Hope O’Malley

Mr. Smith

Junior English

10/06/22

How the American Dream is Designed to be Harder for Some

When being compared to other countries around the world America is often portrayed as

a land of freedom and opportunity. Boasts about how America is the land of the pursuit of

happiness and how immigrants come to the US for success aren't uncommon, but is there any

truth behind those words? To be considered a successful American, minorities especially, have to

start from much lower on the “success ladder” than their white American counterparts. The

American Dream is fair and equal, to those who got a head start. To those who aren’t the picture

perfect citizen their dream is much harder to achieve

Since the American dream has become less of a strive to climb the ‘social ladder’ and has

become more of a materialistic dream Americans, especially those who can't afford the lifestyle

this society has obsessed over, have suffered its consequences. In the past 50 years the American

dream has become more of a benefit to companies selling it than the Americans striving to

achieve their goals. Over obsession with buying a home to complete the “dream” has put

Americans in horrible financial positions, “Thanks in part to the deluge of advertisements, many

people came to associate the American Dream with homeownership, with some unfortunate

results. Increasing home sales became public policy. In 2003, President George W. Bush signed

the American Dream Downpayment Act, subsidizing home purchases during a period in which a

housing bubble — the one that would lead to the 2008-9 financial crisis — was already growing

at a 10 percent annual rate, according to the S&P. Corelogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home
Price index”(Shiller). This infatuation with buying homes to become a successful comes at a

high cost for anyone other than upper class Americans. Similar to the trend of making the

American dream an expense only few can afford those who participate are still subject to being

seen as unsuccessful, despite following the “social norms”. Whilst talking about her family's

experience purchasing a house Cisneros also spoke of the judgment her family faced after they

moved in, “There. I had to look to where she pointed- the third floor, the paint peeling, wooden

bars Papa had nailed on the windows so wouldn’t fall out. You live there? The way she said it

made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded.”(Cisneros). This prejudice even after

her family reached what is labeled as the highest achievement of success in America they were

still treated as unsuccessful. Since their house wasn’t the picture perfect, family home with a

white picket fence and shutters it wasn't considered a true fulfillment of the American dream.

They would be seens as successful. These examples of how Americans are pressured and

persuaded into purchasing homes before they are financially ready in the name of proving their

success shows that the American dream is not made for everyone. The dream is designed for

those who can afford the house and made unachievable for those who can't. This evidence of

corporations swaying American culture for profit and excluding the lower classes, who tend to

be minorities, shows how the American dream isn’t fair to everyone.

Besides an economic “glass ceiling” minorites also face discrimination based on

stereotypes of their race. Although racism is somewhat common in day to day experiences,

events that damage the country drastically increase prejudice and violence. Increasing levels of

violence against minorities after a major event is not a new phenomenon in America and there

are several examples proving this, “The current vilification of Asian Americans is reminiscent of

the scapegoating of Arabs, Muslims and South Asians after 9/11. Hate crimes against Muslim
Americans surged in 2001 and remained elevated above pre-9/11 levels years later.”(Jeung,

Kulkarni, Choi). and “During World War II, fear and racist hysteria led to the unconstitutional

relocation and imprisonment of 120,000 Japanese Americans.”((Jeung, Kulkarni, Choi). These

three examples show how this pattern of increased violence against a large population of

innocent minorities shows that they still aren't seen as a true American and rather as an outsider.

Similar to the treatment of Arabs, Muslims, and South Asians, post 9/11 and Japanese Americans

during WWII Asian Americans have been experiencing increased levels after the discovery of

the Coronavirus. Racist comments from the media quickly spiraled into violence, “Asian

Americans are experiencing such a moment right now. The pandemic is reminding us that our

belonging is conditional. One moment we are Americans, the next I called my parents a few

nights ago to tell them to be cautious when stepping out of the house, because they might be

targets of verbal or even physical abuse. It felt so strange. Our roles had flipped.”(Cho). The fear

caused from the instability of, prominently white, Americans attitude towards Asian Americans

showed them that their presence in this country was seen as conditional. Ultimately these texts

show how Americans in social majorities use an event caused by a small group to place blame on

an entire racial group. In turn an entire population of minorities is “moved down” on the social

scale in America and have further to climb to reach the American dream. Overall it is important

to recognize that there is a social hierarchy that purposely pushes minorities to the bottom in

order to prevent them from becoming more successful in the “land of equality”.

