Ayush Chaurasia - Week 12 - The Power of the American Dream
In this AP English class, we had recently been asked to write an argument about the attainability of the American dream. However, in this blog, I wanted to take a different perspective on that topic—how does the American dream affect us?
Pioneers settling the Great Plains. Young entrepreneurs starting new companies. A young man overcoming hunger and injury to pay for his family’s home—the first land his family ever had to their name. These people fought against social and environmental barriers to work toward their dreams. What are the similarities between their dreams? They wanted to achieve success or prosperity through nothing but hard work and dedication, essential examples of the American dream.
The American dream has different meanings to every person in this country. Some people want to fit into an ordinary life. They wish for a comfortable life with their family and a nice house in the suburbs. Others want to rise into stardom. Wealth, fame, extravagance, material excess—they want it all packed into their life.
Both of these examples of the American dream can simultaneously be true. The dream is a broad idea—this may make it appear as if it is too unspecific to be important, but regardless of its generality, the American dream is a powerful source of motivation for anyone who believes in it.
We are all familiar with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK), the man who led the arduous fight for African Americans’ civil equality. You may know that, in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, MLK speaks of an America where people are judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin. Something often overlooked in this speech, however, is that the dream he spoke of was “deeply rooted in the American dream,” in his own words. MLK reported that his beliefs in the ideas of civil liberty, equality, justice, and opportunity—key ideas of the American dream—motivated him to lead African Americans around the country to fight for their rights.
Even in my own life, the American dream plays a role in motivating me to achieve my greatest potential. As a young child in school, my teacher taught me that I could become anything I wanted as an adult, anything from an astronaut to a zookeeper, anything I worked hard enough to become. As I grew, I modified my career goals to be more relevant, but I maintained the same ambition. The best way for me to reach my goals is to be successful in school, so I put lots of effort into school—thus forcing me to reach my full academic potential.
In some ways, the American dream can be seen as a collective manifestation of every Americans’ dreams. Although my essay last week claimed that the American dream is largely unattainable, I still appreciate how its promise of wealth and prosperity pushes me and other Americans to be at our best.
Pioneers settling the Great Plains. Young entrepreneurs starting new companies. A young man overcoming hunger and injury to pay for his family’s home—the first land his family ever had to their name. These people fought against social and environmental barriers to work toward their dreams. What are the similarities between their dreams? They wanted to achieve success or prosperity through nothing but hard work and dedication, essential examples of the American dream.
The American dream has different meanings to every person in this country. Some people want to fit into an ordinary life. They wish for a comfortable life with their family and a nice house in the suburbs. Others want to rise into stardom. Wealth, fame, extravagance, material excess—they want it all packed into their life.
Both of these examples of the American dream can simultaneously be true. The dream is a broad idea—this may make it appear as if it is too unspecific to be important, but regardless of its generality, the American dream is a powerful source of motivation for anyone who believes in it.
We are all familiar with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK), the man who led the arduous fight for African Americans’ civil equality. You may know that, in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, MLK speaks of an America where people are judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin. Something often overlooked in this speech, however, is that the dream he spoke of was “deeply rooted in the American dream,” in his own words. MLK reported that his beliefs in the ideas of civil liberty, equality, justice, and opportunity—key ideas of the American dream—motivated him to lead African Americans around the country to fight for their rights.
Even in my own life, the American dream plays a role in motivating me to achieve my greatest potential. As a young child in school, my teacher taught me that I could become anything I wanted as an adult, anything from an astronaut to a zookeeper, anything I worked hard enough to become. As I grew, I modified my career goals to be more relevant, but I maintained the same ambition. The best way for me to reach my goals is to be successful in school, so I put lots of effort into school—thus forcing me to reach my full academic potential.
In some ways, the American dream can be seen as a collective manifestation of every Americans’ dreams. Although my essay last week claimed that the American dream is largely unattainable, I still appreciate how its promise of wealth and prosperity pushes me and other Americans to be at our best.
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Hey Ayush! Like yourself, I also argued the unattainability of the American Dream in the synthesis essay. I still strongly stand by this, because it is evident that the older we get, the further and further out of reach the American Dream becomes. Back in the day, there was a solid promise that hard work equals success. You earned a certain amount of money and could be able to afford the dream house you always wanted. However, that is not the case in society today, as things such as college tuition, student loan debt, etc. are all limiting factors that hinder our generation’s achievability of the Dream itself. Therefore, I completely agree that it motivates people to work hard, just not in today’s society. Nevertheless, your viewpoint on how the American Dream impacts each of us individually touched on an extensive connection with me. Since it can be said that most of us grew up in an American community that was predominately made up of immigrants, we have personally seen the many ways that the American Dream may come into being. Many of us are more concerned with building a better future for our family and ourselves through perseverance and hard work than we are with obtaining popularity or fortune. It was especially thought-provoking when you mentioned the relationship between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream for racial rights and the larger American Dream, and it’s also amazing to think about how people with different experiences and backgrounds may come together to pursue one goal. In a similar way, I resonate with your early encouragement to follow our aspirations. Many of us have been raised with the understanding that anything is possible if we put in the necessary time and effort, often since childhood. Yet it's important to recognize the intricacies and difficulties that come with pursuing these goals, particularly in a culture where social barriers often limit progress. Your post made me contemplate the complexities of the American Dream and its impact on individuals from different walks of life. How do you think our upbringing in immigrant communities has shaped our understanding of success and opportunity?
ReplyDeleteHi Ayush,
ReplyDeleteI really like how you incorporated what we recently did in our AP English class into your blog. Similar to your stance, I also stated that achieving the American dream was not possible; however, it’s thoughtful that you were able to reflect on this topic and look at it from a different perspective. While I still believe that the American Dream can never fully be achieved, I do agree with you on the fact that the ideology of it pushes us to work harder and be at our best. There’s always a driving force that maintains our motivations, allowing us to keep working with effort to achieve the best results. While the concept of the American Dream may serve as the driving force behind our hard efforts, I believe it will forever remain only an idea and never become a reality. I think this partly as to our mindset as human beings. The American Dream, while different for each individual as you state in your blog, is the biggest achievement any individual wants to have. After achieving the dream, there’s the question of what after? Once we all achieve our greatest dreams, what else is there left to do? This mindset causes us to keep pushing our dreams further and further away from attainability. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean it's a bad thing - in reality, the further we push our dreams away, the greater we maintain our ambitions and continue challenging ourselves, which I think is very important. Your blog was very insightful and it actually prompted me to think a lot about this topic in a way I had never looked at before, so thank you for sharing!
Hello Ayush! It was great that you were able to connect the lengthy essay that we did on the American Dream attainability to another prompt. By emphasizing the history of the American Dream by each individual in American society, can we truly see what it means to be American and follow this value. It was great how you included a source that identified what the American Dream was to show how the official definition relates to your claim that the American Dream is vital to our growth and perspective and will affect Americans deeply. Adding a well-recognized figure such as Martin Luther King Jr. made the article bring in a known political figure that can support the ideals of the American Dream being part of each and every American citizen. Next, it was great how you included another citation explaining exactly what Martin Luther Jr. said and how it impacts the general American population. Last but not least was your explanation of how the American Dream meant for you. By elaborating on your ideals of being a "zookeeper" to an acknoledged individual, we can see how the American Dream works in a setting full of Americans over time. Ultimately, this article made me consider what it meant to be American and truly understand how the American Dream affects our lives wherever we go. Amazing work!
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