream in reverse.” This is

demonstrated even today as college students move home after graduation unable to get a job or

afford housing, or families move into one house to save on monthly expenses. Houses are fore

closed on, cars repossessed. Does this mean the American Dream even in 2009 was in reverse?

People have lost faith that things will improve or return to the way they were in good economic

times. According to David Kamp, “what needs to change in our expectation of what the dream

promises.” (Rethinking the Dream pg. 4).

The term “The American Dream” is continually changing to the hops and desire for that

particular time. However, anyone who works hard and strives to succeed in their “dreams” can

obtain the “American Dream.” In Rethinking the American Dream, it is referenced that in 1947

William Levitt built homes and sold them only to GI’s returning home. Home ownership became

a new and reachable goal to veterans returning from war. Becoming a home owner in hard

economic times became a goal for many, and other builders began to make this dream possible.

The American Dream began to include things such as a car, a television. However, according to

John Galbraith Americans began to lose sight of their priorities. This is believed to still be true

today. By 2003, most people in America had a better life than any generation before. Income had

gone up. 70 percent of Americans were home owners as well as they were far more educated

than their ancestors. “The American Dream was now almost unattainable, a moving target that

eluded people’s grasp, nothing was ever enough” (Rethinking the American Dream pg. 17).

The staying power of the American Dream is amazing considering all of the

“depressions, recessions, economic contractions, civil rights battles, women’s rights, and gender
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equality.” (The Making and Persistence of the American Dream). These social and economic

battles have been going on for decades and Americans are still dealing with them today. Martin

Luther King, as well as various feminist leaders have had to fight for those of all races and

genders to be a part of the American Dream. Those of color, women, and gays are all part of the

American population and should be entitled to obtain their own dreams. In 2009, President

Barack Obama talked about the American Dream, “citing his own life’s journey to become the

first African American President” (The Making and Persistence of the American Dream pg. 2).

He said, “This is the meaning of our liberty and creed, why men and women and children of

every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall … “(The Making

ns Persistence of the American Dream pg. 2)

The American dream not only has a voice in politics but in so many other ways. Play

wright, Moss Hart said, “The American Dream belonged not only to him but to everyone.” (The

Making ns Persistence of the American Dream pg. 2). Journalist Walter Lippmann was the first

person to use the term American Dream in 1914. In 1931 James Truslow Adams made the phase

a popular sentiment. He believed that the American Dream was a “State of mind” (The Making

ns Persistence of the American Dream pg. 3). He stated, “it is not a dream of motor cars and high

wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to

attain to the fullest statues of which they are innately capable.” (The Making and Persistence of

the American Dream pg. 3).

For many Americans who lived through the Great Depression they still believed that the

future would be more prosperous, if not for them, than for their offspring. However, in recent

years with the economy being so hard hit, Americans began to falter in their belief in the

American Dream. Jobs were lost, stock market holdings were continuously falling, houses were
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priced out of reach. Even with all the obstacles and hardship, for most, the American Dream still

holds. It’s “deeply embedded in American mythology and all consciousness of its citizens.” (The

Making and Persistence of the American Dream pg. 7). “Equality of opportunity is a powerful

concept, because unlike other individual rights that can be easily taken away by authorities’

governments, (e.g., freedoms of speech and religious worship), it is a state of mind that is

virtually impossible to eliminate.” (The Making and Persistence of the American Dream pg. 8).

The American Dream for me basically means having the ability to have a better life than

those before me along with making sure that those after me can also live a better life. This could

mean more tolerance of others race, sexuality, nationality, and opinions. Everyone should have

the ability to obtain their dreams, whether it is going to college or trade school, a better job, or

owning a house. A person’s pursuit of happiness should not be hindered by others or politics,

everyone has a dream at some point in their life and it is devastating when that dream gets

crushed or cannot be reached for some other reason beyond their own control. Everyone is

responsible for striving for their own gools and reaching their full potential. Determination and

hard work are two necessities to have to reach your dreams, however, the economy and politics

have in the past and continue today to create roadblocks for Americans in hindering their ability

to reach their own American Dream. I believe that in the future some of these barriers should be

and can be removed. Today’s generation as well as those to come. Will be what America is built

around and how they succeed through struggles is what others to follow will be reading about

and following.
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Works Cited

 “The Making and Persistence of the American Dream” by John Kenneth White and San-

dra L. Hanson

 “Rethinking the American Dream” by David Kamp