Minorities in America are given a much bigger ladder to climb to truly be seen as a “true

American”. To be seen as a real American, a picture perfect house, job and family is a must.

Anything less is seen as an imperfection and falls short of economic success. To socially reach

what is known as “The American Dream” minorities must fit the stereotypes, good or bad, of
their ethnicity and will likely never be seen as a “true American”. This unfair treatment of

minorities shows how the climb to the American Dream is designed to be much taller to

minorities.
 Citations

Jeung, Choi, and Kulkarni. “Op-Ed: Anti-Asian American Hate Crimes Are Surging.

Trump Is to Blame.” Op-Ed: Trump’s Racist Comments Are Fueling Hate Crimes

against Asian Americans. Time for State Leaders to Step In, Los Angeles Times, 1

Apr. 2020,

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-04-01/coronavirus-anti-asian-discrimi

nation-threats.

Cho, John. “Coronavirus Reminds Asian Americans Belonging Is Conditional.” Los Angeles

Times, 22 Apr. 2020,

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-04-22/asian-american-discrimination-john-c

ho-coronavirus.

Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. 2nd Vintage Contemporaries ed., 25th

anniversary ed, Vintage Contemporaries, 2009.

Shiller, Robert J. “The Transformation of the ‘American Dream.’” The New York Times, 4 Aug.

2017. NYTimes.com,

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/upshot/the-transformation-of-the-american-dream.

html.
 American Dream Essay Rubric

Skill Advanced Proficient Foundational Not

Yet
Thesis establishes a Appears in first Identifies a topic
complex claim paragraph

Thesis establishes a
topic and a claim

Thesis Comments:
 Includes specific, Includes multiple pieces Includes two or
meaningful, and of evidence (from 4 fewer sources
well-chosen evidence sources) that clearly
that relates to the relate to the thesis Some evidence
thesis relates to the thesis
Includes multiple pieces
of evidence in each body
Evidence paragraph

Comments:

Explains well-selected Explains how evidence Summarizes

points of comparison supports topic sentence sources
among sources and of individual paragraphs
evidence and their
connection to the Explains how evidence
thesis supports the thesis of
Analysis the essay

Comments:

Clearly explains Explains how the Little connection

relationships among texts/sources are between texts;
texts (how they related, though points difficult for the
confirm or challenge could be more selective reader to see how
each other, build on or better developed the texts are
each other, provide related
Synthesis differing perspectives, Includes multiple
etc.) sources in each body
paragraph

Comments:

No errors in MLA format Heading is correctly Some elements

formatted missing or some
 errors in MLA
Pages are numbered format

In-text citations are

correctly formatted

Works Cited format:

hanging indent,
double-spaced,
MLA Format alphabetized, starts on a
new page

Works Cited: each source

entry is in correct MLA
format
Comments:

All quotes are correctly Most quotes are correctly Shows evidence of
integrated integrated basic proofreading

Shows evidence of Follows essay

Conventions careful proofreading organization

Shows evidence of
proofreading

Comments:

Hope,
Really great job on this. Your thesis, although it needs a little bit of proofreading, demonstrates a
complex outlook on the idea of the Am. dream. Your first body paragraph had a very interesting
development from the factual data about homeownership, into a development of inequities
present in ownership for minority groups. You second body paragraph also had great use of
metaphors and weaving of historical events with modern circumstances

Only points of improvement:

● Indent paragraphs,
● Block quotes 4 lines or longer
● Review proper quote integration (the grammar needs to match up)
Grade: A